Tracing a path to knowledge? Indicative user impacts of introducing a public transport map in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The smartphone exemplifies the rhetorical smart city movement. This paper examines one potential use of smartphone technology—mapping public transportation services in a megacity of the Global South. We examine the potential user impacts of introducing a smartphone-generated and analogue-delivered s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zegras, P. Christopher, Eros, Emily, Butts, Kuan, Resor, Elizabeth, Kennedy, Stephen, Ching, Albert, Mamun, Muntasir
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Oxford University Press 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100715
Description
Summary:The smartphone exemplifies the rhetorical smart city movement. This paper examines one potential use of smartphone technology—mapping public transportation services in a megacity of the Global South. We examine the potential user impacts of introducing a smartphone-generated and analogue-delivered schematic bus map in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After distributing the map, we used a web-based survey to investigate impacts on users’ knowledge, as measured by their stated understanding, navigation and perceptions of the system. While a small and biased sample, the results suggest that the map fills a knowledge gap, provides useful and valued information and may stimulate ‘exploration’ of the city and its bus system.