Towards Improving Safety in Urban Mobility Using Crowdsourcing Incident Data Collection

This paper describes the Safe Commuting System (SCS) which aims to improve the safety of commuters in urban areas using both historical and real-time crowdsourced data (through mobile devices) about safety incidents. The SCS informs commuters about at-risk areas and will provide alternative commuting routes. The current SCS implementation includes a mobile device application that enables the collection of crowdsourced data and user notifications about safety incidents in the proximity. The crowdsourced information serves two main functions: alerting users about safety incidents and assisting residents in decision-making about safe mobility. The current SCS prototype enables the collection of data including emergency alerts through a panic button and safety incidents through user reports. User reports are organized into three different categories: (1) criminal activity, (2) perceived danger, and (3) suspicious activities. Future work includes the generation of safe routes for commuters. The SCS system can be considered a Smart Cities solution in the Smart Mobility area, given that the proposed use of technology and data fosters the safety of commuters, and thus contributes to an improved quality of life. Efforts towards informing and collecting relevant information for mobility are important to address the demands of urban areas and convert them into Smart Cities.