ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniele Quercia - Map researcher
At Yahoo! Labs in Barcelona, Daniele Quercia and his colleagues imagine new ways to use online maps to improve our lives.

Why you should listen
More profile about the speaker
Daniele Quercia | Speaker | TED.com
TED@BCG Berlin

Daniele Quercia: Happy maps

Filmed:
2,410,100 views

Mapping apps help us find the fastest route to where we’re going. But what if we’d rather wander? Researcher Daniele Quercia demos “happy maps” that take into account not only the route you want to take, but how you want to feel along the way.
- Map researcher
At Yahoo! Labs in Barcelona, Daniele Quercia and his colleagues imagine new ways to use online maps to improve our lives. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
I have a confession to make.
0
1025
4408
00:17
As a scientist and engineer,
I've focused on efficiency for many years.
1
5433
6160
00:25
But efficiency can be a cult,
2
13213
3817
00:29
and today I'd like to tell you
about a journey
3
17030
3200
00:32
that moved me out of the cult
and back to a far richer reality.
4
20230
6825
00:40
A few years ago, after finishing my Ph.D.
in London, I moved to Boston.
5
28091
5648
00:45
I lived in Boston and worked in Cambridge.
6
33739
3642
00:49
I bought a racing bicycle that summer,
7
37381
3195
00:52
and I bicycled every day to work.
8
40576
2730
00:55
To find my way, I used my phone.
9
43306
2386
00:57
It sent me over Mass. Ave.,
Massachusetts Avenue,
10
45692
3901
01:01
the shortest route from
Boston to Cambridge.
11
49593
4249
01:05
But after a month
12
53842
2067
01:07
that I was cycling every day
on the car-packed Mass. Ave.,
13
55909
4586
01:12
I took a different route one day.
14
60495
3239
01:15
I'm not entirely sure why I took
a different route that day, a detour.
15
63734
5061
01:20
I just remember a feeling of surprise;
16
68795
4389
01:25
surprise at finding a street with no cars,
17
73184
4063
01:29
as opposed to the nearby
Mass. Ave. full of cars;
18
77247
3831
01:33
surprise at finding a street
draped by leaves and surrounded by trees.
19
81078
5317
01:38
But after the feeling
of surprise, I felt shame.
20
86395
5300
01:43
How could I have been so blind?
21
91695
3127
01:46
For an entire month,
22
94822
1906
01:48
I was so trapped in my mobile app
23
96728
3088
01:51
that a journey to work
became one thing only:
24
99816
3506
01:55
the shortest path.
25
103322
2461
01:57
In this single journey,
there was no thought
26
105783
3093
02:00
of enjoying the road,
27
108876
2631
02:03
no pleasure in connecting with nature,
28
111507
1952
02:05
no possibility of looking
people in the eyes.
29
113459
3707
02:09
And why?
30
117166
1785
02:10
Because I was saving a minute
out of my commute.
31
118951
4449
02:16
Now let me ask you: Am I alone here?
32
124330
4069
02:20
How many of you have never used
a mapping app for finding directions?
33
128399
5828
02:26
Most of you, if not all, have.
34
134227
1919
02:28
And don't get me wrong -- mapping apps
are the greatest game-changer
35
136146
5093
02:33
for encouraging people
to explore the city.
36
141239
2577
02:35
You take your phone out
and you know immediately where to go.
37
143816
4177
02:39
However, the app also assumes
38
147993
2911
02:42
there are only a handful
of directions to the destination.
39
150904
5404
02:48
It has the power to make
those handful of directions
40
156308
3808
02:52
the definitive direction
to that destination.
41
160116
4899
02:57
After that experience, I changed.
42
165015
2670
02:59
I changed my research
from traditional data-mining
43
167685
3367
03:03
to understanding how people
experience the city.
44
171052
4272
03:07
I used computer science tools
45
175324
2229
03:09
to replicate social science
experiments at scale, at web scale.
46
177553
5443
03:14
I became captivated
by the beauty and genius
47
182996
5122
03:20
of traditional social science experiments
48
188118
2902
03:23
done by Jane Jacobs,
Stanley Milgram, Kevin Lynch.
49
191020
4505
03:27
The result of that research
has been the creation of new maps,
50
195525
4667
03:32
maps where you don't only find
the shortest path, the blue one,
51
200192
4829
03:37
but also the most enjoyable path,
52
205021
3321
03:40
the red one.
53
208342
1718
03:42
How was that possible?
54
210060
3602
03:45
Einstein once said,
55
213662
1851
03:47
"Logic will get you from A to B.
56
215513
3486
03:50
Imagination will take you everywhere."
57
218999
2772
03:53
So with a bit of imagination,
58
221771
1918
03:55
we needed to understand
59
223689
1881
03:57
which parts of the city
people find beautiful.
60
225570
4365
04:01
At the University of Cambridge,
with colleagues,
61
229935
2647
04:04
we thought about this simple experiment.
62
232582
3158
04:07
If I were to show you
these two urban scenes,
63
235740
3158
04:10
and I were to ask you
which one is more beautiful,
64
238898
2786
04:13
which one would you say?
65
241684
2692
04:18
Don't be shy.
66
246096
3065
04:21
Who says A? Who says B?
67
249161
3250
04:24
Brilliant.
68
252411
1602
04:26
Based on that idea,
69
254013
1974
04:27
we built a crowdsourcing platform,
70
255987
1812
04:29
a web game.
71
257799
1114
04:30
Players are shown pairs of urban scenes,
72
258913
2879
04:33
and they're asked to choose which one
is more beautiful, quiet and happy.
73
261792
6345
04:40
Based on thousands of user votes,
74
268154
1950
04:42
then we are able to see
where consensus emerges.
75
270104
3204
04:45
We are able to see which
are the urban scenes
76
273308
3205
04:48
that make people happy.
77
276513
2763
04:51
After that work, I joined Yahoo Labs,
78
279276
2949
04:54
and I teamed up with Luca and Rossano,
79
282225
2879
04:57
and together, we aggregated
those winning locations in London
80
285104
3276
05:00
to build a new map of the city,
81
288380
3346
05:03
a cartography weighted for human emotions.
82
291726
4267
05:07
On this cartography, you're not only
able to see and connect
83
295993
3832
05:11
from point A to point B
the shortest segments,
84
299825
4852
05:16
but you're also able
to see the happy segment,
85
304677
3135
05:19
the beautiful path, the quiet path.
86
307812
3692
05:23
In tests, participants found the happy,
the beautiful, the quiet path
87
311504
4644
05:28
far more enjoyable than the shortest one,
88
316148
3575
05:31
and that just by adding
a few minutes to travel time.
89
319723
5805
05:37
Participants also love to attach
memories to places.
90
325528
4249
05:41
Shared memories --
that's where the old BBC building was;
91
329777
4899
05:46
and personal memories --
that's where I gave my first kiss.
92
334676
4925
05:51
They also recalled how some paths
smelled and sounded.
93
339601
4433
05:56
So what if we had a mapping tool
94
344034
3227
05:59
that would return
the most enjoyable routes
95
347261
2531
06:01
based not only on aesthetics
96
349792
2620
06:04
but also based on smell, sound,
and memories?
97
352412
3309
06:07
That's where our research
is going right now.
98
355721
4105
06:11
More generally, my research,
99
359826
2202
06:14
what it tries to do is avoid
the danger of the single path,
100
362028
4598
06:18
to avoid robbing people of fully
experiencing the city in which they live.
101
366626
5201
06:23
Walk the path through the park,
not through the car park,
102
371827
3738
06:27
and you have an entirely different path.
103
375565
2392
06:29
Walk the path full of people you love
104
377957
2948
06:32
and not full of cars,
105
380905
1316
06:34
and you have an entirely different path.
106
382221
1718
06:35
It's that simple.
107
383939
2453
06:39
I would like to end with this thought:
108
387012
2810
06:41
do you remember "The Truman Show?"
109
389822
2020
06:43
It's a media satire in which a real person
110
391842
3018
06:46
doesn't know he's living
in a fabricated world.
111
394860
3553
06:50
Perhaps we live in a world
fabricated for efficiency.
112
398413
5154
06:55
Look at some of your daily habits,
113
403567
3506
06:59
and as Truman did in the movie,
escape the fabricated world.
114
407073
6144
07:05
Why?
115
413226
1510
07:06
Well, if you think that adventure
is dangerous, try routine. It's deadly.
116
414736
6680
07:13
Thank you.
117
421416
1911
07:15
(Applause)
118
423327
3970

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniele Quercia - Map researcher
At Yahoo! Labs in Barcelona, Daniele Quercia and his colleagues imagine new ways to use online maps to improve our lives.

Why you should listen
More profile about the speaker
Daniele Quercia | Speaker | TED.com

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee