CyberGIS for Analyzing Urban Data

This chapter describes some of the rapid developments in data collection and analysis through the processing of data collected and archived in real time that are capable of generating new insights into urban processes that in time, might lead to new theories of how cities function. It will focus on London both for its strategic importance as a global city, but also because its citizens are highly connected, and thus capable of generating a large number of datasets. These are individual-based and largely built from the bottom up. We believe that many of these aspects of London’s new data system will soon be replicated in other European cities, and it is clear that similar developments are already taking place in other world cities such as New York City and Singapore; it thus provides a useful basis on which to demonstrate another role of CyberGIS and its related technologies through the analysis of ‘big’ data, albeit in the urban domain.