Traffic Cams: Create Your Future!
Traffic Cams envisions a more comprehensive public transportation system for the future of Atlanta. A web-based application using traffic camera data will help community members facing transportation challenges and harms, visualize and reflect on a future public transit system with more climate-friendly options.
A 2021 survey found 24,800 cameras in Atlanta, making it the most heavily surveilled city in the US with 50 cameras per 1000 citizens. While most of these cameras are not publicly accessible, the Georgia Department of Transportation allows access to their camera streaming feeds.
Using these cameras, TRAFFIC CAMS aims to show what Atlanta could look like with a more comprehensive public transit system, by creating a real time Augmented Reality experience to help visualize in real-time. Consequently, the app also shows just how much space is wasted by the current car-centric focus on transportation. This is accomplished through the use of OpenCV, the GA511.org camera website, and custom software written by Farr.
This project is funded by Smart Growth America through their Healing Our Highways grant program. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kresge Foundation, Healing Our Highways will support creative ideas and activities that build knowledge, connection, and power within disadvantaged communities harmed by transportation systems and climate change.
The workshop hosted by the Hapeville Depot Museum, entails several activities that will prompt attendees to share thoughts and ideas on envisioning a healthier and safer transportation environment in Atlanta. There will be a hand-on crafting activity where attendees actually create their ideal "intersection", based on a video feed from GDOT cameras. The app will then "paint" the image as cars drive by.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Emma Chammah and Eddie Farr are two artists who met via a mutual friend and quickly realized they had many shared interests and skills that complemented each other’s individual practice areas. They have collaborated together on a number of projects that utilize Emma’s skills as an architect/designer/and fabric specialist and Eddie’s skills as a software developer and fabricator. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, they are both committed to building a happier, healthier, and more connected community through their work as artists.