Chicago and the Array of Things: A Fitness Tracker for the City

The city of Chicago has recently launched a project called the Array of Things. The program involves a series of sensor nodes placed around the city that capture a massive amount of data including pedestrian and vehicle flow, air quality, and cloud cover. The Array of Things is being operated in conjunction with the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. Chicago's chief information officer has to make a multitude of decisions including how to deal with the privacy issues inherent in the project and how to share the data with the community. She must also choose where to place future sensor nodes and figure out the optimal way to leverage the new sources of data using the existing data research capabilities of the city.