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See.Sense partners with Oxfordshire County Council to find out where cycling infrastructure needed

300 smart lights being provided to local cyclists at big discount ahead of year-long trial

Smart cycle light brand See.Sense has launched a partnership with Oxfordshire County Council, making 300 rear lights available to local cyclists at a big discount to discover where they ride.

The year-long trial, which runs until December 2020 and also involves Milton Park business and technology hub near Didcot and the Smart Oxford partnership, will help the county council determine where safe cycling infrastructure is most needed, with the light sending data via an app on the user’s smartphone.

Local residents will be able to buy a See.Sense ACE rear light for £15 instead of the usual price of £45 through a dedicated page on the award-winning Northern Ireland-based business’s website, and can sign up to the project by entering the SmartCities code OXFORD on the app.

> Review: See.Sense Ace Front and Rear Set

Including other sources, to date more than 100 million points of data have been collected in the county, with the council saying that it not only shows “where and when people cycle, but speeds, obstructions and road surface conditions.”

Laura Peacock, Innovation Hub Manager at Oxfordshire County Council said: “The Oxfordshire County Council Innovation Hub is excited to work together with See.Sense and Smart Oxford as part of this Smart Cycling Project.

“The project provides an opportunity for citizens and the council to work together to improve our understanding of how cyclists move around the city.

“The ACE lights, through their smart functionality, will help make cycling safer and more fun for participants.

“Data gathered from the lights will provide the council insights on not only where cyclists travel, but speed, delays, and even road surface conditions.

“This data will inform how the county council can improve cycle routes in the city and beyond.

“Further, See.Sense lights, as a consistent source of data, will show how cyclists interact with new road infrastructure, allowing the council to continue to iterate and invest in the most effective interventions,” she added.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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Milkfloat | 4 years ago
0 likes

If only see sense would actually fix their existing problems with the Ace.  Ant+ has never worked. 

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Municipal Waste | 4 years ago
0 likes

It might be a bit hit and miss because the sample will only account for night time road usage, because it only accounts for people with average lights (ie not someone who prefers a set of Exposures, or indeed someone with no lights - ie vuberable/stupid) and because they haven't set parameters to include set numbers of people from different demographics.

Avatar
Awavey replied to Municipal Waste | 4 years ago
1 like
Municipal Waste wrote:

It might be a bit hit and miss because the sample will only account for night time road usage, because it only accounts for people with average lights (ie not someone who prefers a set of Exposures, or indeed someone with no lights - ie vuberable/stupid) and because they haven't set parameters to include set numbers of people from different demographics.

If you signed up to be a trialist you would be encouraged to run the lights in daytime as well and theres nothing to stop you running your existing exposure lights and using the see.sense purely as an extra light,its not there to replace what you have if you dont want it to,the seesense lights have several mounting options,and are small enough to be just carried in a jersey pocket. The point of these trials is to collect gps datapoints of routes people ride, its upto the individual taking part how best they fulfil that objective around their existing bike setup.

Demographics are slightly harder to get around but the lack of particular groups riding in the data,is in itself useful data to know.

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Awavey | 4 years ago
1 like

I think it's a good idea,and good LAs are looking at it,the lights are decent enough bright,very visible,that happen to collect information about routes people commute

Strava data is only ever going to represent groups of keen cyclists,the SeeSense lights should collect the more utility cyclists data,which is more interesting in the routes they pick,avoid and will help the planning of future routes for commuting.

The only negatives are the app is pretty useless (still) after 3 years still only beta on Android phones and still crashes randomly,cant often find the lights,disconnects during rides,so how reliable the data they collect is I dont know as theyve been promising user access to their own data for a while and we are still waiting. Plus every so often they force firmware updates on the lights which seems to bork the whole setup.

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rdmp2 | 4 years ago
5 likes

Lights were given away for free at the start of the project. If they are just discounting now it might be after all the free lights have been taken.

Yes it monitors what routes cyclists use at the moment but it can be used to see where people cycle and whether people deliberately avoid certain routes- highlighting where work needs to be done. It is entirely aimed at commuters not weekend warrior types.

The LA and business hubs already have access to the Strava metro data but wanted insight from local commuters specifically cycing to their business hubs.

I have no idea if the LA will do anything but I guarantee the business hubs are campaigning hard to get more people using active travel. Give them a chance- I can't imagine why anyone would think this is anything but a good idea and a step in the right direction

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Xenophon2 | 4 years ago
1 like

Nothing to do with this project but I really like their rear light (ICON2 model):  very visible, modes can be set via an app, battery lasts for ages, crash-alert function.  Front light is good for being seen, not so much for illuminating a dark road.

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Tinbob49 | 4 years ago
2 likes

Will be interesting to hear how this develops.

although strava data would have a lot more users surely?

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Oakers | 4 years ago
3 likes

This is monitoring where cyclists ride now, not where they would ride if the infrastructure was fit for purpose. It's very narrow in it's thinking. What will happen with the insight?

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CyclingInBeastMode | 4 years ago
3 likes

Ah, so 'arming' the vulnerable road users at their expense, yet more backward thinking BS! Why isn't the council giving these away to active cyclists?

This won't do squat because the LA are too ignorant to act on any info that if they had an ounce of grasp of where residential areas are and where workplaces/liesure/shops are they'd know what routes they would like to use. And how will the data actually tell them where it's dangerous when cyclists avoid the most direct/dangerous roads.

Sorry but this sounds like a load of pony that helps sells a companies product.

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