Beta Blocks Tech Partners

Beta Blocks temporarily installs technologies in public spaces in Boston. Scroll through to learn more about them, or provide feedback!

Soofa Signs

Digital sidewalk displays

Soofa is a Boston-based, female founded company that launched out of MIT and Harvard in 2014. Beyond Beta Blocks, Soofa Signs can be found in Allston, Ashmont, Fenway, and the Seaport. Soofa Signs are ~5.5 foot tall black and white digital bulletin boards, with exteriors that can be branded with vinyl stickers. The Signs are solar-powered, wireless, and zero emission, with e-ink screens that anyone can post to. To post something, visit <https://talk.soofa.co/> and create an account. Then, upload your content, select your target neighborhood, and submit. A Soofa employee reviews the submissions for quality and appropriateness. Within ~15 minutes, your content will be posted or returned with requested changes. An algorithm determines how content is displayed, and newer Signs tend to have more community content. At least 20% of content is submitted by communities (mainly businesses and City Departments), and the rest is paid advertisements. Soofa makes money from the advertisements on its Signs. The City of Boston does not pay for equipment, maintenance, or reporting. After a Sign is paid off through its ads, Boston makes 20% of subsequent ad revenue. Soofa observes non-identifiable data, consisting of the manufacturers, signal strengths, and media access control (MAC) addresses, from Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices passing within ~15 feet of Signs. Soofa further anonymizes observed MAC addresses with a cryptographic function before analyzing the data and providing aggregate anonymous information to customers (such as cities). For example, Soofa may share non-identifiable information such as how many people visit a park, how long people stay, and what sections of the park are popular. Collected data is not sold and remains with the City or land-owner partner.

soofa.co
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Municipal Parking Services SafetyStick

Camera-Based Sensor

MPS Sentry SafetySticks are free-standing, 3.5 foot tall, camera-based sensors affixed to sidewalks. SAFETYSTICKS WILL NOT MAIL PARKING ENFORCEMENT FOR BETABLOCKS. SafetyStick cameras can measure Uber and Lyft pick-up and drop-off activity, and other nearby traffic activity (to improve street safety). SafetySticks can also measure how long cars are parked in nearby spots. If cars are parked illegally (e.g. too long, in bus stops, in loading zones, in front of fire hydrants, near intersections, etc.), SafetySticks can notify parking officers and/or mail a time-stamped photo record to the registered car owner with a fee. In other cities, when a parking fine is paid, a portion is paid to MPS. Cities otherwise do not pay for the equipment, maintenance, or reporting. All SafetyStick data is stored on Amazon Web Services servers and can be viewed on an online portal (URL will be published for public access) with standard and custom reports, or downloaded as CSV or PDF files. It can be accessed by anyone approved by the City. The collected data is not sold to third party companies. The City determines when and how data is deleted.

municipalparkingservices.com
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Microsoft

Air Quality Sensor

This Microsoft Research air quality sensor makes hourly measurements of parts per million or billion of gases and particulates that contribute to air pollution. The device measures CO, O3, NO2, and SO2 gases, as well as particulate matter of 1, 2.5, and 10 micrometers, temperature and humidity. The product also contains a full data stack that ingests the sensor data, transmits it over LTE-M, stores it in a Microsoft Azure SQL database, and drives analytics and end user data interactions. While most cities measure air quality, no cities have hyperlocal measurement every 1/2 or even 1/4 mile. This project seeks to enable such hyperlocal air quality monitoring, enabling municipalities to understand how pollution dissipates with distance from major roads, and affects public spaces and schools. This will also enable community members to know the quality of the air they breathe, based on precisely where they go in a day. Residents can use this information to provide input into how resources are allocated in their neighborhood (e.g., tree plantings, traffic routing). Finally, this will enable new business opportunities, such as route planning that takes into account hyperlocal air quality. This product supports cloud data and analytics business, of which municipalities might be customers (e.g., from sensors to data dashboards that help them understand air quality in their city). It also enables an “ecosystem” of services and apps, such as the aforementioned route planning that takes into air quality. This product collects no personally identifiable data. Data are retained for research purposes, including influencers and dynamics of hyperlocal air quality, “downstream” effects (e.g. near schools or new developments), urban understanding and planning, and to support the ecosystem of services and applications for community members. Once the data is validated, we hope the data can be made public through a standard web API that returns JSON. Data will not be sold.

microsoft.comen-us/research/project/project-eclipse/
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