Posts about Technology
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Five ways DC rocks (and two ways it doesn’t) at social entrepreneurship
A DC-based business incubator looks at what draws social entrepreneurs to a given city, then ranks them by how friendly they are to ventures that work for social good. Here's what they discovered about the District. Keep reading…
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This online GIS atlas reveals the history of Prince George’s County
Hey history buffs: Prince George's Atlas has a slew of fascinating old aerial photos, maps, and other cartographic information about the county, including property boundaries and environmental information. What did your neighborhood look like a century ago? Keep reading…
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Biking in Fairfax? This map shows the safest routes.
“Low stress maps” that show which streets in an area are easiest to bike on are all the rage these days. Fairfax County is the latest to publish one. Keep reading…
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“We need to plan together” for the arrival of autonomous cars
Fairfax County and the state of Virginia are taking the lead in our region on the future of connected and autonomous vehicles. One big reason: economic development. Experts say that to ensure we get the most out of the new technology, we need to be deliberate in our approach. Keep reading…
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“Self-driving vehicles will improve our cities, if they don’t ruin them”
Driverless cars, drones, and other high-tech changes to urban transportation are on the way. But will they make our cities heaven or hell? Keep reading…
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Should DC curb Airbnb?
Airbnb, the popular site that lets people rent out rooms or whole apartments for short times, could face strict new limits in DC under a bill from Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5). Does Airbnb need regulation, and if so, what kind? Keep reading…
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London’s Tube tracked passengers’ phones via WiFi. What if Metro did the same?
London’s subway network recently tracked people's phones to collect data that it says will help improve train service and operations. Could WMATA borrow this idea? Doing so could help the agency get a better handle on Metro station crowding or the routes people take, but it’d also raise some serious questions about passenger privacy. Keep reading…
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The idea for a maglev train from DC to Baltimore keeps…floating down the track
Remember that futuristic rail project that was going to shuttle you from Washington to Baltimore in 15 minutes, and after that, to New York in an hour? It was questioned by critics as a pie-in-the-sky white elephant project, but it’s still around, and last month, the people who want to build it put forth a few more details. Keep reading…
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Where is Falls Church, exactly?
A couple months ago, Greater Greater Washington editor Dan Reed wrote about how Silver Spring doesn’t have actual boundaries. That’s not the only place in our region where that’s the case: the question of where, exactly, Falls Church’s borders are is also an open one. Unlike Silver Spring, there is an official boundary in terms of the City of Falls Church (which is an independent… Keep reading…
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This map shows where the most bus riders live and how close they are to Metro
High population densities are generally considered necessary for frequent and direct bus service. However, not all dense populations have high bus ridership. I recently created a map of the population density of people who commute to work by bus in the DC area. Keep reading…