Research / Aims and scope

Mappingame is a research laboratory developed by the Urban Design and Regional Planning Unit of the Building Sciences and Urbanism Department at the University of Alicante. It focuses on  the study of urban dynamics using open data from location based social networks and other web services.

Our research aims to explore the scope of application of open virtual data in Urban Studies. Through the development of cartographies using geolocated data we describe and explain urban dynamics  of cities within the context of the European Mediterranean Arc. Useful and often hidden information is revealed  about social behaviour and physical reality of cities.

With a self-developed desktop app, we retrieve data from location-based social networks (so far, Foursquare, Twitter, Panoramio and Google Places). Then, we explore different ways to visualise data depending on the urban feature to be addressed. We assess urban complexity —activities and liveability of a given area—, urban identity, social cohesion, citizen preferences over urban public spaces, among other urban phenomena.

Mappingame is committed to collaboration and knowledge exchange with other researchers and organisations in order to achieve a better understanding of our cities.