CityGram one: Seven years later

In this paper, we report on the Citygram project which was launched some seven years ago in 2011. During its early stages, the focus was on fundamental sensor network research in the realm of real-time soundscape sensing, data transmission, archival, and visualization. This research resulted in network designs enabling end-to-end sensor-server communication and web-based soundscape data visualization [1]. By 2012, the team began to shift focus to the urban noise pollution phenomenon, motivated by experiencing the daily cacophony of New York City (NYC) and the growth of cities around the world where in 2050, approximately 70% of the global population is projected to live megacities like New York and Seoul. More recently, Citygram has moved from a sensor network design that is hardware dependent to a design where a single codebase can run on almost any device equipped with a microphone and Internet connection [2]. The paper outlines technological updates including its plug-and-sense sensor network as well creative application of Citygram where soundscape data captures are utilized to drive works for live performances and standalone long-term installation works.