Feel like going out..? Check the mood map
YOU might think that you can only get the feel of a place on the ground. But a new app promises to give users the mood of an area on their smartphone.
By using mathematical models to track social media and tapping into space technologies, a satellite image can be produced to give a sense of what a place is like and whether it will suit a person’s frame of mind.
For example, it can tell the user how buzzy or edgy Covent Garden is compared with other areas of London. The app, to be launched next month, is the brainchild of Oxford student Joyeeta Das, who launched her business, Gyana, last year with the help of the Oxford University Accelerator Programme.
She said: ‘There’s a mass of data generated in everything we do. But what are we doing to use that – to make our decisions better?
‘I had friends who have applied mathematics post-doctorates and artificial intelligence qualifications. So we got an experimental psychologist on board and were able to partner with Oxford Experimental Psychology Lab.’ Das, who is studying for an MBA, said she had turned down offers of funding and partnerships from some banks and consumer product firms, adding: ‘It could be a good thing, but it could be just leveraging people’s emotions to sell them more products. We wanted to give people use of technology, so we haven’t yet started selling data like that.’
Nonetheless Das has big plans for the app, saying: ‘We are more interested in doing things like environmental regulations and public policy making.’
She adds: ‘A lot of products are successful because they tap into consumers’ psychology.’