Bob Firth, Informing Design
“The Long Squiggly Line That’s Killing Our Transit System and an Information Science Solution”
February 21, 2007, 3:30 pm
Room 501, 135 N. Bellefield Ave
School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
The recent proposed cuts to funding of the Pittsburgh Authority
Transit system have led Bob Firth and his company, Informing Design,
to consider a radical redesign of bus routes based on efficient
transportation systems that are being used in Washington, DC, Los
Angeles, Cleveland and even Curitiba, Brazil. In this talk, Bob Firth
will present his ideas for developing a cost-effective and efficient
bus system, based on years of experience in studying transportation
flows in Pittsburgh and applying basic information science principles
to solving problems of navigation and wayfinding.Bob Firth is founder and president of Informing Design, which is an
innovative company that has designed a number of novel wayfinding
tools including the colorful Pittsburgh Wayfinder signs and the
www.bigburg.com collection of print-on-demand maps. The talk is
sponsored by the Spatial Information Science Research Interest Group
of the School of Information Sciences and will be followed by a
reception in Room 522.