Sept. 26, 2005— Cell phone data from tens of thousands of people are creating computer-generated images that show the peaks and valleys of human activity throughout a city.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology use anonymous and voluntary data to offer traffic planners a new way to track congested areas and give emergency workers real-time data that could radically transform the way they carry out procedures.

"Instead of broadcasting general messages, it would be possible to send people the best instructions on how to behave based on their location and movement patterns," said project leader Carlo Ratti, an architect-engineer and head of the SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT.

Ratti's team is conducting their research in Graz, Austria, in partnership with the cell phone company A1/Mobilkom.

Starting in September, the A1/Mobilkom cell phone network began automatically sending anonymous information about the density of cell phone calls made and the origin and destination of calls.

The team also used a function similar to text messaging to "ping" voluntary participants at regular intervals about their precise locations.

Back at MIT's Mobile Landscape project, Ratti's team analyzed the data and converted it into electronic maps that could be overlaid with each other or on top of a street map.

Potentially, such maps can be referred to in real time and used by people who want be in the action, or avoid it.

"A tourist may go to the most crowded area to see what's going on and others may go to a quiet area to enjoy the historical place. Taxi drivers want to come to a crowded area, but avoid such areas after dropping off a customer," said Toru Ishida, head of department of social informatics at Kyoto University.

In addition to offering real-time data for the benefit of city planning, Ratti believes that the availability of such dynamic information will raise many questions: How should location information be managed? By whom? What will be rules and conditions of using it?

To open these questions up to answers, the project will be on display at the M-City exhibition in Graz from Oct. 1 through Jan. 8, 2006.

Visitors will have a chance to participate in the real-time map by sending a text message to a special phone number.