thecity4.me

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) releases a yearly index that rates 140 cities throughout the world. The ranking is determined by a weighted sum of 40 different factors from 5 categories. A challenge of this approach is the reality that different people will value the factors that make up a city’s score with different emphasis. For example, one may prefer to have better private education in a target city versus a strong night life, whereas this preference may be reversed for someone else. Arguably, one of the most vital sources of data is the personal preference of the individual asking, “which is the most livable city in the world?”

This is the goal of my submission: thecity4.me. Through strategic queries involving the factors that determine a city’s ranking, we dynamically compute the best city for a given user’s set of preferences. Then going one step further, the preferences from a set of users can be aggregated to produce a ranking that best approximates the collective preferences of everyone in the group. With a technique for combining preferences, we provide a glimpse into the overall ranking for everyone visiting thecity4.me.

The science behind our query strategy is simple (see the links throughout the site for more detailed background information), and thecity4.me serves as an excellent platform for research into more in-depth preference elicitation strategies. The interface to the EIU indicators in the site’s back-end allows for easy addition of new query types and analysis of user responses. The implementation is generic enough to allow for not only new query strategies, but also the incorporation of additional indicators.

Finally, a central component of thecity4.me is seamless integration with existing services. Not only does the site include scripts that pull information from the EIU data set, it completes the loop by automatically updating a public data-set through Buzz Data. This offers open access to a continually growing storehouse of information - individual preferences about factors that make a great city from users around the world.

Note: The screencast is horrible. Until I can find an appropriate program to record a demo (and even after I find one), please visit thecity4.me to check out the site for yourself.