Uploaded on 2014-10-08 by NMarzian

*Townhall of the City of Hamburg and 'Rathausschleuse" (Watergate at the Townhall) as seen from 'Jungfernstieg', Original Photo* ![Townhall of the City of Hamburg and 'Rathausschleuse" (Watergate at the Townhall) as seen from 'Jungfernstieg', Photo with Information Overlay][2] *Townhall of the City of Hamburg and 'Rathausschleuse" (Watergate at the Townhall) as seen from 'Jungfernstieg', Photo with Information Overlay* **Tourism** The pictures show a view into the direction of the watergate close to the townhall of Hamburg, which is an important part of ubiquitous tourism. Many people per day join boat trips on Hamburg's many waterways inside and outside of the city and most likely get through the watergate on their sightseeing tour along all the canals that are connected with the famous 'Binnenalster' and 'Aussenalster' as well as the Elbe river. But tourism has its peaks and lows, depending on the season and the particular time of the day. Like the tides of the Elbe tourism can be measured. There are to be analysed numbers for additional traffic, influence on the consumption in Hamburg's stores and gastronomy, overnight stays in the city's hotels, tickets sold for sightseeing, museums, musicals, concerts or other events, etc. **Public Transport** In Hamburg traffic is as diverse as in any bigger city. You will find the regular street traffic with cars, trucks, motorbikes and bicycles as well as pedestrians. But you also have a big network of public transport with busses, city and interurban trains, the subway and taxis. Commuters get into the city for their daily work or out of the city to get home; business travellers come to participate in fairs, conferences and congresses, for team meetings or to visit their customers or suppliers, and of course use the very convenient public transport system to get to their destinations. Everyday the before mentioned regional, national and international tourists join in and fill the train carriages or vehicles. Regarding this use of public transport you get vast amounts of data to collect, to analyse and to draw conclusions from. **Invisible Information and Knowledge for Better Public Transport** Public transport in cities and also in Hamburg has its peaks and lows. For instance one will find that the subway and city trains as well as busses are very crowded in the morning and late afternoon, due to the working hours of commuters. Additionally there are the typical tourist seasons, especially during summer or Christmas time, when the city is even more crowded than normally. For citizens and commuters life in the city then can be very inconvenient, stressful and nerve-racking. People get to work or appointments late, they need much more time to finally get home, it gets very frustrating to carry the briefcases or heavy bags from the supermarket into the bus as there is not enough space; many people will not find a seat, even if they are very exhausted, and so forth. Once the planners know of all the traffic peaks and lows as well as about probabilities regarding the emergence of large crowds that need to be transported, about behaviours and preferences of citizens, commuters and tourists, they can schedule accordingly. The frequency of subways, trains and busses can be increased, or bigger vehicles can be sent to the stations. Programmes that control the traffic lights can switch into modes that grant public transport priority over regular traffic. This way inconvenience and stress can be decreased, people do not need more time than necessary to get to their destination, and there exists a higher probability that passengers even find a seat and the space where to put their shopping bags or briefcases. So life in the city is more relaxed and the mood better. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14127682498626632.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14127684117348286.jpg