The Barcelona Metro is an extensive network of rapid transit electrified railway lines that run mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city’s suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system of Barcelona. It is the main network of connection within the city and the most relied mode of public transportation of Barcelona. There are many lines connecting the different parts of the city together and in general, give an idea as to which would be the main metro station that is widely used during the day.

The aim of this exercise was to use digital data to understand patterns of movement in the city and hence act accordingly. For this, the KML files recorded by the students of IAAC were used to develop the analysis. Each student lives in a different neighborhood or works within different schedules. This is a possibility to analyze if people with different schedules and routes might or might not intersect at a particular metro station or plaza.

Chosen data: Students that travel during the day, nor necessarily the same day but approximately at the same time.

After merging the KML data, the resulting output gives a clear picture that although the starting/ending point of each person is different, the main meeting point of Barcelona comprises Plaça Catalunya, Passeig de Gracias, University and Urquinaona, which are the most widely used metro stations. This is a justification that these areas are the heart of connectivity within Barcelona.

Stalking Yourself: Chance or statistics is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master in Advanced Architecture in 2016 by:

Student: Tanuj Thomas
Faculty: Luis Fraguada / Rodrigo Aguirre