Data Science Day @ Columbia University

Rio das Pedras, home to approximately 63,500 residents, is the third largest informal community in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A tightly woven community, Rio das Pedras has continually attracted new residents while developing a growing local economy. Despite the collective successes, some services and infrastructure that many developed areas take for granted are missing in Rio das Pedras.    The team used the Fulcrum platform, a mobile data collection tool, to deploy a customized structured questionnaire and map layer of Rio das Pedras in order to conduct a neighborhood audit of the area. The app allowed the team to coordinate the collection photographic and location data in real time.  The project coordinator and two data collectors were able to collect SSO data at 643 locations (86% of all street segments) in Rio das Pedras, essentially collecting a saturated sample across the entire community.      More than 4,000 geotagged photos have subsequently been used to create themed photo collages, and visuals of random 5% sample of the street segments observed.  These photos have also been used to illustrate a community health profile produced for distribution to local residents and stakeholders.