HuMNet Lab students win big at MIT Big Data Challenge

When the MIT Big Data Challenge asked, "What can you learn from data about 2.3 million taxi rides?" graduate students in professor Marta González's research lab had some answers. Based on their experience writing machine-learning algorithms that find meaningful patterns in very large data sets, and on their skill applying those patterns to understand how people use transportation in urban areas, the students were able to predict the number of taxi pickups that had occurred in 700 time intervals at 36 locations in the Boston area. Their predictions were the best in the competition, earning them the number one spot and $4,000 in prize money. The scientific visualization of the data prepared by one team member garnered a second-place prize and an additional $1,000. The awards were announced mid-March.