Explore public Briefs from founders, researchers, and builders — with stated assumptions, sources, open questions, and collaboration opportunities.
When events (marathons, races, festivals, etc.) need to temporarily close roads for a few hours often the only notice drivers have is suddenly being unable to get to their destination when they happen upon the closed road. Often the police or event organizers staffing the closure only know their task and a site-wide map isn't available to help inform drivers what detour route they need to take instead to get where they're going. A service could be provided by e.g. Google Maps to create a planning tool that would allow the event organizers to designate where the closures would be, as well as other helpful planning/coordination features for attendees, volunteers, police, etc. And the benefit to the public would be the ability for the Maps Navigation to automatically route drivers around the event with a caution that the event is taking place so they know to expect delays and to take extra care.
By Michael
Maya's herb dock, scaled to the walk-in: weight-and-humidity pucks under produce crates that tell a kitchen which inventory to cook tonight. Restaurants lose 4-10% of food purchases to spoilage and the walk-in is where it happens.
By Sam Whitfield
Conference rooms routinely pass 1400ppm CO2 within forty minutes, which measurably degrades decision quality. Put a $12 sensor in the room and end meetings when the air — not the calendar — says the group is done thinking.
By Sam Whitfield
Lockers of shared drills, saws, and meters in the fare-paid zone of transit stations, checked out with your transit card. Shelving this one — the insurance math defeated me — but somebody with retail-ops experience should take it.
By Jordan Okafor
Score every sidewalk segment in a city by tree canopy and building shadow across the day, then feed it to maps apps so July walking directions prefer shaded routes. Heat deaths concentrate among people who walk at midday because they have no choice.
By Jordan Okafor
A voluntary label standard that puts 'how to fix the three most common failures' on the box and inside the lid of kettles, toasters, and blenders — the way washing instructions live on clothing tags.
By Maya Chen
A small bamboo dock for fresh herbs that weighs each bundle and watches humidity, then tells you what to use before it wilts. Groceries stop dying in the crisper drawer because the thing you bought on Sunday nags you on Wednesday.
By Maya Chen