AI Predicts Manhole Explosions In New York City

reillymj writes "Every so often, a 300-pound manhole cover blows sky high in Gotham, followed sometimes by a column of flame and smoke. (There are a few hundred 'manhole incidents' per year in the city, not all of them this dramatic.) Researchers from Columbia University applied machine learning algorithms to Con Edison's warren of aging electrical wires and sewage access points around Manhattan. As the system learns where dangerous mixtures of sewer gas and decrepit wiring are likely to come in contact, it makes forecasts about trouble spots, including where the next explosion may occur. The team has just completed rankings for manholes in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and plans to return to Manhattan's grid, armed with the most recent inspection and repair data." The research was published in the July issue of Machine Learning.

Comments

Re:death by manhole cover?

[rubycodez]

remember that New York is mostly full of metro-sexuals and the kind of skanks who date them. no real downside in most fatalities.

Re:Not every major cities

[umghhh]

How decadent Americans really are - so they have a problem with infrastructure that is falling apart and instead of fixing it they write software to predict where it happens (so that they can install a web come and get million hits on you tube ????). OTOH maybe it is not a decadence but a sign showing the real state of the country? Or is this a commie crime to try to fix infrastructure that serves all?

I wonder why this is not a problem in Germany? I mean I live here a dozen years now and I have heard about a lots of unexploded munitions from WWII but the problem with thick cast iron plates flying randomly over the frequented streets is not known to me. Obviously on the way to become undeveloped world we Europeans are again lagging behind US.