John Fagan is building technology to enhance the user experience of public transport through a better understanding of human behaviour. He talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about how smartphone sensor data can be combined with real-time transport infrastructure feeds to deliver more contextually relevant digital services. John draws on his deep experience in this field, from being an early member of the Multimap team in the dotcom era to hands-on GIS work in Namibia. The conversation expands to talk about John and Marek’s shared interests in the Norwich tech and design scene, including the role John rather modestly downplays in the city’s emergence as a thriving hub for innovation.
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On this edition
Links
- Smartsheet’s Covid-19 resource hub, mentioned by Marek in the intro.
- An article from USA Today about D-Ford’s work to produce face shields for health workers, mentioned by Marek in the intro.
- Meals for the NHS, where you can donate to buy meals from local restaurants for delivery to NHS workers at hospitals around the country, mentioned by Marek in the intro.
- Lada Gorlenko of Smartsheet, who Marek spoke with in episode 63 of the MEX podcast.
- Andrew Muir Wood, one of the people behind mealsforthenhs.com and a long-term MEX collaborator.
- Tim O’Shea, who founded blurtit.com, where John shared his first office in Norfolk.
- Ben Isotta-Riches of Aviva, mentioned by John as an early supporter of the tech scene in Norwich.
- SyncNorwich, one of the communities for tech in Norfolk, which John helped establish.
- Sync the City, an annual event in Norwich where teams build start-up propositions in a 54 non-stop race, which John helped found.
- Paul Grenyer, another key supporter of the tech scene in Norwich mentioned by John, and one of the founders of NorDevCon.
- Juliana Meyer, another key supporter of the tech scene in Norwich mentioned by John.
- Seb Butcher, another key supporter of the tech scene in Norwich mentioned by John.
- Hot Source, another Norwich-based group for tech and creative professionals.
- Norfolk Network, another local community group.
- Aviva, the insurance company and one of the biggest tech employers in the Norfolk area.
- Proxama (now Location Sciences), mentioned by John as an example of an early tech company based in the Norwich area.
- Axon Vibe, the tech company based in Lucerne and Norwich, where John works as CTO.
- Stefan Muff, founder of Axon Vibe, who also founded Endoxon and sold it to Google’s mapping business in 2006.
- Snapchat’s maps UI, mentioned by John.
- Press release about Axon’s work with SBB, the Swiss national transport organisation.
- Multimap, where John worked as one of the early team members before its acquisition by Microsoft.
- Microsoft Streets and Trips, mentioned by John as an example of early PC-based maps.
- Sean Phelan, founder of Multimap.
- Press release about Axon’s work with MTA in New York.
- Norwich Future Mobility Zone, mentioned by John.
- Startup Weekend format, the basis for Sync the City in Norwich.
- Safepoint, one of the start-ups which graduated from Sync the City.
- University of East Anglia, which sponsors and helps organise Sync the City.
About MEX Design Talk & how to get in touch
The podcast for the MEX community, interviewing UX pioneers, exploring emerging technologies, user behaviour and how to design better digital experiences.
Thanks
- Jukedeck, for the artificial intelligence engine which provided the music
Marek PawlowskiMarek Pawlowski is the founder of MEX. Since 1995, he has focused the MEX business on helping digital industries to develop better, more profitable products through improved understanding of user behaviour with mobile devices and wireless networks. MEX is best known for its events, research and consulting, which balance commercial, technical and user insights to define the future of mobile user experience.
