Glossary

The terms Situ uses, each in a sentence, with the page that explains it

Each definition repeats what a page already says. Follow the link for the full account.

Space syntax

Term	What it means here	More
space syntax	A way of measuring where each street sits in the whole street network, begun by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson.	What space syntax is
segment	A piece of street between two junctions.	S1
depth	The distance between two segments, counted by how much you turn: a right angle costs 1, a 45° turn 0.5.	Segments and depth
angular segment analysis	The kind of space syntax analysis Situ runs, with depth counted in turns.	The walking network
integration	How close a segment is, on average, to every other segment: how easy a street is to reach.	Integration and choice
choice	How often a segment lies on the shortest routes between every pair of segments: how often a street is passed through.	Integration and choice
NAIN, NACH	Normalised integration and normalised choice, rescaled so that networks of different sizes can be compared.	Integration and choice
radius	How far the analysis looks around each segment, measured along the streets. Radius n has no limit, which here means the whole island.	Radius
natural movement	The share of walking the layout alone produces, as Hillier and colleagues argued in 1993.	Natural movement
PlanX	The QGIS tool that computes the values; Situ used version 4.19.0.	The walking network

The network

Term	What it means here	More
junction	Where segment ends meet.	S1
edge	The streets just outside the study area’s boundary that touch it.	S1
gate	Where the study area meets the edge.	S1
exit	The far end of an edge street, where the city carries on.	S1
dead end	A junction with only one segment that is neither a gate nor an exit.	S1
connector	A short straight line I added where a path end and a street do not quite touch in the data. Every one is listed.	The walking network
checkpoint	A place where I doubted the data. Each one has an id and is listed in the Lab, settled or still open.	Checks and decisions

What S8 and S9 measure

Term	What it means here	More
isovist	The part of the city visible from one spot (Benedikt 1979).	S8
compactness	1 for a round view, smaller as the view stretches into a corridor.	S8
reading	One version of S9’s imagined morning, changing a single rule (the route), so a difference between readings points at that rule.	S9
ledger	The list of every rule S9 adds, each with its source or marked as an assumption.	S9 build
rank correlation	How alike two orders are: 1 means the same order.	S8
census tract	One of the small areas the census reports on.	S7

From systems to a game

Term	What it means here	More
NPC	A non-player character: a person or a vehicle the game moves by its own rules.	From systems to a game
translation ledger	The list of decisions that turn a system into game elements, each with its kind and an alternative.	G1 World
local frame	The coordinates G1 hands to a game: metres from one origin at the study area’s south-west corner.	G1 World
feature record	For each thing built in the game: its source, input, transformation, output, how it was verified, and its limits.	The game, stage by stage
candidate point	A place where people could stop or gather, marked from the systems. No source records the gathering itself.	From systems to a game

How sure, and from where

Term	What it means here	More
research-creation	Research and making that answer each other. In Situ the systems are the research, made to inform a game, which is the making.	About
verified	The data or a test shows it. A system is verified when it is built and its tests pass.	About
partial	Some evidence supports it, and a gap remains.	About
planned	Not built yet.	About
assumption	A reading of mine, or a rule I chose because no source settles it.	About
run record	The file each system writes beside its results, with a fingerprint of every input and output.	Tracing a result
Mapillary	A site where people and the city upload street photos; its software finds objects in them.	S6
tax roll	The city’s official list of every property and what it is.	S4
OpenStreetMap	The open map anyone can edit.	S4