Exploring the New Frontier of Information Extraction through Large Language Models in Urban Analytics

Over the last year or so there has been a lot of hype about artificial intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) in particular, such as Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT) like ChatGPT. In a recent editorial in Environment and Planning B written by Qingqing Chen and myself we discussed how LLMs could be used for lower the barrier for researchers wishing to study urban problems through the lens of urban analytics. For example, analyzing street view images in the past required training and segmentation of such data which a time consuming and a rather technical task. But what can be done using ChatGPT? To test this we provided ChatGPT some images from Flickr and Mapillary: 

Examples of using ChatGPT for extracting information from imagery.

And then asked it some questions and we were quite amazed by the answers:  

Examples questions and responses when using ChatGPT for extracting information from imagery.

If this sounds of interest I encourage you to read the editorial and think how you could leverage LLMs for your own research. 

Full Reference: 

Crooks A.T. and Chen, Q (2024), Exploring the New Frontier of Information Extraction through Large Language Models in Urban Analytics, Environment and Planning B. Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241235495. (pdf)