http://groundtruth.justin.work/

Ground Truth is a device that attaches to any Citi Bike. It uses GPS to look up corresponding hyperlocal rent burden data to change the pedal resistance. As a rider moves through areas where housing costs consume a greater share of residents’ incomes, the bike’s resistance increases. When they enter a more affordable area, the resistance eases.

The project translates an economic abstraction into a direct, physical experience. Rather than asking people to interpret inequality through a heat map, chart, or census statistic, it asks them to encounter the underlying data through their own effort and movement.

Ground Truth was developed with generous support from Idle Hands

Press

Wired
The Verge
Creative Applications
Hyperallergic
Next City
Dezeen
Gothamist
WNYC
Fox News
Fast Company

Year
2026