For those who want to make a few $$ with their Arduino hobby
Well only if you're a C/C++ (or other non-tainted, eg. arduino, programming language) programmer at heart.
This is similar to something I was thinking about - I travel on a bus pretty much every day taking the same route and I was thinking about logging GPS and acceleration data (and probably a magnetic compass) to (a) get data about the driving (b) see if I could then predict location without using the GPS and (c) log possible changes in road surface/road conditions.
With an accurate GPS it should be easy to log the location of poor road surfaces, whether it's due to a pothole or not.
Maybe you could identify the driver from the driving statistics 
Maybe you could identify the driver from the driving statistics
Heh maybe but there are a lot of them - depends which day and what time. I doubt they drive 'that' differently and it will depend on traffic conditions as well.
I don't see how this would help. Boston is full of potholes. Detecting a pothole every few feet won't help wokers fill them in any faster. Now if someone created a robotic pothole filler......
Detecting a pothole every few feet won't help wokers fill them in any faster.
Haha - it'll give them an idea of the worst places though anf maybe in future when there are less holes it'll help them to find them.
I don't see why people with smartphones would want to have them running some logging app as they drive along - what's the incentive?
Obviously, they've never spent any real time in Boston.
Real Boston residents are PROUD of their potholes. I suspect some of them are made on purpose to keep out anyone who isn't a "Townie"... The boys in the Irish bars in Southie watch as "Fo-eghnahs" shatter their front ends as an afternoon pastime. No, really, I've had a pint and laughed along. Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge (especially around Central Square/MIT) is an Olympic obstacle course of busses, lost Suburbanites try to get to the expressway, and Yawning Caverns to the very Pits of Hell. There was a reason they had all those witch trials in Boston. Yawning Maws of the Abyss tend to attract that type, as many are unaware the Charles is actually a tributary of the Styx.
You are right of course about the tracking aspect.. Big Brother is already around enough, thanks! The work crews already know the problem areas. They have been the same problem areas for a few HUNDRED YEARS. A better idea would be to design a better fabric to enhance the durability of the road surface, and effective road management in enforcing weight limits on non-reinforced roadways. I'm just sayin.
focalist is spot on.
I once hit a pothole so hard I got a flat tire from it.
so fixing the potholes is less work for the tire industry ... so do we need more potholes? 