*Connecthings meets the challenge of giving cities the digital tool for enriching people’s mobility and cultural experience in offering real time information and contextual services in the areas of transport, cultural and touristic heritage and day-to-day life, through the implementation of contactless tags readable by any Smartphone (NFC, QR codes & SMS).

Today, most of the information about a city, about transport time schedules or about urban life is available in the Internet, and people can get access to it with their Smartphone. But this can be very tough to find the relevant information at the very moment you need it: a city’s website can contain thousands of pages. Applications stores are also very well-stocked and it’s sometimes difficult to find out the appropriate application that we need, or to even know that this application exists. In this 21st century mobility context, people want the right information at the right time, without waiting.

*Connecthings addresses the city’s needs to establish a durable and innovative contact with their inhabitants and visitors, by bridging physical and virtual worlds. Trough the implementation of contactless tags, bus stops offer real-time transport information, monuments turns any Smartphone into an interactive audio guide, and so does on any urban furniture. By doing so,*Connecthings also answers the cities’ requests to highlight the useful and practical information available to all people visiting them.

*Connecthings provides contactless mobile services through the implementation of NFC tags and QR codes on street furniture and public spaces. *Connecthings looks for the appropriate existing information in data bases, and gives it back to users on the most readable, fast and smart way. In the area of transport, transport stops, bike/car-sharing terminals, and car parks entrances are equipped with tags giving access to real-time schedules and traffic information, and availability.

As regards cultural and touristic heritage, monuments and points of interest are equipped with tags giving access to specific digital content about their history (video, photo, audio etc.). In day-to-day life, the implementation of tags is the solution to transform emblematic and traditional objects and places into something communicating and interactive: a tag on a store’s window can give access to special content that is not available elsewhere. The solution provided gives different levels of information and bridges all the functional areas of a city, and delivers useful information to users at the very moment they need it. From any tag, the content of other tags nearby is easily accessible.

Multimodality and interoperability are two essential criteria to ensure users’ accession to this innovative system. Moreover, by tapping a tag, users get involved and active: for example they can check-in, validate their e-ticket or take part in a track game from monuments to monuments equipped with tags to

The solution provided integrates several levels of economic impacts. First of all, not only are tags inexpensive but they are also durably deployed and the contents they are giving access to can be changed unlimitedly on request (so the solution’s implementation in itself is at a lesser cost.)

Smart is a city that offers higher value-added services to its citizens by spending less. Transport companies, for example, rather than displaying costly screens in every bus stop can easily see the advantages of using the screen that people have in their own pocket: their cell phones. It’s more personal, more adaptable to profiles and even smarter than regular screens.

There is also a virtuous economic model that comes out of the tags’ implementation: the more tags there are, greater are the experiences and the traffic on the related content. This means the more actors there are involved in the project, the more relevant the uses become, and the more pages are seen. From a certain amount of connections, this can be really relevant to sell advertising spaces to local shops or retails to promote the city’s products and services.

The first community impact is that tags create a link between various actors: between the city, transport and tourism infrastructures and its inhabitants, its visitors and its local businesses. Regarding cultural and touristic heritage, tags allow inhabitants from their daily bus stops to find out more about their own city and to discover things around them that they did not know until now. To go further, the implementation of tags on a store’s window giving access to specific content, (loyalty program, special prices…) creates a new experience between a shop owner and its clients.

Secondly, it creates a powerful new communication tool to local authorities: a more personal way to discuss with citizens, showing them the city’s new projects or increasing visibility on social networks. This pinpoints that a city and its services go in line with users ‘new digital practices.

Third, there is a real opportunity to allow all blind or partially sighted people to get access to the contents, by implementing tags in Braille letters for example and creating voice text application.

Last but not least, giving real-time information to users about all transport means nearby can enhance new ways of getting around the city: instead of waiting its bus for 15 minutes, users can see bike-sharing availabilities nearby, see walking distance and worth-seeing monuments on the way. As a result, there is a new way of interacting between places and of considering the city’s transport network.

The solution that Connecthings provides has a real impact on sustainable development:
First, it reduces paper use. In cultural and touristic area for example, contactless tags allow to use phones as audio guides. E-ticketing solutions are also possible through the tags, whether in transport means or in museums and cultural institutions. Tags that are deployed are durable, so once they are stuck there is no need to replace them, even if we want to edit the associated content.
Second, it reduces electricity wastes of regular 24h-digital screens. At bus stops, electricity waste reaches zero compare to regular screens as people use their own device, only when they need the information and only the time to get it.