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In mid April, the Urban Community of Strasbourg launched a new version of its StrasPlus app which now integrates NFC technology StrasPlus can be used by the people of Strasbourg and also by tourists and visitors. It uses the QR codes or NFC tags installed on 1,400 buildings and bus stops to provide three types of information:
•    Transport : traffic situations, real time waiting times, diversions, route planning and Velhop stations (self-service bike service),
•    News : cultural agenda, social networks and videos
•    Heritage : discovery of the city's main monuments and museums.
An agreement was signed with the French Post Office to install tags on 400 letterboxes indicating mail collection times and the closest post offices in the area.
Similar to the project in Nice, the tags feature the same "flower" graphic design which includes the Cityzi logo (used to identify secure NFC services compatible with mobiles of the same name) and a QR code which can be read by any type of smartphone. To promote this campaign, Cityzi and the Urban Community have organised a competition which involves tagging as many of these flower tags as possible. The winners will receive NFC-Cityzi mobile phones supplied by Bouygues Telecom, CIC Mobile, Crédit Mutuel Mobile, NRJ Mobile, Orange, Samsung and SFR.
When presenting the Strasplus application, the city's representatives also announced plans to test purchasing and validation of transport tickets on NFC-Cityzi mobile phones by the end of the year, before a global rollout in 2013.

 

The Lumia model was presented at the MWC 2012.

This was good news for the NFC regions as it marks the addition of the first Windows phone to the present range of NFC mobiles (version 7.5 Mango). The model presented was the smartphone Lumia 610 designed by the Finnish constructor Nokia. This middle of the range mobile will be commercialised in its NFC version in the third quarter of this year by Orange. It is compatible with all Cityzi services and also with the Mastercard Paypass system. So all we need now is an Apple mobile for iOS and the range will be complete. Maybe we will get our answer before this summer?

 

The European Commission published a green paper entitled Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments requesting that stakeholders submit their opinions and recommendations with regard to how the market should be regulated. The Mobile Contactless Services Forum provided Brussels with its response and requested that contactless / NFC technologies be taken into account to encourage "the emergence of mass markets and strengthen the competitiveness of each member state".

The Forum drafted this document on the basis of several discussions with its members. It estimates that Europe can:

•    Favour dialogue and exchanges between the member states to build a consensus on these topic areas,

•    Contribute to establishing common rules with regard to online, mobile and card payments, to ensure interoperability between the various solutions, reduce investments and minimise the technological risks. In this respect the compatibility between contactless Visa/MasterCard payment cards and secure mobile payments on Cityzi smartphones represents a positive solution for the development of applications simply because the same card terminal equipment is also used for retail payment services.

•    Ensure the security of payment methods and banking data as this is an essential factor for user confidence in mobile contactless solutions.

•    Keep a constant watch over market access conditions. The Forum highlights the fact that investments by some of the players, notably investments in security, must not be disrupted by the unforeseen arrival of new players who could use their networks without contributing economically and in proportion to the profits they generate by using them.

•    Act in the users' interest by simplifying payment processes and with the objective to harmonise coexisting services. Bearing this in mind, it is essential for Europe to ensure that services are clearly visible (clear identification and information...), that users are guaranteed protection (particularly when problems arise), that pricing models exist as well as a clear definition of the responsibilities of all players (who is responsible for what).
Based on the opinions provided by all players, the Commission will probably issue a "white paper" in the coming months and if necessary this will result in a draft European directive on electronic payments.

 

The French Ministry of Culture and Communication unveiled the list of 60 projects selected for its "innovative digital cultural services" call for proposals. This call was closed on 10 February; it represents a budget of 1.5 million Euros and 220 candidate projects took part. The 60 projects selected cover all areas of culture (heritage, regions, performing arts, books and reading, contemporary art, broadcasting, music…) and a broad range of services: visitor guidance, viewing facilities, fun interaction services, personalisation, digital mediation. The majority of the projects feature mobile technologies: NFC, augmented reality and 3D, providing further evidence of the wide range of potential uses. In particular, we would like to highlight two specific NFC projects :
•    The project proposed by the Tourism Development Agency in the Ardèche region, involving the creation of a tourist and cultural trail using NFC, QR codes and augmented reality.
•    The UrbanExpé project aimed at providing access to content that changes according to various time periods, using labels (QR codes or NFC tags) inserted in a brochure, leaflet, poster and/or fixed on a wall, in a card or on any other media.

 

As part of the exhibition entitled "GETTING AROUND, when our movements help to change our cities" taking place from 4 April to 26 August at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine and in partnership with Orange and Samsung, visitors can try an interactive application which guides them around using NFC technology.
The application is available for free from Google Play and the Apple Store. For visitors who do not have NFC mobile phones, the Cité de l’Architecture provides headphones and Samsung Galaxy S II NFC mobiles enabling them to follow the guide that is also accessible via QR codes. When the visitor scans one of the 23 tags (NFC or QRcode) with his mobile, the application provides commentary by historians, geographers and architects who worked on designing that particular section of the visit.

The application is divided into three parts :
•    discovery of the exhibition and an introduction to its theme topics via content that is also accessible outside of the museum,
•    on site, visitor guidance using a smartphone,
•    possibility to leave a comment on the visitors book
This pilot application is fully in line with the NFC-based strategy adopted by players in the Ile de France region whose aim is to make life easier for tourists before, during and after their stay. As you may recall, the Ile de France regional tourist board is currently working on a city pass combining a transport ticket and a visitor pass for access to the main tourist attractions in the capital. The regional tourist board is participating in a project involving 9 other regions which have signed a financing agreement with the State as part of the National Loan.

Presentation of the application on the Cité de l’Architecture website.

 

GPS is today one of the most widely used technical features used by mobile applications to provide users with contextual information about the nearest services or stores, or information about transport and local new. However it is still quite imprecise, due to jamming by the Americans who manage satellite positioning systems. NFC chips can provide a solution for this as they offer very precise geotagged information.
This is the testing ground that Mulhouse decided to explore when basing its NFC project on accessibility.
The first target of the Mulhouse project concerns the handicapped, for whom the city has already introduced an important programme to improve accessibility (80% of roads are accessible and 40% of buildings). For example, a visually impaired person can obtain an audio version of a sign, or inside a building he can access a description of the building layout to find out where each administrative department is situated.
The second target is for a regular type of application for tourists and the general public. In this case they provide NFC tags containing information and content about heritage, transport and public services.
Apart from helping the handicapped, what is original about the Mulhouse project is that it is an Open Data project and the content will be published online and can be used by third parties. If they want to, users can even publish information about their visit and share it.
 Mulhouse and its surrounding area (M2A) is one of the 17 regions preselected within the framework of the NFC/Smart City call for proposals