The City of Bremerhaven chooses Bluetooth to deliver up-to-date mobile information on the city and the tourist attractions. In this story Bremerhaven tells why they have taken that decision. Extending the “guidance on all aspects of life” concept to a mobile access via Bluetooth is an innovative service that has not been established yet anywhere else in the North Sea Region. In April Bremerhaven installs hotspots and the city will start the testing phase.

For the publication of city related information different media channels are currently being used like flyers, static signs, websites, etc. to exist beside each other because they are appropriate for a specific purpose.
The customers desire to get free or low cost up-to-date information while being outside. To meet these requirements, Bremerhaven is currently using 22 Information Terminals at central places in and around the city centre, aiming to bridge the information gap the customer faces whilst being outside and in need of information. Currently only tourist attractions are displayed at the terminals. Considering the customers wishes to provide all kinds of information about the City and the region, the themes of information on these Information Terminals need to be expanded.

Free of charge

Bremerhaven wants to give free of charge and tailored information to all customers groups , e.g. young people, elderly people, businessmen, visitors/tourists, etc. These Terminals are yet insulated points of information, which provide information via screen and are being online-updated centrally. Bluetooth can easily be used as a free of charge medium, it is integrated in almost every mobile phone, which guarantees easy access to this services.

With the success of the iPhone and similar smart devices we see an increasing demand for information exchange with these devices. The Bluetooth approach will enable customers to integrate the information available on our portals with their smart phones and take information with them for later use.
Citizens need a bundle of services and information to manage their life in their city. Concerning demographic change processes, services have to be adapted to the requirements of elderly people. Business people or tourists visiting a region need tailored information about their concerns. Communication channels have to be specific to the target groups. Information has to be affordable, provided quickly and with low threshold.

Monitoring

Bridging the information gap by providing free of charge information indoor (e.g. in public building, museums…) and outdoor (bus stations, city centre, retail centres). This pilot is regarded as a test case for the Bluetooth channel. The test case will be accommodated by an acceptance study, usage and information demand will be monitored.

The city aims to provide low threshold information free of charge for everyone able to use a mobile phone. Extending the “guidance on all aspects of life” concept to a mobile access via Bluetooth is an innovative service that has not been established yet anywhere else in the North Sea Region.

Research needs to find out how to speed up data transmission, how to improve transmission of high data volume, best-case practices for transmission aspects, development of vandalism-safe indoor and outdoor hotspots. The innovative aspect lies in the overall approach of an information system of all kinds of public information, tailored to specific customer groups.

The generic development of solutions as well as the co-design will help to build-up a solution which can be realised by other partners as well and which also will be innovative and attractive to be take over by the region or the federal states.

Hardware and costs

Actually discussing concerning contract options with the Bluetooth hardware supplier of our choice retard the purchasing. The problem is that the needed equipment does not come with a “pay-once” business model but there are running costs involved due to regularly needed updates and maintenance for the cell phone database. We need to keep running costs down.

Due to mobile phone/Bluetooth support being specific for every single model/type, there are phone databases to be maintained by the supplier, thus the running costs. We have now managed to cut them down to ~25€/per month and hotspot, still this means about ~3000€/year for the whole installation.
We decided to drop the stand-alone-hotspot-approach and go for a solution integrated in our info kiosks. Reasons for this are the already present power line, internet connectivity and outdoor capabilities. We need an interface between our info kiosks and the Bluetooth hotspot.

Hopefully till end of March we are able to buy the hardware. In April we will install the hotspots and start with the testing phase immediately.