Smart Spaces

Exploitation of information in various every day environments

Smart spaces refer to build environments such as apartments, offices, museums, hospitals, schools, malls, university campuses, and outdoor areas that are enabled for co-operation of smart objects and systems, and for ubiquitous interaction with frequent and sporadic visitors. Smart Spaces are intelligent environments that:

• facilitate everyday practices
• are more efficient with respect to resource and costs
• create richer user experiences
• enhance users’ awareness of the local opportunities

Challenges

How can users identify services or objects and discover information in different environments in less than 2 seconds? Picture source: Wikimedia, Roland z h

The challenges of the Smart Spaces Thematic Action Line are to allow the exploitation of information in various every day working and living environments and to create comfortable service experiences for uses in different roles and with different objectives. A key challenge is the creation of innovation platforms for new applications and services. Thus, the objectives include developing the platforms in the spirit of open innovation, creating an ecosystem of smart spaces services, and supporting the exploitation.

Applications and services should be accessible easily and intuitively via familiar devices Picture source: Nokia

Activities

Smart Spaces activities rely on living labs for testing, exploration, experimentation, and validation. In addition to first activities, five areas have been selected to include a set of various places and to allow interesting opportunities for new innovations.

• Smart spaces application and research – new applications based on the principle of sharing information in the local context between systems and devices
• Pervasive information, interaction and interface – augmented reality inspired new application and solutions using various technologies
• Public Living Labs – creating and testing new applications with users, especially in the retail environment
• Education activities supporting the topics in the Thematic Action Line

Application areas for new activities

• Public spaces like exhibition areas, travel and waiting areas and games in public areas
• Applications using user generated content in public areas
• Retail environments - solution easing the every-day life of different kinds of users and user groups

Also, some key technologies like enabling technologies for human centred interaction in smart spaces and generic localization technologies supporting applications are in the scope.

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