RFID tagging the city bicycles to make them geosearchable
In Copenhagen, just like a lot of other big cities - we have free to use bicycles which is located around the city in special bike-racks. You get one by putting a 20kr - coin into the release mechanism, a coin you'll get back when you put the bike in one of the special bike-racks in another part of town.
The problem
There are never any bikes when you need them... partly because they are simply stolen, I think someone once told me that 50% of the bikes disappeared every year... that's a lot!!!
I don't think that this idea will solve that problem... or maybe it could help relocate the missing bikes if proper geo tagging is implemented.
The spark that created this idea
You take:
- City bikes concept
- An idea about RFID tagged umbrellas called Dutch Umbrella
- An online metro map, showing the current positions of all metro trains called Byens Puls (=City pulse, you know the nerve line of the city)
The Idea
Well it all most spells itself out - adding the 3 together, you get an online map showing where the city bikes are located, so you can decide where to go an pick one up, or don't bother at all. Also enabling the geo tagging /GPS, could enable a return-bike-crew to find lost bikes and put them in to use again - I know they have a crew finding lost bikes in Aarhus, but they rely on common sense - as to where people usually through the bikes after use...
Take a bit more from the Dutch Umbrella idea; I read some place (innovationlab.dk) that they are giving store owners, who offer a so called raindrop (a pick-up and drop point) valuable information of the umbrellas way around town, making interesting data on the whereabouts of your potential customers. So for example a candy-store owner can see that 60% of his customers come from the nearby cinema - making it possible for him to focus marketing and so on.
Another angle on this idea is that it provides some social public awareness. "where is everybody?" is not a question you have to ask anymore, you can check to see where all the bikes are - maybe there is a concert you didn't know about...
Where the Dutch Umbrella works well if it's raining a lot, the bike concept is better during the summer - maybe the two should co-exists...
The problem
There are never any bikes when you need them... partly because they are simply stolen, I think someone once told me that 50% of the bikes disappeared every year... that's a lot!!!
I don't think that this idea will solve that problem... or maybe it could help relocate the missing bikes if proper geo tagging is implemented.
The spark that created this idea
You take:
- City bikes concept
- An idea about RFID tagged umbrellas called Dutch Umbrella
- An online metro map, showing the current positions of all metro trains called Byens Puls (=City pulse, you know the nerve line of the city)
The Idea
Well it all most spells itself out - adding the 3 together, you get an online map showing where the city bikes are located, so you can decide where to go an pick one up, or don't bother at all. Also enabling the geo tagging /GPS, could enable a return-bike-crew to find lost bikes and put them in to use again - I know they have a crew finding lost bikes in Aarhus, but they rely on common sense - as to where people usually through the bikes after use...
Take a bit more from the Dutch Umbrella idea; I read some place (innovationlab.dk) that they are giving store owners, who offer a so called raindrop (a pick-up and drop point) valuable information of the umbrellas way around town, making interesting data on the whereabouts of your potential customers. So for example a candy-store owner can see that 60% of his customers come from the nearby cinema - making it possible for him to focus marketing and so on.
Another angle on this idea is that it provides some social public awareness. "where is everybody?" is not a question you have to ask anymore, you can check to see where all the bikes are - maybe there is a concert you didn't know about...
Where the Dutch Umbrella works well if it's raining a lot, the bike concept is better during the summer - maybe the two should co-exists...
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