During the week September 5 to 9, 2016 in Benicassim – Spain, took place the second week of the Vespucci initiative, about sensors and mobile applications for smart cities. Where GeoC in Spain attended.
This summer school had as facilitators, as Michael Gould (Universitat Jaume I), Christian Sailer (ETH Zurich), Steve Liang (University of Calgary), Thomas Bartoschek (University of Münster).
With attenders of several countries such as Colombia, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Germany, Cuba, Portugal. We had the opportunity to face interesting discussions of different topics, for instance, the real problem that we want to solve in our research topic, a business model for research projects, education and mobile learning, sensors, all those topics were covered using small groups for productive results and improve the local experiences.
As a following, a short summary of the topics presented and key concepts headed.
- Smart Solution without digital technology access.
The summer school started with the introduction presented by Pr. Mike Gould, with the history of Vespucci initiative and the objectives and logistic of this summer school. Afterward, Pr. Gould led the initial discussion about the current challenges faced by researches in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) field. Using two groups was needed to select 5 themes related to smart cities taken of digital newspaper http://smartcitynews.global and think an integrated solution with access to digital technologies and other without any access to digital technologies.
At the end of the discussion the attenders we had the opportunity to explore possible solutions using the current city resources, small initiatives could be considering to promote the citizen engagement and change behavior. For sure it was an interesting exercise where the technology was the core of the discussion.
- Internet of Cows, and Cat Poo.
After the exploratory discussion led by Dr. Gould, the second discussion about the materials for Internet of things and smart cities was headed by Pr. Dr. Steve. This interesting presentation had several aspects presented using a mission and trend schema. Here the summary of the topics was presented.
- Everything that is able to connect to internet will be connected.
- Locations matters in IOT.
- Network effect.
- The true value of IoT depends on system of systems.
- Business Model
- Open standards will play critical roles to build the IoT and smart cities.
- The smartest city in the world is the city with least friction for innovation
Finally, the Pr. Steve presentation had a section about startup companies, where he talked about his experience with sensor Up, the startup company founded for himself. (http://www.sensorup.com )
If you want to know more information about the Steve presentation, follow this link to explore the slides.
- Mobile Learning and Education against Virtual Reality.
The third discussion was headed by Pr. Christian Sailer, with the presentation about mobile learning and his research project where was presented his web platform used to teach and guide some students using mobiles devices.
He is convinced that the technology and mobiles devices with locations sensors can give the new approach to the traditional method of the education in high schools and universities, moreover, he explains not just the challenges faced for children also professors.
If you want for information about his presentation just follow this link
Once the presentation has finished, we started a discussion about the differences and benefits of mobiles learning and use of the virtual reality in the education context as well.
- SenseBox – Your “pocket” climate sensor
Thomas Bartoschek, of University of Munster, presented the project Sense Box (https://www.sensebox.de/en/ ), project related to a platform of sensors low cost, and accessible for home use and schools, especially high school, with a student with some programmer abilities.
The last day of the summer school was dedicated to present the final project where the attenders were divided by groups, has had to present an innovation solution related to the topics discussed during the week, and the last presentation was made by Christian Salier, who is also a rider and bike lover, he shared with the summer school attenders his experience when he participated in the Tour d’ Afrique in 2012.
Through the maps, videos, and a lot of pictures Pr. Sailer, showed the main memories and experiences that he had to live in this huge sports challenge.
With this inspiring story, Pr. Mike Gould gave for done the last week of Vespucci initiative. Where the sensors its use in the smart cities with a smart citizen, open data, education, and the mobility ideas were the main resource obtained by all the attenders. Without any doubt as a great week and really useful to improve our thoughts and our research view.
Conclusions.
Vespucci initiative is a great space to share, expose, and discuss the current ideas, bellow different environments and backgrounds, and facilitators with a lot of experience is possible to talk and understand in deeper level the topic presented.
Is not about the number of talks, and the topic presented is about how you can share your toughs and how you can contribute to all the discussions with your colleges.
Topics presented were Sensors, Virtual reality, Education in terms mobile learning, Open Data and its implications.
During the discussions, the main concern was thinking about the real problem that the attenders attempt to solve and present the idea using three concepts, Problem, Solution, Sustainability. Where the business model and how the group can make the solution sustainable was one of the most important factors, a question like, who will pay for that?
Mobility, was topic most studied, using this challenge to present several solutions that involve sensors, education, GIS, and real problems with a business model to make the possible solution. http://www.vespucci.org