Fixed Mobile Convergence

Looking to guide its tourists to discover lesser-known parts of the city, the City of Venice has been working with IBM to develop a mobile phone-based pilot initiative which will provide instant information on historical sites.

IBM’s (News - Alert) agreement with the City of Venice is part of its “Smart City” initiative. As more and more people migrate to cities, cities all over the world find it extremely difficult to provide the necessary infrastructure to sustain such population. In such a scenario, IBM suggests that cities must use new technologies to transform their systems to optimize the use of finite resources.

Visitors to Venice who have a Wi-Fi enabled mobile device can download an application called TagMyLagoon with the help of a new free Wi-Fi network provided by Venice throughout the city. The select locations will contain passive sensors which denote the points of interest. To get contextual information and prompts to the visitor, all they need to do is to take a picture of the place.

“It is vital for the future that we transform our cities into accessible, dynamic, thriving communities," said Luciano Martucci, president of IBM Italy, in a release. "In cities like Venice, a world heritage site, technology can make the local systems and existing infrastructure smarter and create benefits directly related to improving the quality of life for all its citizens and promote the historical and cultural heritage, in a cost-effective way.”

With the help of TagMyLagoon, users can interact with sensors and devices that put them in connection with people, physical locations, and information. They will be using the Internet and Wi-Fi network to achieve this, states IBM.

IBM has been entering into various technology agreements in Italy of late. Recently, the city of Parma entered into a strategic initiative with IBM with the aim of creating a Smart City. IBM consultants will serve on an Innovation Board to identify and design a new model for a sustainable city through a range of digital solutions.