Imagine a day where people could instantly harness and interact with the abundance of data around them. What if a bus stop became a source of real-time departure updates? Or if a pothole on your walk to work became a platform for good citizen reporting and resulted in more efficient city service delivery?
Council Associate Partner Civic Resource Group International (CRGI) is helping bring that day closer with CivicAR™, which brings the power of augmented reality to cities. The CivicAR solution is applicable to practical, business-specific uses by city staff and citizens alike, allowing them to access and act upon information based on their locations and needs.
The company says these data-driven services and solutions are common in the private sector, but cities and the people they serve can benefit from them just the same.
“Our focus on smart city solutions reflects our belief that innovation should organically flow into cities’ and people’s everyday lives, not only for entertainment or gaming, but for enhancing even the most repetitive, routine tasks that urban dwellers go through every day,” said CRGI President Dane Smith.
Connecting people with their surroundings
CivicAR delivers information that helps better connect people to services or their environment while they’re out and about. They don’t have to think about where to find the information; the application uses several different types of context to determine their needs and serves up data that meets them. That data can be delivered in a variety of languages.
A visual search feature allows users to scan city assets like subway stations, restaurants, signs and even trees for information. The directional search feature enables them to simply point their mobile device to explore and engage with their environment. A virtual teleportation feature lets them visualize distant points of interest and facilities with 360 views --- all remotely.
Benefits for cities too
For local governments, augmented reality becomes a tool for instant citizen engagement, efficient problem solving and effective service delivery. CivicAR’s integrated localization and geolocation features can even map users and content precisely within their environment, providing valuable user analytics.
Experts say cities have to start thinking of serving their residents in new ways or they will be left behind. Wall Street Forensics finds that just having a website doesn’t cut it anymore. Like the private sector, cities have to adopt new tools, like augmented reality, so they can more effectively connect and deliver services.
More about CRGI…
Civic Resource Group CEO shares insights on working with governments
How CRG's multi-purpose platform paves the way to integrated eGov
Video: CivicConnect Water