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Weekly Updates* Context Awareness Computing Technology is used to acquire and utilise information about the context of a device to provide services that are appropriate to the particular people, place, time, events, and so on. For example, a mobile phone will always vibrate and never ring in a concert hall, if the system knows the location of the mobile phone and the concert schedule.
* Augmented Reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer generated data and can include the use of motion tracking data, fiducial marker recognition using machine vision, and the construction of controlled environments containing any number of sensors and actuators.
* Geographic Information System (GIS) is widely used for scientific investigations, resource management, asset management, environmental impact assessment, urban planning, community health monitoring, cartography, criminology, marketing, and traffic planning, and is an integral part of U-infrastructure.
* Global Positioning System (GPS) is a widely used system for navigation worldwide and a useful tool for map making, land surveying, commerce, and scientific uses. GPS also provides a precise time reference used in many applications including scientific study of earthquakes, and synchronisation of telecommunications networks.
The use of these ICT tools has a significant impact on current urban infrastructure planning and urban reformation in Korea. For example, after a successful implementation of U-infrastructure pedestrians will travel less to meet their needs and cars will use less energy by avoiding traffic congestion using the navigation and traffic control systems. Consumption behaviours are also likely to change as more people purchase goods and services via online ubiquitous services. The provision of U-infrastructure provides many advantages to society. The following section discusses the selected key areas of U-infrastructure and its implications.
Components of ubiquitous infrastructure
U-infrastructure planning focuses on two key aspects of the provision of urban services. U-infrastructure provides an efficient infrastructure planning and delivery system that complies with the planning act and regulations and is relatively inexpensive, and it can maximise the effectiveness of infrastructure systems by providing transparent, adequate, and satisfactory services for the public. U-infrastructure, therefore, provides access to a variety of services through high-speed networks and advanced communication services for the public, ranging from U-life to U-business and U-government (see Figure 1), which are briefly discussed below.
Firstly, U-life benefits from the U-infrastructure components that are affecting citizens' daily life activities, U-transport enables citizens to access places, wherever and whenever, they want to go. The real-time and accurate information generated by U-infrastructure enables public transport systems to work efficiently, arrive on time and minimise the waiting period at public transport stops or stations. Also for those who are driving their own cars the LED display board lets them know which road to choose and provides them with the numbers and location of remaining parking lots in a parking area as wireless networks continually send latest information to the mobile devices installed in the car. Traffic information is updated constantly in accordance to any changes occurring within the U-city through the assistance of U-Infrastructure.
Secondly, U-business makes use of U-infrastructure components that are supporting business activities of the citizens. U-transport helps business activities within the city. U-transport provides not only the efficient transport services in U-life but also helps develop essential logistic services (e.g. delivery of goods and services). Rapid, safe and cost-saving transport services supported by U-technologies can raise the productivity and quality both in demand and supply sides. U-transport services and infrastructure can create opportunities for many new businesses with a high quality of service and utilities as a result of increasing demand from the public and firms.
Thirdly, U-government, much like E-government, makes all vital governmental services available to the public. For example, again in the area of U-transport, until now, the Korean government has invested a significant portion of its budget on overcoming traffic congestion and pollution problems caused by the transport network. U-infrastructure such as bus and trains with RFID and sensors can both improve the proportion of public transport use and alleviate the transport problems we are facing at present (Lee et al. 2008a: 153).
In Korea, U-infrastructure is used in transport, health emergency services, fire fighting, security, urban amenities, urban management and ICT portals to monitor environmental protection, water and power grids, and sewerage and waste treatment and so on. Some of the U-infrastructure services also provide an early warning system, for instance, meteorology service, earthquake data collection, and alarm and video monitoring services. Other U-infrastructure services focus on improving public heath care services, for example, by providing homecare and emergency calling services for families with young children, elderly and disabled. Smart cards are not only used on public transport services but also in other public utilities, such as schools, post offices, hospitals and community centres. Any person who holds a smart card can pay a bus or taxi fare or make payment at post offices, public fitness centres, cinemas, and theatres and so on by just touching a sensor (Lee et al. 2008b).
Urban planners and policy makers in cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong are now considering developing ubiquitous computing environments for people, buildings, urban infrastructures, so that people, objects, and places in cities can simultaneously communicate with each other. However, there are several obstacles and challenges for U-infrastructure becoming a seamless infrastructure provision and management system (Pratchett 1999). These include how to finance the technology (as developing U-infrastructure is quite costly), how to overcome current digital and knowledge divides (haves v. have nots), and how to ensure the openness of the political system needed for such a transparent system (democratic and uncorrupted).
Keeping in mind these challenges, U-infrastructure planning involves many tasks--forecasting and envisioning potential future societies, devising U-infrastructure services to meet society and citizens' needs, building physical mobile and/or built infrastructure and environment for ubiquitous computing, planning U-infrastructure spatial structure and land use, and managing U-infrastructure and its planning process (Lee et al. 2008a). Since the objectives of U-infrastructure vary greatly according to the specific local characteristics and urban and societal problems that cities are facing, it is very important for cities to decide carefully the kind of U-infrastructure services they need, considering cost, technological availability, and the needs and priorities of the public.
Constructing U-infrastructure must be strategically planned, especially focussing on how to bring ICTs and physical urban environment together. Both mobile ubiquitous computing environment (MUCE--wearable computers or mobile phones) and built ubiquitous computing environment (BUCE--digital streets) including information on embedded urban infrastructure and space, are needed in order to establish a fully functioning U-infrastructure and hence a U-city. Previous technology stakeholders in Korea developed MUCE without considering the physical side of the urban setting so it was not as successful as it was hoped to be. Sensible implementation of BUCE includes developing U-infrastructure convergence technologies between ICTs and other components of urban infrastructure and BUCE development includes new urban structures and land use planning such as planning and development of digital walls as central urban screens, ubiquitous digital streets, and ubiquitous open space and parks.
UBIQUITOUS URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN KOREA
During the last two decades, Korea has continuously developed national strategies for sustainable urban development through different ICT-based projects--i.e. Cyber Korea, E-Korea and UKorea. The majority of people in Korea own and make use of a personal computer as a result of the Cyber Korea project in the late 1990s (Lee et al. 2008a). Rapid ICT development led to the development of the E-Korea project, which aims to make internet use widespread and build a high-speed internet network and a virtual city so that some of the urban activities could take place in this cyber space as part of an urban information system. E-government and E-commerce were also among the major strategies of the E-Korea project. As a result of this project, and highly benefiting from the virtual space, urban planners in Korea are now able to inform and discuss with stakeholders and other interested bodies as well as the general public about the ongoing projects and planning schemes, and encourage them to participate in the local decision making processes (Yigitcanlar 2006). The subsequent U-Korea initiative, for the first time, turned the focus onto the integration of ICTs and the physical places in cities with an aim of making the virtual and actual cities converge (Ha 2003). In the first phase, the U-Korea initiative has built an extensive wireless urban infrastructure network in most of the metropolitan or large urban areas and focused on bringing together ICTs, knowledge and urban spaces to provide urban amenities to the public. Under the latest U-Korea initiative, the Korean government is now working towards building U-cities by integrating U-infrastructure into physical urban places as an integral part of the national strategy of U-Korea. As a national urban development project, U-city emphasises the importance of U-infrastructures by highlighting the capacity of ICTs to inform better urban planning and management as well as making major contributions to ICT education, ICT equipments, software and contents and to assisting the construction and telecommunication services industries and infrastructure planning and development (Lee et al. 2008b).
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