Now e-government is on the
cards
Abstract : Smartcard
technology is coming of age. Invented decades
ago, these cards with a built-in microprocessor
and memory are personal, portable and very
secure. They enable holders to enjoy a wide
range of services - but are usually limited to
proprietary platforms. A pilot scheme running in
England shows, for the first time, that a
scaleable and open-architecture system could
create smart cities across Europe.
Many smartcard schemes rolled out on a
large-scale focus on transport. Children receive
cards allowing them to travel to and from school
on buses at concessionary rates. "But nobody
dared to extend such schemes to several
different applications or issuers," says Carolyn
McKewan, coordinator of the SMARTCITIES project.
"Cities or regions would really benefit from
this, but they are wary of being tied to a
single supplier. They want something scaleable
and based on open standards."
SMARTCITIES demonstrates the feasibility of
ambitious smartcard schemes. Part of the
European Union's Information Society
Technologies (IST) programme, this project
brings together the English coastal city of
Southampton with nine partners. Today some
35,000 people in this mid-sized city hold the
latest-generation cards, which offer them access
to 14 different applications - including
membership and use of libraries, leisure centres
and public transport. That figure will rise to
60,000 people by mid-2004.
The cards are used by 32,000 university students
for identity purposes and accessing all faculty
facilities. Some 3,500 citizens of Southampton
can also use their cards to ride on the city's
university-link buses. "The aim is to give a
card to everyone here, including visitors and
people working in the city," adds McKewan. "This
technology can do many things. But a city will
only use the technology if it can see tangible
benefits."
Benefits include easy access to services for
cardholders and, in the case of authorities,
easier administration of those services. Used
intelligently, smartcards can encourage positive
behaviour. A partner scheme to SMARTCITIES,
running in the north of England, rewards
schoolchildren who choose healthy food at
lunchtime by giving them extra loyalty points.
Open and welcoming
The project's multi-issuer aspect - both the
university and the city now physically issue the
cards - is also novel. Others could join the
scheme, on condition they came to an agreement
with existing service providers. "Our scheme
frees the city of worrying about having just a
single supplier," says the project coordinator.
Her company, Schlumberger, is responsible for
overall project management. It led the
development of the open system architecture and
cards, as well as the application management
systems, application software technology and
mobile applications.
The open architecture system is noteworthy. "It
uses all known smartcard standards, which govern
the way the cards work with the terminals," says
McKewan. "We have designed a card-scheme
architecture and defined an Application
Programming Interface (API) by which any
application, old or new, can be put on the
card."
Essentially, this is a plug-and-play platform
that includes mobile download of applications to
the card and upload of value to the open
e-purse. "This is a scheme concept and an
architecture, not a fixed solution," says
McKewan. "Cards, terminals, applications and
car-management systems can be procured from any
source - subject to the compliance to the API
and other established standards." She underlines
the strong business case for the SMARTCITIES
system: "It provides card-level
interoperability, freedom of supplier choice and
is both proven and replicable."
Other cities are impressed by the results of the
open model being implemented widely. Dundee, in
Scotland, has adopted the project's logo on its
own smartcards while Reykjavik, in Iceland,
plans to adopt both the concept and logo. A
complementary IST project, EUCLID, is looking at
the use of smartcards to establish people's
digital identity in several countries in Europe.
Not everything has flowed smoothly. The
project's original goal was to enable mobile
download of applications to the cards through a
dual-slot mobile phone supplied by Motorola.
When this company pulled out of the project, the
remaining partners had to find an alternative
solution. Downloading is now done using a card
reader attached to a personal digital assistant
(PDA) device.
Spreading the message
"It has been a challenge getting different
cities from all over Europe to listen to us,
because there are many smartcard schemes
around," recalls McKewan. However she is
confident the Special Interest Group (SIG) ,
formed in 2001, will promote the project's
results through workshops and conferences. It
today has a membership of some 70 local
authorities throughout Europe, which have all
validated the model. The group was relaunched as
an independent membership organisation in
Tampere, Finland at the Telecities event on
e-democracy and Smart Cities, on 25-27 June 2003
and will ultimately organise itself as a
standards and accreditation body.
The Southampton-based project is one of 25
Pathfinder projects, under which the UK
government is testing innovative use of
e-government services. Southampton City Council
- which is partnered with a smartcard scheme for
schools, leisure centres and transport in
England's Tyneside region - was awarded
Pathfinder status in 2001.
E-government is receiving increasing attention
at the European level, with a conference on the
subject from 7-8 July 2003 in Como, Italy. This
event will assess the current status and future
of e-government in Europe, focusing on the
benefits of online service provision for
citizens and businesses. It is designed to
stimulate the uptake and dissemination of best
practices and provide a framework to address
e-government issues in the eEurope 2005 Action
Plan. The conference will also host the
first-ever winners of the eEurope Awards for
Innovation in eGovernment.
Besides the establishment of an open system
using the broadest existing standards, McKewan
is most proud of the legal work done under the
project. A Belgian university research centre,
the Crid, has resolved the issues around
data-privacy legislation in the context of
multi-application usage data. A smart move, by
anybody's standards.
Subject Descriptors : Information processing,
Information retrieval, Information transmission
Subject Index Codes : Information Processing,
Information Systems
Subject Class : IT, telecommunications
Remarks : Results Entry form
Collaboration Sought : Further research or
development support, Information
exchange/Training
Sources of Support : CEC
Programmes : IST
Projects : IST-1999-12252
Project Title : Multi-application Smart cards in
Cities
Contact Details
Contact Name : ABRIC, Cecile
Position : Project Manager
Contact Organisation : Schlumberger Systemes
S.A.
Address : Avenue Jean Jaures 50 BP 620-12
City : Montrouge
Region : ĪLE DE FRANCE
Hauts-de-Seine
Postcode : 92542
Country : FRANCE
Telephone Number : +33-1-47466475
Fax Number : +33-1-47466782
Electronic Mailbox :
abric@montrouge.tt.slb.com |
RoDI
ISOC
IWA
ARTT
RTS
WQC 2003
ISAQ 2005