Soumitra Bhat

'Cityscape' - A location aware urban mobile service

Problem. A city is more than just a defined geographical region. A city is a living testament to its culture, history, people and values. There are a 10 million people living in Mumbai today. How many amongst them are even remotely aware of the rich offerings that this city has to offer? These 10 million people traverse the entire city every day of their lives but do not come back any richer with the experience. With Location Aware Communication Technology (LACT), there is an opportunity to add value to this void.

Approach. The project started with an in depth user and technology study to identify the expectations and technical possibilities within an Indian context. The study spanned 52 questionnaire respondents and 10 in-person interviews to gauge the expectations from CityScape. Using the technological review and the user requirements, concept level guidelines and feature list was drawn. Insights included guidelines for the 'form' for the device and stating some of the key physical characteristics of such a device - e.g. its should be a handheld device and not an In-car device.

Results. CityScape is a device that has stemmed out of the need to provide information right where you are and when it is required. Be it on the road, at a traffic light, on the highway, in a restaurant, at work in fact, wherever you may find yourself. What's more, it need not just be information that you asked for, it could be information that you never knew existed. It would tell you of choices which you didn't know existed, places you didn't know five minutes from your home, things to eat, see and join in that you never had the opportunity to do before.