Smart museum and smart hotel as part of a smart city

    The main goal of the Internet of Things is to create a better world for humanity, in which objects around us know that we love, what we want, what we need, and respond to these desires accordingly. In 2016, growth in the popularity of projects related to the concept of a smart city is expected , since the amount of open data is growing exponentially - thanks to this, developers will be able to provide new APIs for creating software applications. According to Gartner , in 2016, 6.4 billion connected devices will be used worldwide, which is 30% more than in 2015.







    The idea of ​​a smart city has been discussed and developed for a long time. The ability to provide users with new services using smart objects is attractive for many areas of activity. The smart city will be able to manage the consumption of water and electricity, monitor the health of the population, manage the infrastructure.

    With the growing number of integration opportunities, smart phones and tablet computers are starting to play a key role in the implementation of a smart city, since they are devices that can control other devices and transfer information between users.

    An important aspect of city life is cultural centers, as well as tourist activities. Taking this into account, it makes sense to implement a smart system that can improve the user experience when visiting a museum. For example, by tracking the movement of visitors, a smart museum will be able to transmit information about queues and the situation in exhibition halls to their smartphones, modifying its status depending on various factors (for example, the number of people in the hall).

    This can be done, for example, with the help of iBeacon beacons, which allow you to accurately determine the position of a person in relation to an object. With such devices, a smart museum will be able to notify visitors about special offers, as well as share information about exhibition halls.

    Another interesting idea to improve the cultural experience of visitors can be the creation of wearable devices that can recognize the art work that people are looking at. Integration with social networks will allow the user to share his impressions of a painting or sculpture and to draw useful information himself.

    This can help form the so-called “social Internet of things” (SIoT), in which you can read and listen to different opinions about the exhibition or event, as well as leave a corresponding comment in social media.

    Moreover, thanks to the beacons, the younger generation will be able to share their impressions with the world. With the help of smart technologies it will be possible to put likes and leave comments directly "under certain paintings or sculptures." It will be possible in a couple of clicks to get a route to the exposition that your friends liked so much.

    All this will play into the hands of the exhibition owners, since such a huge amount of digital information will allow to conduct high-quality analytics - to follow, where visitors spend more time, which routes they prefer, how strongly they are interested in this or that exhibit.



    The potential of a smart museum is simply enormous. Perhaps there will be no need for guides, since all the necessary information about the exhibits will be delivered directly to your mobile phone. The application on the smartphone itself will build a route on a map and guide you through the entire museum to the work of Leonardo da Vinci "Gioconda", and also tell interesting facts.

    Moreover, visitors will have the opportunity to customize the tour for themselves, learning multimedia content while walking around the hall, and using gamification techniques (which can be interesting, first of all, for children), you can involve people in an interesting historical story, inviting them to follow on certain check points. Gamification can have a major impact on user experience, and this is one of the reasons why museums are mastering mobile technology.

    All this was previously unattainable. The museum got the opportunity to follow the footsteps of the retail industry and make special offers based on the preferences of the client - special themed drinks in cafes or souvenir shops. This will attract additional customers.

    In Russia, the technologies of a smart museum are gradually becoming a reality. The Smart Museum platform has already appeared , which should help exhibition visitors to receive timely and comprehensive information about the exhibition. The project is an electronic guide and provides an opportunity to learn details about the exhibits without a guide and a waste of Internet traffic. The project was founded in 2012 and is already being actively implemented in some museums, among which are the State Literary Museum, the Furniture Museum in Moscow and the State Tretyakov Gallery.

    To use the services of the project, the user must download the application on his smartphone or tablet and read the QR codes that are attached to the plate of each exhibit.



    Of course, when tourists come to a city, after they visited the exhibition, they need to rest somewhere. Hotels are another place where smart technologies and beacons can be applied. Imagine a hotel that automatically tracks your location and opens all the doors in front of you - you will no longer need a key.

    If you install a lot of beacons in the hotel building, they will be able to automatically mark the time of arrival and departure, and will help you find the way to your apartment or other premises. Smart technology, located in the apartment, will also allow you to choose music and customize the lighting design.

    PonderAirbnb started this, and its leaders believe that when a client rents a house for himself, he does not acquire a room, but a baggage of impressions. Fast Company reports that Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, wants the company not only to act as an intermediary between homeowners and tenants.

    Cesky decided that Airbnb would focus on hospitality and customer convenience. “If you ask Brian what the secret behind Airbnb’s growth is, he will say that this has nothing to do with the desire of people to buy cheaper housing,” said Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator. “Airbnb could start renting cars, or something like that, but no ... The project team decided to gain a foothold in the hotel business.”

    iBeacon may well become part of this vision. Beacons located in the rented apartment, can notify you about interesting events taking place nearby, or interesting places, like souvenir shops. From the point of view of the homeowner, there are also pluses.

    iBeacon will be reported to landlords when the guest left the house or, on the contrary, when he arrived. Customer smartphones will be able to receive messages from Airbnb, depending on the time of the day or the weather outside - so to speak, travel tips. This will only have a positive user experience.

    Since the impressions of the trip are made up not only of the impressions of the place where you spend the night, you can imagine what the beacons are able to offer at each stage of the journey. A special worn beacon located on the wrist will be able to notify you of the crossing of the border of the new city and report the location of good bars, restaurants, and other centers.

    How do we go beyond the old paradigms? We need to stop counting hotels as simple rooms, and count them as media platforms, whole communities. You need to stop thinking about the Internet of things, but think about the Internet of impressions and experience.

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