10,000 beacons to enrich your station experience
By launching “Tech for good” on Wednesday, the President of the Republic reminded us that digital technology is not an end in itself, but rather the means for making the vision a reality. The vision of SNCF Gares & Connexions is #CityBooster: stations serving cities and their inhabitants. And digital does just that, by helping us meet the real needs of city dwellers and resolve the day-to-day problems they face.
We’ve done a study of the daily habits and expectations of passengers and local residents for the 400 busiest stations in France. A key preoccupation is time, our complex relationship to it and sense that time is short. Clients unanimously expect stations to help optimize their time and facilitate their daily lives.
We already have telephones that assess our exact travel time, within roughly ten minutes. These same smartphones can also detect our exact location, within twenty meters or so. What if tomorrow, we took another technological step forward and transformed minutes into seconds…? What if tomorrow, our entire surroundings were “intelligent” and communicated with us based on our exact location?
Just imagine… You’re a person with limited mobility: trips to the station aren’t always easy, especially at rush hour when you make your way through crowds of hurried passengers. Imagine a service that would automatically signal your presence as soon as you approached the station, so an attendant could come accompany you directly to your train. A great way to save time and enhance your comfort.
Take another case: To save time, you want to do your shopping at the station after work, before you go home. Imagine a shopping application that would inform you about current promotions, new products and special deals offered by the brands located in or near your station…
Last example: Your meeting finished earlier than expected and you’re at the station 45 minutes before your scheduled departure. What if, as soon as you walked into the station, you got a text message offering to exchange your ticket for an earlier train?
This will soon be possible thanks to beacons currently being installed in our stations! Beacons are small electronic boxes that use Bluetooth to transmit your exact location to your applications. They are more accurate than GPS, because they detect your location within just 5 meters! Above all, this technology is non-intrusive: you get the information you want (retail, cultural events, safety, good deals …) onlyafter you’ve activated Bluetooth, andonly if you have agreed to receive notifications. And it all stays within the station premises!
“A total of 300 stations will be equipped, with one third operational by the end of the year. That represents 10,000 beacons!”
For several months we’ve been working on mapping with startups like Intripper & Graphic Streams, and we will launch beacon deployment in stations with Polestar. The first experimentations take place in June in three pilot stations: Aix TGV, Nantes and Paris Gare de Lyon. The beacons will then be rolled out in thirteen stations on the Ile-de-France “C” line in September. A total of 300 stations will be equipped, with one third operational by the end of the year. That represents 10,000 beacons!
I’m convinced that this technology will make life easier for the 10 million people who pass through our stations each day. And on the occasion of the VivaTechnology trade show, I’m very pleased to announce the launch of the first network #OpenBeacon in the world. It will let designers and developers - and anyone else who want to contribute - create applications to enrich the quality of time spent in stations. Several open events are in the works, and all new ideas are welcome!
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