Mobile Urban Transformation: Helsinki
One of my favorite questions lately is “how can mobile technology transform the urban experience?” And a follow up is “what are mobile user needs on a global level?”
Cities are beginning to think broadly and strategically around how to improve life for citizens and businesses using mobile applications. They are considering how city services should be mobilized and how people want to receive and use mobile data.
A recent trip to Helsinki and conversations with directors at City Hall showcased some very practical applications of mobile within the urban landscape. (One would assume with Nokia headquarters only 15 minutes from downtown that Helsinki would be a mobile mecca, and in some ways that is correct…)
Helsinki’s residents are very engaged with their government – both overall and via their mobiles – due to their dependence on a wide range of tax-supported public services including health care and child care. Helsinki has supported government transparency and early participation of citizens in City service projects for some time, including running successful eParticipation forums. The City is so successful that research has proven Helsinki is a city full of “happy tax payers.”
How is the City of Helsinki helping citizens pay their taxes with a smile? Here are several successful mobile programs run across various city departments:
- Uni-directional Services: Mobile web sites
- Traffic timetables
- Tourist information
- Library card catalog and book reservation
- Recycling and waste management services
- City officials’ contact information (this is very popular)
- City of Helsinki web site was mobilized very early in 2007
- Bi-Directional Services: SMS alerts
- Traffic “exceptions” (e.g., jams, accidents, delays)
- Live public transportation arrival data
- Library late notices
- Construction sites giving information about project longevity with the option to send feedback
- Support service to people with addictions (e.g., coach or peer support, reminders, group chat, Q&A, etc.)
- Dentist appointment reminders (health care is public and the government receives the revenue)
- Latest local news
- Applications/transactions
- Helsinki’s citizens have purchased over 1 million bus tickets through their mobile phones
- The Helsinki Regional Planner maps the best transportation routes to and from destinations
- Tram Timetables allow users to save favorite bus numbers and actually see buses moving around the city on a map
- Paying parking tickets
- Increasing use of QR codes
Helsinki has also opened various types of data, such as real time traffic, which developers are experimenting with and a pilot is underway to tag all Helsinki cars that park locally with RFID tags.
So what can we learn from Helsinki? Besides my new almost-favorite dessert mämmi (yes, I really do like it … ), Marimekko and the Helsinki Mobile Phone Orchestra (pic below), the Finnish government seems eager to trial and integrate mobile services that benefit the populace. Some ideas for the future would be to start to incorporate even smarter location-based technology, social network integration and personalization of data that pay off user needs. But many cities can learn from their rich assortment of mobile solutions that are already making life for citizens easier. Kiitos (thank you) Helsinki!
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Heather is a Boston-based, very mobile marketing strategist. After working for 15+ years for global marketing agencies & brands she started consulting with fast-growth start-ups and became enamored with the transformation made possible by mobile innovation. Now she helps companies integrate mobile strategy into their marketing mix. Interests include managing her iPhone addiction, travel and adrenaline-inducing sports.
The first thought on local services for a city’s citizens is around utility services while on the move. Real-time collective traffic info as the usual suspect.
But on a second thought, one could see it also that way that people start to use handsets (and perhaps tablet devices) at home, just because they’re there already switched on and ready to go. No wait for a boot-up or wake-up from standby.
With screens getting larger and more and more citizens familiar with Internet apps on the mobile, local services that traditionally were used on the PC/desktop (such as quickly finding a good restaurant based on user recommendations etc.) could get popular on mobile devices. The service UI of course most probably needs an overhaul.