Share memories, advertise, learn funny facts, and exercise - new services developed by international teams enter the open ubiquitous Oulu in Finland

The services of the four finalists of the first international UBI Challenge will be deployed on the unique UBI-hotspots in the heart of the City of Oulu on July 7, 2011. The services will be available free of charge to the general public till December 2011. The organizers of the UBI Challenge and representatives of the finalists will introduce the new services at the UBI-hotspot in the main library of Oulu (street address Kaarlenväylä 3) on July 7, 2011, at 1pm.

The 1st International Open Ubiquitous City Challenge 2010-2011 (“UBI Challenge” for short) has provided the global ubiquitous computing research community with a unique opportunity to innovate and deploy novel services in authentic urban environment for use by the general public. The four finalists were selected from 11 proposals from all over the world by an international jury including a number of leading names on ubiquitous computing. The user value and impact of the services will be studied till the end of August, after which the jury will nominate the winner(s). They will receive their awards in the international MUM 2011 conference to be held in Beijing, China, on Dec 7-9, 2011.

The CLIO service enables the formation of collective memories, the shared memory of the townspeople. The user can, for example, view, share and comment on information about places worth visiting, or relate memories they have about a certain place. The service has been developed by a research team from the Ionian University in Greece.

The Digifieds service allows anyone to add their own classified ads to a digital notice board on a UBI-hotspot. The data is easily downloadable into the user’s own mobile devices. A digital classified can be accompanied by videos or information on the location, for example. The content can be commented on, evaluated and recommended. The service is the work of a group of researchers and students from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and the University of Lugano in Switzerland.

The Funsquare service is a ‘factory of fun facts’, information on the surroundings of a particular UBI-hotspot, related, for example, to the history or current events of the place. The users can view the fun facts on a UBI-hotspot and express their opinions on them. The Funsquare service is a joint contribution from the members of the European PD-net consortium, the University of Lugano in Switzerland, the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, the Lancaster University in the UK, and the University of Minho in Portugal.

The RunWithUs service offers peoples, runners in particular, a new way of sharing information. The service uses wireless networks, allowing the runner to choose a route used by fellow runners of the same level, for example, or to check the map on a UBI-hotspot to see where friends are currently running and join them. The users of the service can compete with themselves or other enthusiasts by comparing their times via the social network attached to the service which encourages and motivates to exercise regularly. The RunWithUs service is developed by a research team from the University of Vigo in Spain.

The UBI Challenge is the first challenge of its kind ever organized by the international ubiquitous computing research. The purpose of the challenge is to make the unique infrastructure in Oulu available to the international research community and thus stimulate research collaboration in a very concrete manner. The infrastructure and the UBI Challenge belong to the multidisciplinary UBI (UrBan Interactions) research programme coordinated by the MediaTeam Oulu research group in the Computer Science and Engineering Laboratory at the University of Oulu.

The UBI programme studies how ubiquitous computing infrastructure can be utilized to provide new services that combine the physical, digital and social spaces of a city. The UBI programme is supported by Business Oulu, the Center for Internet Excellence, the European Regional Development Fund, Infotech Oulu, the Centre of Expertise Programme, the city of Oulu, the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, the University of Oulu, the Council of Oulu Region, the Academy of Finland, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, and companies.

Requests for interviews and information:
Hannakaisa Aikio, press officer, MediaTeam, hannakaisa.aikio@oulu.fi, tel. +358 400 142 293
Tommi Heikkinen, project manager, MediaTeam, tommi.heikkinen@oulu.fi, tel. +358 40 527 9241
The website of the UBI Challenge: http://www.ubioulu.fi/en/UBI-challenge