From The Winepress
“These kiosks are one of the many measures Houston is taking to create more pedestrian-friendly areas that will provide greater safety and a more enjoyable experience,” the mayor said.
The following report was first published on winepressnews.com on February 28, 2022.
The following report is from Smart Cities World:
The city of Houston has launched the first of a series of digital, interactive wayfinding kiosks called “Interactive Kiosk Experience” (IKE).
The launch marks the start of a citywide initiative to build a smart city infrastructure that will help improve the experience for pedestrians – both residents and visitors – while adding more “liveliness” to Houston’s cityscape.
The city issued a tender for interactive digital kiosks in March 2020 and selected IKE Smart City as the supplier in March 2021, which was later approved by the city council in May.
Following approval, IKE Smart City worked closely with the City of Houston, Houston First, neighborhood groups and adjacent property owners on site selection, kiosk design and screen content.
The installation will be phased in, with 25 kiosks being deployed at a time in various city districts, including Downtown, Uptown, Midtown, Montrose, Museum District, Texas Medical Center, Greater Third Ward, EaDo, Upper Kirby, and others. Additionally, at least 10 percent of all IKE kiosks will be located in neighborhoods identified by the city as underserved, including Gulfton, Sunnyside, and others.
Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston, said:
“The city of Houston has so much to offer, and the digital IKE kiosks will be an exciting new feature to help people discover events, restaurants and much more.”
“These kiosks are one of the many measures Houston is taking to promote the creation of more pedestrian-friendly areas, which will provide greater safety and a more pleasant experience.”
According to IKE Smart City, the kiosks bring innovative technology to commercial, pedestrian-oriented areas and offer advanced wayfinding features thanks to smart city technology. Each kiosk serves as a free Wi-Fi hotspot with a range of up to 75 feet and is geolocated, allowing it to display information about facilities in its immediate vicinity.
The kiosks feature double-sided digital touchscreens and are fully ADA compliant. They are equipped with a range of interactive applications that encourage the discovery of nearby businesses and other local attractions, support diverse mobility solutions, and improve equal opportunities through 24/7 access to resources.
IKE is multilingual and contains detailed indexes of restaurants, shops, businesses, cultural institutions, events, job postings, and community resources in the area. In addition, the kiosks provide access to information on social services such as homeless shelters, addiction treatment programs, and food assistance.
IKE’s wayfinding features are designed to turn information into action. Using aggregated, real-time public transport data, IKE provides users with access to user-friendly, multimodal route planning capabilities to get from point A to point B using public transport, shared bikes, e-scooters, ride-hailing services, and walking. These features underscore the city’s commitment to sustainable, equitable, and accessible transport services and resources.
IKE also serves as a far-reaching communications platform. It provides space for community announcements relevant to the city and local communities, while simultaneously disseminating critical public safety information in a highly visible manner. Through a real-time feed from the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the kiosks immediately display emergency alerts, such as severe weather warnings, Amber Alerts, active shooter alerts, fire warnings, and other information provided by 1,000 agencies certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The kiosk project was led by the Mayor’s Office for Economic Development with support from the Office for Innovation.
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
Technocracy News & Trends, which also reported on this, wrote in a brief summary:
The IKE kiosks, marketed with the promise of free service and convenience, collect data on everyone who approaches them, including identifying your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices. Cameras record your face and analyze your decisions and choices. The result is “surveillance capitalism,” where you are integrated into the technocrats’ control network.
I completely agree. As I always say, when these new “useful” technologies appear, they are presented as a solution to a health problem or as a means of making everyday life easier; in reality, however, they are a trap and another means of enslaving us. It is yet another covert method of spying on all our actions in public.
