"Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project"
Does everybody know "Tokyo Ubiquitous Project" ?
It's an activity Tokyo Metropolitan Government is working on to achieve, in the near future, a ubiquitous society in which anyone can easily access necessary information anytime, anywhere.
In the fall of 2005, information distinctive to each location was provided in the Ueno Zoological Gardens etc. and this trial was well received.
Now a feasibility study experiment will be conducted in Ginza. Through the experiment we will transmit a part of Japanese advanced technology from Tokyo to the world.
I hope many of you will participate in the experiment, and feel the future of ubiquitous society.
Your opinion and comments would be sincerely appreciated.
Shintaro Ishihara
Tokyo Metropolitan Governor
A project utilizing ubiquitous computing technology, which is a mechanism to obtain various information from physical locations where ucodes are embedded, such as where you are now, where you will end up if you go straight, what is the nearest station from here, where restrooms are and where and how you should evacuate in an emergency, to make Tokyo the safest and the most comfortable city in the world by improving not only physical but also information environment, is the "Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project".
In cooperation with the Free Mobility Assistance Project, which is being promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, we enthusiastically conducted feasibility experiments in a number of locations including the Ueno and Asakusa Districts in Tokyo since 2005. In the Ueno District, the experiments conducted in Ueno Zoo were well received and currently the systems have gone into full-scale operation. And here comes the "Tokyo Ubiquitous Technology Project in Ginza."
With the perspective of universal design, various information useful for all kinds of people including the elderly and impaired will be transmitted from several thousands to several tens of thousands of ubiquitous markers embedded in the area connected by two centers - Ginza 4-chome intersection and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building in Shinjuku. Through these feasibility experiments, what a future ubiquitous city should be like will be studied actively and enthusiastically based on field experiments with the cooperation of the country, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the local people. We would like to ask for the cooperation of the many people involved as well as hope that a new ubiquitous city, which is the first in the world and innovative technology will be transmitted to the world from Tokyo.
Ken SakamuraProfessor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies,
Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies,
The University of Tokyo
Director, YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory