Alberto Ferreras Remesal, José S. Solaz Sanahuja, Elisa Signes i Pérez, Amparo López Vicente, José Laparra Hernández, Purificación Castelló Mercé, José D. Garrido Jaén, Nicolás Palomares Olivares, Eva Muñoz Navarro *, Manuel Serrano Matoses*

Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia

(*) ETRA I+D

For people with disabilities, urban mobility is an essential aspect if their social integration is to be effective. Nonetheless, there are numerous obstacles which hinder this, including a lack of information on routes and modes of transport, and problems with parking, including fraud. The SIMON project aims to improve this situation through the integration of different applications and technologies which facilitate parking and mobility in urban areas.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

The challenges posed by accessibility in modern society are particularly salient in urban areas. These include the possibility of traveling safely and efficiently on public or private transport, on equal terms with all other citizens. In this regard, in the majority of cities in the European Union suffer from a series of problems related to access to transport and mobility which constitute a problem for many people with disabilities, and which act as a barrier to their social integration:

♦ Fraudulent use of the EU Parking Card (falsification, use by unauthorized individuals, etc.).

♦ Lack of information on the mobility possibilities and resources available, both for public transport (routes, accessible means, travel planning, real-time information) and for private transport (location and availability of parking spaces, access to restricted areas, etc.).

♦ Failure to incorporate existing technologies which facilitate transport and mobility into the provision of services.

The solutions for improving accessibility are more evident in more forward-looking cities, which are demonstrating their commitment to and innovation in adapting the urban setting to allow all sectors of society to enjoy urban life to the full.

The SIMON project seeks to respond to these challenges. SIMON is a demonstrative European project, launched in January 2014, with three large-scale pilots in Madrid, Lisbon and Parma. The aim of the SIMON project is to encourage people with reduced mobility to lead independent lives and participate in society in terms of the use of multi-modal urban transport and access to public parking. To do this, it will incorporate a number of different ITC solutions which will allow access to information, navigation and the management of access rights.

This three-year project comprises a consortium coordinated by the Spanish company, ETRA I+D, with the participation of the Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia (IBV) along with other partners in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany. This project has been funded by the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP).

Figure 1 – SIMON project logo

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

The project will address two main issues:

♦The reduction of fraudulent use of the EU Parking Card: SIMON will demonstrate the use of this improved card through ITC solutions, proposing the management of access rights in both physical modes (e.g., smart cards) and virtual modes (e.g. mobile devices).

♦ Specific multi-modal navigation solutions for the elderly and people with reduced mobility: as a starting point for the urban navigation system, databases and other existing tools will be used, which will be supplemented with other tools and operated using specific information to deal with the needs of people with reduced mobility: routes, information, access, incidents, etc.

SIMON will take the form of a smartphone app and a new model of parking card to support the disabled in the use of both public and private transport means. In this area, SIMON will deploy four innovative services:

♦ The management of access rights for parking areas and public transport: the SIMON SAYS platform.

♦ Assistance for navigation and mobility: the SIMON ANSWERS platform.

♦ Reservation of parking spaces and information on the situation in parking areas (free spaces): the SIMON BOOKS platform.

♦ Management of access to restricted urban areas (e.g., with bollards) for people with reduced mobility: the SIMON OPENS platform.

Figure 2 – Diagram of the services offered by SIMON

These services will be launched on three applications:

♦ A mobile app for citizens: SIMON LEADS. Using this app, users will be able to plan routes on public and private transport, receive information about accessibility and available parking places, access restricted areas and validate their status in parking areas.

♦ A mobile app for car park controllers: SIMON CONTROLS. This app will allow controllers to check the validity of the parking cards on display in parked cars, as well as optimizing routes and preventing fraud.

♦ A management and support application for public authorities and transport and car park operators: SIMON BACKOFFICE.

The devices used by these applications will be based on different technologies, allowing for high levels of efficiency and security:

♦ RFID smart cards

♦ Smartphones with NFC, which can emulate the operation of an intelligent card.

Parking meters, which can act as an interface with the above and complement them.

Figure 3 – Image of some of the solutions proposed by SIMON

WORK PLAN AND TASKS PERFORMED

The implementation of the project is split into 4 large phases:

♦ A preparation phase to define the system requirements, the users' needs and the architecture of the different components.

♦ A small-scale pilot for testing the technologies and applications developed.

♦ A large-scale demonstration phase which will allow the deployment of SIMON under real conditions in three pilot cities:  Madrid, Lisbon and Parma.

♦ At the end of the project, a road map will be implemented for the deployment of the results, which will include transferability, scalability and recommendations on standardization.

Throughout these phases, the design and integration activities will be combined with the direct participation of the groups involved and stakeholders.

Throughout the first year of the project, a number of different activities have been carried out aimed at defining the characteristics of the system and carrying out development and integration activities. The Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia led the tasks aimed at:

♦ Defining the characteristics of the system's users, in terms of their functional capacity as well as their accessibility and usability requirements.

♦ Reviewing the current situation in the different pilot sites. A complete questionnaire was developed aimed at these cities, for the purpose of characterizing them for the project in terms of the technology and resources available, the services provided to disabled users, regulations, restrictions, needs and demands.

♦ Reviewing the situation and initiatives implemented in other European cities.

♦ Establishing the system requirements. Firstly, the general system requirements were drawn up, in terms of functionality, usability and accessibility. After a review with the members of the consortium, the specific requirements were drawn up for the overall system, phone app, web application, parking meters and smart cards.

♦ Developing the different use cases and scenarios. The use cases make possible to characterize all possible activities that can be conducted using the system and the relationships between them. This is very useful for both the design of the system and for the preparation of the pilots . Subsequent to some initial development, the use cases were verified with the technicians responsible for the development of the system and, subsequently, discussion groups were held with disabled users to validate the proposed flow and decide which situations were a priority.

Figure 4 – Discussion group with users

The IBV has also collaborated in the preparation of the system architecture and in the conceptual design of the applications, ensuring that the prototype incorporates usability requirements suited to both the functions and to the users.

more information: http://simon-project.eu

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was funded by the European Commission's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP).