1. Sustainability Problem: Children and people with disabilities do not feel safe and secure in large cities when moving between their home and work/school.
Category: Safety
2. Solution:
- u-Seoul Safety Service has been in operation since April 2008, utilizing state-of-the-art Location Based Services and CCTV technologies to notify authorities and family members of emergencies involving children, the disabled, the elderly, and those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Seoul has developed a smart device dedicated to this purpose and when its holder leaves a designated safe zone or pushes its emergency button, an emergency alert is sent to guardians, police, fire departments and CCTV Control Centers.
- To make use of the u-Seoul Safety Service, citizens are required to register with mobile carriers specifically designed for this purpose. Supporting low-income households and especially vulnerable groups, Seoul often provides emergency-alert devices free of charge or at significant discounts, aiming to reach 50,000 registered users by 2014.
- “U-Children Safety System” provides ‘children safety zones’ using a multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) wireless infrastructure mesh network. Real-time CCTV networks and children’s smart devices allow Seoul to make use of wireless networks in locating missing children as quickly as possible.
3. Organizational Stakeholders: City Administration, Public, Cell service providers
4. Next Steps:
- Educate children and other users about the technology
- Update cell services to meet the device requirement
- Update emergency service personnel about the changes
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