Social networking and ecomobility through nomadic devices Annie Pauzié, Ifsttar

Social network & Ecomobility Widespread among population of sophisticated nomadic devices such as smart phones: possibility to be connected to social networks Anytime Anywhere -> Potential to support ecomobility Information on real time of location of danger/risky zones identified by drivers belonging to community members: potential to avoid traffic jams and to optimise the trip Ridesharing through connections between drivers and travellers belonging to the same community: potential to decrease the traffic on the road Timely information given by public transport operators to the travellers via social networking: potential to decrease exclusive car use in urban area

Nomadic devices: some statistics about smart phones Smart phone market grew 54.7% year over year (2011) corresponding to an increase access to sophisticated services such as internet and geo- localisation Over 300,000 mobile applications have been developed in the last three years During February 2012, 50 % of US mobile subscribers owned a smartphone

Use of mobile phone is growing among seniors, since 2000, with differences between countries (USA: 65%, Sweden & Germany: 62%, UK: 44%, France: 39%) The % of people with a mobile phone is higher for the age group years old than for the age group over 75 years old (Lin & al., 2009) According to a study in UK, 49 % of seniors feel intimidated by mobile phone use (Lin & al., 2009) Smartphone audience by age group For transport smartphone applications, senior’s needs and requirements have also to be taken into account

Social networking Definition and issues Definition of Social Networking: web applications created by individuals or organisations on a commercially-provided Internet ‘platform’, usually delivered to the user for free or for low fee, in order to interact with others through a virtual ‘community’. Community self-selecting: individuals apply to join and to link up with others on a voluntary base with the issues of degree of “trust” or “reliability” of members of a particular virtual community. Examples supporting sustainable transport Real time information of traffic event Instant ride-sharing

Real time information of traffic event Information on real time of location of danger/risky zones identified by community members: potential to avoid traffic jams and to optimise the trip – Several applications available in Europe and US Members of the community can have the following involvement: – Inform on real time the community manager system about a road event – Qualify the type of road event following the request of the community manager system – Validate if the road event is still there

Community manager system Qualification of the event by members of the community Members signaling road event to the community Validation by members if the event is still there

Benefit of social community for ecomobility and road safety Several danger zones have been identified by the community and displayed on a map for the benefit of any members This display allows also to know that 14 members with an average of 3 stars, meaning highly reliable in their contribution to the community database, are located in a close surrounding.

Instant ridesharing Smartphone technology enables dynamic ride- sharing systems that bring together people with similar itineraries and time schedules to share rides on short-notice Objective of application: setting easy and secure “ride sharing” services to federate these trips between drivers and travellers

Several mobile applications of ridesharing planned in advance ridesharing instant ridesharing (automatic updating of ridesharing offers all along drivers routes) mixing navigation and integrated billing system. Ridesharing service

Limits of social community efficiency Bottlenecks regarding benefits of social networking to support ecomobility – Reliability of the information circulating inside the network – Number of members participating instantly (issue of supply & demand for ride sharing, issue of identification of road event for traffic information) – Privacy issue

Reliability of the information Characteristic of Social Networking applications: do require high and regular maintenance and very disciplined systems: Rating each member of the community in terms of reliance with the principle of stars based upon:  Comments of the other members  Past experience in the network Remove or at least neutralise negative comments

Real time information on traffic event On the left of the screen: information on the number of members, their rating with stars and their distance from the driver On the right of the screen: risky and dangerous zones ahead displayed every 10 km with number of stars of the members who sent/confirmed these road events Reliability of the information

Real time information on traffic event -reliability of information sent by the members -number of members -timing of communicated information Reliability of the information Example: Risky zone identified by 4 members of the community, confirmation of the last one 49 minutes ago. This information gives some elements to the driver in order to evaluate the validity of the information.

Ridesharing -driver’s reliability -match with the preferences of the travellers Question: which criteria to transmit to the member? Picture, location, phone number…. Do you smoke? Do you talk a lot? …. Privacy- Reliability trade off of the information

Issue of privacy Reduction of acceptability by users due to privacy issues : – Location information – Picture – Phone number….. Assessment of privacy vary between different groups in society (Westin 2003): – the privacy fundamentalists who -despite personal advantages- are against the collection and use of personal data – the privacy pragmatists who decide upon their viewpoint after assessing the benefits and risks – the privacy unconcerned who generally do not mind sharing their information

Motivation for participation to social network for ecomobility Solidarity: drivers felt valued to participate to the knowledge of an entire network for road event identification Appreciation: members felt valued to get stars based upon their reliability and the trust they give rise to other Economic: drivers have refunding when offering ridesharing

Design of nomadic device: a challenge As a mobile device carried out everywhere, the design has to match with a great variability of contexts, including only one hand use in some cases The users population, age and cultural background is highly diversified Interaction with the mobile has to be enough intuitive and user friendly that it did not require any training Mobile has small size screen and mirror like reflection with consequences on poor legibility of display Inputs are challenged by the small size of the buttons and/or the sensitivity (too much or not enough) of the tactile screen 16% had difficulty reading something on their phone because the screen was too small 10% had difficulty entering a lot of text on their phone (Survey in April 26 to May 22, 2011 among a nationally-representative sample of Americans)

Great improvement of technology and design for mobile phone Evolution of the screen size through the successive generations of mobile phones. Evolution of mobile phones HMI

Method of human centred design processes for interactive system (ISO norm 13407)

Conclusion Social Networking is a developing phenomenon, whose potential, benefits, and pitfalls will change as technology evolves. Both positive and negative user comments and experiences shared through Social Networking can quickly spread. Some first examples showed efficiency in spreading information on real time about characteristics of the road network/public transport or ride sharing service. Further research needed to evaluate bottlenecks linked to privacy (acceptability) and design (usability) issues This phenomenon should be taken into consideration for ecomobility support.

Workshop on Human centred design for nomadic transport services in multi-modal mobility Lyon, the 15 November 2012 Registration FREE OF CHARGE contact:

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