Abstract
Technological progress, in relation with ubiquitous computing, has put forward the concept of ICT-based smart cities. This concept, which is related to the need of facilitating the daily life of citizens in the concerned cities, relies on the use of existing infrastructures of communication to develop adapted digital services. As such, the implementation of mobile services in the framework of smart cities is equally important in developed countries than in the least developed countries. In the latter (more particularly in sub-Saharan Africa), it is however to be noted that the most advanced technologies of communication are not always available. It thus prevents the immediate deployment of digital systems that are available in developed countries. Obviously, the provision of mobile services dedicated to sub-Saharan areas requires the consideration of the ambient environment in terms of social and technological perspectives. In this paper, we discuss the situation of public transportation in Burkina Faso and the needs of users regarding reliable systems to retrieve transit information. We also provide and evaluate a (realistic) SMS-based solution, leveraging the technological and social specificities of the sub-Saharan context, to enhance the dissemination of information about traffic and buses in the city of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).
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Notes
- 1.
BLE beacons are transmitters that use Bluetooth to broadcast small packets of data -http://www.ibeacon.com/what-is-ibeacon-a-guide-to-beacons/.
- 2.
NFC [15], which stands for Near Field Communication, is a short range wireless technology (about 10 cm) allowing compatible devices to read the content of specific tags (small piece of hardware with electrical circuits).
- 3.
A Quick Response (QR) code [5] is a type of two-dimensional bar code encoding data and graphically represented (generally) as a set of black squares on a white background.
- 4.
According to GSMA (GSM Association), the number of unique mobile subscribers rose from 146 million in 2008 to 347 million in 2014 [9].
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Ouoba, J., Bissyandé, T.F., Béré, C. (2016). Towards Smart City Implementations in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Leon-Garcia, A., et al. Smart City 360°. SmartCity 360 SmartCity 360 2016 2015. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 166. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33681-7_7
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