Results of the Open Data Proxima Mobile European Call for Projects

Paris, January 2012

The « Open Data Proxima Mobile » European call for projects was launched on July 13, 2011 by Eric Besson, French Minister for Industry, Energy and Digital economy. Its aim is to promote the use of public data to create mobile applications that will be used accross Europe. Indeed, public information, whether it relates to culture, tourism, geography or the environment, has become a crucial element of added-value services on mobile devices. « Open data » also promotes Government transparency and allows citizens greater access to public services.

Here are the 3 winners of the « Open Data Proxima Mobile » European call for projects:
 

1. NewExpat: ensuring the integration of expatriates in Europe

NewExpat is a mobile application that will be aimed at the 21 million European expatriates who live in Europe. Its objective is to help future European expatriates in the choice of their host country and to ensure a smooth transition in their new city of residence. The application will provide public and private data among which the Open Data portals of European countries - such as data.gov.uk for Great-Britain, datos.gob.es for Spain, data.gov.fr for France - as well as public data provided by European cities – such as opendata.paris.fr for Paris, data.london.gov.uk for London… The application will also provide users with a “barometer” of the most appreciated countries within the European Union based on their criteria and with a “to do list” when they arrive in their destination country – registering children for school, registering for social security, subscribing to repatriation insurance… The application will also include a social network which will allow expatriates who have recently moved to the same city to share about their experiences. NewExpat will be developed by Marcopolis and Pop Developpement. It will be available in English and French on iPhone and Android.

2. Coastline: discovering the European coastline and its biodiversity through augmented reality

Coastline is an application that will be developed by Prolexia, a company specialized in augmented reality and will be dedicated to the exploration of the flora and the fauna of protected areas of the European coastline. This collaborative application will use both form recognition and 3D augmented reality functionalities. The names and characteristics of the objects recognized will be provided to the user using augmented reality, whenever users film a european coastline. The application will make available information on flora and fauna and will provide users with an itinerary to guide them to a particular object or location when hiking. The application will use information made available by the French National Geographic Institute (Institut Géographique National), the French Coastal Protection Agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) and Great Britain’s National Trust Institute. Coastline will first provide information on French and British coastlines and will be available on iOS and Android mobile devices.

3. iMemoriam: location based information on European memorial sites

iMemoriam will provide information on memorial sites in the European union’s member states. This mobile application is developed by the Elabor Group and is the European mobile extension of the website « cimetieres-de-France.fr ». It will allow users to look for a deceased loved one (using their first and last name and their date of birth or of death). Users will also be able to search for a particular remembrance monument, and to access information on memorial monuments using geolocation. iMemoriam will provide information based on information collected from local governments, the French State represented by the Ministry of Defense as well as its European counterparts. iMemoriam will first include information on France and Germany and will be available on iPhone, Android and later on Windows Phone. A web mobile version will also be developed to allow users access from any smartphone that includes a web browser.

These projects were selected for their innovative use of European public data but also for their user friendliness (especially for first-time users) as well as their accessibility. These applications and mobile services will be made available by autumn 2012 and will then appear on the Proxima Mobile portal.