CONCEPT TNO FOR “NEXT GENERATION” FLORIADE 2012

Next year, the Netherlands Horticultural Council (NTR) in the Venlo region will hold the Floriade 2012 world horticultural exhibition. The Floriade team has a completely new concept in mind for the ten-yearly expo. The traditional exhibition format will make way for a ‘Green Experience’. TNO’s task: to develop a next-generation guided tour for visitors. A team of three TNO experts presented their solution within one week.

It’s fantastic that they could achieve this in such a short time. They have thought really carefully about how to combine the technologies to amaze and delight visitors. Our keywords for Floriade 2012 are innovation, socially responsible business practice and sustainability. All these are reflected in TNO’s proposals. It’s very impressive’, says Sven Stimac, Project Director for the Floriade team. This was the sixtieth Challenge that TNO has taken on in the space of just two years. In the TNO Challenge, a team of three experts have one week in which to solve an ICT-related problem for a company or organisation. Floriade 2012 challenged TNO to devise a solution based on technological applications that will enable visitors, individually or in groups, to experience horticulture in a ‘super-cool’ way. This meant that the TNO experts had to think five years ahead in terms of deploying user-friendly technologies that will have become commonplace by that time.

PERSONALISED TOUR

The solution devised by TNO is based on a combination of mobile telephony and RFID technology. Visitors receive an admission ticket at the entrance. At this point they will have answered a few questions about their own particular interests so that a personalised tour can be provided for one of more of the five areas, each of which has its own theme. During the tour, visitors receive personalised information via a mobile phone about everything there is to see and experience in the park. The RFID chip, which will be built into mobile phones by the time Floriade takes place, enables the system to pinpoint the visitor’s location and provide the relevant information. Information points, LCD screens and cameras will be located throughout the park. The mobile phones will serve as a virtual guide that provides immediate answers to questions. Visitors can also use the phone to share information, for example with others in their group. At certain points in the park they will be able to leave messages for others to view or listen to.

WEALTH OF IDEAS

‘The whole solution rests on an intelligent content-management system’, explains TNO researcher Marc de Jong, who developed and refined the concept in just four days, together with his colleagues Menno Manschot and Stefan Thie. ‘The system will need access to every piece of information about Floriade, right down to the smallest detail. You need an infrastructure that links the mobile phones with the servers, information points, cameras, and much more. It’s very complex. But it will be a real treat for visitors – during the tour, but afterwards too. At home they will be able to relive the whole Floriade experience. We have also incorporated security features. The system knows where everyone is. It also warns visitors if certain locations in the park are very busy and suggests alternative routes. Those are just a couple of the possible applications.’ The Floriade team still has to decide which applications it will use. ‘But we have a whole array of well thought-out ideas to choose from’, points out Sven Stimac.