'Smart cheeses': smart furniture for citizens on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona

Barcelona City Council already has eight new 'smartquesinas' in operation located at the bus stops on Paseo de Gracia, as part of the rehabilitation works of this emblematic road in the city, that offer interactive services to citizens.

The new smart urban furniture at the bus stops on the well-known Paseo de Gracia (Passeig de Gràcia) from Barcelona, called 'smartquesinas', They are part of the project of the city council in its transformation into a smart city, together with Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona (TMB) to offer interactive public service applications to citizens.

In total, Eight new 'smartquesinas' have been launched, adding to the one installed by Barcelona City Council a year ago at the confluence of Paseo de Gracia with Caspe Street, as part of the works being carried out on this busy city road and the introduction of smart technologies to offer new services to the citizen.

According to the city council statement, The cost of the eight 'smartquesinas' has been 560.000 euros, according to the design presented by SmartCitiesLAB, the ideas laboratory created by a group of companies from different sectors, as Admire, Ficosa, Intel, JCDecaux y Telefónica.

Each 'smartquesina' has a large-format JCDecaux touch screen in which municipal public service and TMB applications have been integrated through Barcelona Contactless, with QR code and NFC technology for download on mobile devices; another screen to show dynamic digital advertising from businesses in the area; Free WiFi connection through the BarcelonaWiFi service and mobile charger via USB.

The interactive screens located in the bus shelters operate 24 hours a day.×7 and offer the citizen the possibility of consulting and obtaining updated information in real time with applications such as Prop d'Aqui, with the city's points of interest closest to each stop; TMB Virtual, to plan public transport routes and calculate the waiting time for each bus.

Another of the integrated applications is Bicing, that allows you to view the disposition and availability of bicycles at the city's more than four hundred stations in real time and calculate routes; BCN Tourism, with a complete guide to the city's tourist offerings, and Urban Landscape, about monuments and unique places in Barcelona.

As the city council of this city assures in its statement, “Paseo de Gracia becomes the first major urban transformation where Barcelona City Council has applied the criteria established in the ICT Master Plan, "which should allow for the deployment of 'smart' infrastructures to be ordered for all urban projects to manage the needs of people and the city itself in an efficient and intelligent way.".

Another novelty that has been incorporated into this intelligent and interactive furniture is information from the Friends of Paseo de Gracia association. (Friends of Passeig de Gràcia), with a directory of stores located on this road.

As far as connectivity is concerned, inside the 'smartquesina', The user has free municipal WiFi access, For which access points have been installed throughout the road and sensors on the asphalt connected through this network. Next to the screen, connectors are integrated for various USB ports that allow you to charge your mobile device..