Internet of Places, the new platform that connects people with places

At REM Experience we work to improve people's quality of life through new technologies. That is why we are taking part in developing the Internet of Places platform, promoted by Smartech Cluster together with Innoasturias, Futurspace and Incipy, to connect people with places in an innovative way.

A NEW KIND OF INTERACTION

Internet of Places is an innovative project funded by Spain's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, AEI Cluster, the European Union's Next Generation funds and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, proposing a new way of understanding the interaction between people and places through mobile devices.

Internet of Places creates a digital dimension for every physical space, such as shops, hospitals, museums or streets, building a continuous digital infrastructure. This digital dimension, accessible from a phone, puts users' experiences in context according to where they are and when, instantly providing the content, services or features they need without having to download each venue's app.

Building and expanding the Internet of Places (IoP) requires advanced connectivity, which has driven the use of 5G and technologies such as geolocation that recognise where users are and show the content and features that make sense at that moment. The infrastructure is also inclusive and sustainable and fosters territorial and social cohesion, making Spain a digital leader and hub.

The platform's target market is global, and its roll-out has been planned by city and by category, including retail: hotels, shops, restaurants, leisure, culture and tourist attractions.

1,110 PHYSICAL SPACES

In the early phases, we helped create a pilot of the platform in a neighbourhood of Barcelona. This street-wide digital infrastructure included a total of 1,100 physical and virtual spaces, 800 of them in retail, which were given new possibilities and features.

In the third phase, a specific multilingual use case relevant to retailers and hotels was implemented, including:

• Location information and content, like a website home page, where contextual content can be pinned and visitors can post reviews, ratings or feedback.
• On-site online shopping features such as recommendations, stock levels and mobile payments.
• Interaction with the place and with the people and smart objects in it.

The platform is open to all feature developers, so any physical, real or virtual space can choose the tools that best suit its needs and make them available to its users and visitors. In retail, for example, shops can add influencer tips or reviews of a brand's products, and implement upselling or cross-selling strategies.

With applications like these, REM Experience has helped improve the user experience, which has translated into more frequent visits, greater loyalty, higher conversion and therefore higher sales across different sectors.

SMART CITIES

In short, the Internet of Places platform offers an innovative view of the world: a pioneering digital infrastructure that links spaces and places with people. The project fits naturally into smart cities, which connect citizens, organisations and smart elements and offer personalised tourism or service content. In the same way, companies, shops and bars would have a new digital dimension for providing their staff, suppliers or visitors with the information or features they need while in those spaces, helping to improve their services.