er’s mobile device to pinpoint his or her location and movements. The system can be used to make task assignments to workers who are closest to the job. Table 1 lists current m-government applications in North America grouped according to the segment being served into two categories: G2C and IEE.

Western Europe. Europe is quite advanced with regard to m-technology. The penetration rate of mobile phones in Western Europe has grown from 90% in 2004 to 98% in 2006, and is reaching 100% in 2007. The wide acceptance and use of m-technology in Europe has provided a platform for m-government applications. The London Police Department’s Short Messaging System (SMS) is used to inform citizens about security threats and emergency alerts. The Bus Operator Metroline uses a mobile tracking system to monitor the status and location of buses, then send text message alerts to its drivers requesting them to speed up or slow down to maintain more even intervals between buses.

M-technology in Western Europe is used in law enforcement to provide instant access to critical data and services. For instance, German police use GPS and mobile phones to track suspects’ movements. In Austria, parking inspectors are equipped with handheld devices that connect to a central parking database for an immediate confirmation of whether or not sufficient payment was made by the driver.

Sweden is one of the leading countries of m-technologies in the world with over 95% of the population using mobile phones. Wide-ranging m-government services are available throughout the country. Some of the innovative practices include SMS applications for city job postings in Stockholm, a mobile parking fee payments system, government inspector service, tax services, mobile healthcare providers, and MapMate as a wireless

Applications Government Agencies

Tracking election Commonwealth of Virginia returns

Description

- Allow individuals to track election returns for statewide races on the election night

Mobile traffic map

Seattle

- Provide the traffic map - Provide entertainment during slow-moving traffic

Emergency Federal Aviation notification Administration (FAA)

Parking violation Iowa

G2C reminder

(Government-
to-Citizen) Lobbyist-
in-a-Box

Wireless California notification

- Real-time airport status information via email

- Reminding messages to parking violators via SMS

Commonwealth of Virginia

Wireless state portal

Virginia, Canada

- Track the progress of bills as they move through the legislative process

- Notification services through PDAs and cell phones for energy alert, lottery results, traffic updates, and articles from the governor’s pressroom

- Make government services available via
wireless and mobile devices
- Offer a variety of downloadable information,
such as emergency weather situation,
terrorism threats, legislative information,
tax-related information, tourism
information, news releases, and so forth.

Field Inspection U.S. Navy

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Treasury

Texas State Board of Barber

Examiners

Internal New York City Fire
communication Department Commonwealth
of Kentucky

-

Lincoln Police Department, NE Check vehicle registration

Michigan Police Department, MI - Access warrant information, crime database Houston Police Department, TX - Issue tickets

San Francisco Police Department - Automatic traffic citation

- Traffic-video feeds

Maryland - Dispatchers and rescue personnel to locate emergency callers using cellular phones

- Provide online access to database
- Input inspection results in an
electronic form
- Transmit inspection results into the
agency’s database

- Wireless Messaging Service

- Wireless communication platform

Police applications

IEE (Internal

Efficiency and Enhanced 911 Effectiveness)

Keeping track of vehicles

Traffic Management Operations Center in Portland, OR

- Keep track of vehicles flowing through
Oregon
- Notify bus riders
- Help with traffic flow

Tax collection solution

Texas

Inventory Tracking

U.S. Marine Corps

Courthouse Wi-Fi

New Mexico

- Access taxpayer information remotely - Print vital tax information using wireless tablet computer and bubble-jet printer

- Real-time connection with warehouse management software - Input and retrieve data anywhere

- Internet access in courthouse
- Voice-over-IP phone

Voting machine California

- Wi-Fi enabled system

Table 1. Examples of m-government applications in North America.

map system, among others [ 8].

A Finnish telecommunication firm, Sonera, has developed technologies to turn any mobile phone into an identity document. Since every mobile phone has a unique Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card code, personal identification can be embedded into that code and become as safe as the current paper passport system. The Finnish government is currently upgrading the country’s electronic ID card to enable citizens to make secure transactions over mobile phones and also use it as an official travel document (instead of paper passport). Table 2 provides a summary of sample m-government applications in Europe.

Asia. Because of the large and dense population,