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,