To fully understand what a SEEDiA bench is, it is necessary to look under its hood. Although the design itself is sufficient to set it apart, its truly unique qualities are hidden in the technology inside of it. The heart of each bench is its unique design, its brain – custom electronics, its soul – the cloud, gathering plenitude of data.
The most significant challenge SEEDiA faces is the fact that its products tackle the vision of a future which is not clear to everybody. The company made a huge step forward, but it needs to convince its customers that the future is happening here and now – the idea of SMART CITIES is already being implemented in places that focus on improving the quality of life of their citizens. The functionalities provided by SEEDiA’s products address issues that will soon become crucial from the perspective of cities and municipal managers and developers.
Such features include smog sensors, automated sources of information, traffic density detectors in particular areas, providing data which can be used for setting up city climate protection programs by identifying heat affected zones, bus and flight schedules displayed on OLEDs and storm alert system – and those are just a few features that SEEDiA supports. In order to explain how that happens, we need to take a moment to consider the devices that can be found underneath the bench’s elegant design.
Each bench is based on custom electronics and the cloud, where the data is stored. SEEDiA benches are equipped with three electronic modules. Each of them is vital to providing the bench with its most unique features.
The most important one is the distribution module, which is included in every bench. It manages the energy acquired through the solar panel, including the algorithms that allow to control the product’s features. The module is responsible for powering each function of the bench, charging the battery, and setting the priority for each function. Thanks to making use of correct parameters, the photovoltaic panel directs the energy to the battery, from where it is distributed to particular parts of the bench. “We can program the module in such a way that, in case of power shortage, lower priority functions such as OLED and inductive charger will automatically be disabled”, explains Piotr Hołubowicz, SEEDiA’s CEO.
The second one is the TELEMETRY MODULE situated in most of the benches. It is the core of the data gathered from external devices, such as chargers. It allows SEEDiA to accurately determine the decrease in CO2 levels, or check how many people sat on the bench. The module sends the data to the cloud and analyses them in order to further improve the product and its functionalities, which are also introduced via the module.
The most unique part, however, is the MULTIMEDIA MODULE. It is only included in particular bench models, and is responsible for displaying data on OLEDs and emitting sounds. It can be used when the client wishes to convey a particular message to his audience, such as bus schedule or warnings regarding terrorist attacks.
The bench also gathers various information regarding its users, depending on its equipment. It ends up in both the CLIENT PANEL and SEEDiA ANALYTICAL CENTER.
Each client receives access to the panel in which he can check the data pertaining to each of the benches he purchased. For example, he can check how many people decided to sit on the bench, how many walked past it and how many charged their phones. SEEDiA ANALYTICAL CENTER gathers the data in order to further develop its products. Its scope is much broader than that generated for the user’s needs. “When it turns out that the given location rarely uses inductive charging, but normal charging spots are consistently used, we know that the bench should have more of the latter, while wireless charging is not a priority”, says Piotr Hołubowicz.
The client panel can also contain (depending on the bench’s model) the option to manage the display and sound. Thanks to these features, the client can input any sort of sound, which will greet the bench’s users, and show any sort of content on the OLED.
The competitive edge of SEEDiA is partially due to its relationship with Social WiFi – the leading provider of smart hotspots. Thanks to the collaboration, SEEDiA cannot be competed with when it comes to access to free internet connection. For its competitors it is one of primary goals – for SEEDiA, it’s barely the start of our adventure with smart cities, place marketing and promotional offers.
Years of Social WiFi’s experience on 30 different markets tremendously help SEEDiA when it comes to gathering information from people accessing the internet, giving its clients access to information regarding the network’s users as well as multiple analytical tools that allow for conducting marketing operations and creating customer loyalty among the users. Smart WiFi is a modern tool that allows you to create behavioral profiles of mobile device users, and thus accurately reaching your target audience thanks to marketing tools, emailing and individual forms of communication.
