A future enabled by location technology, today
In this four-part series, HERE collaborates with four thought-leaders to explore the rapidly growing impact of location technology on four critical topics: smart cities, transportation, mobility and data monetization. Hear their ideas and views on the opportunities it is opening up for urban environments, and the businesses and governments who serve them.
Think of privacy as a product that an individual has the right to sell or not to sell – that might be how we ultimately handle the issue of privacy.
Author of The Zero Dollar Car – a book that introduces the concept of trading our personal data for money, John Ellis is a respected Futurist with expertise in data and its potential to transform lives and industries. He believes privacy could become a product that has great value not only to individuals, but also to businesses, which we are able to trade – or not – as we wish.
Ellis believes that in the future, individuals will negotiate their privacy based on its value to them and to others. Purchase prices of everything from cars to mobile phones could be drastically reduced or removed altogether, if traded for the data they and their property generate.
“Our automobiles and transportation networks are becoming very sensorised… we're generating huge amounts of data that other people want to use and want to buy. Maybe we offset that value to the use of the vehicle or the use of the service, and so the construct really simply is – recognize that there's value in data.”
With a vision of the future that sees our privacy as a product we own, Ellis believes drivers and passengers will be able to choose when and where they switch their data off or on, depending on if they want privacy, or want to earn money from it.
“If we were to think of privacy as a product that an individual has the right to sell or not to sell, and that the laws that exist today have to respect it or companies have to respect it. That might be a far richer conversation on how we ultimately handle the issue of privacy.”
With the value of data established and ownership clearly defined, Ellis sees an open data market in the future, where data generated by consumers can be bought and sold.
“There is value behind who you are and the data that's generated about you. Because at the end of the day I may be OK selling my data – I just need to be offered the opportunity to do it. You have to figure out that it has value and you have to stop calling it ‘free’.”
Ellis believes there is value in all the data we produce as users and consumers. Looking at car travel specifically, hundreds of sensors are capable of generating data on current weather, driving and traffic conditions, or within the car how many passengers are travelling, what entertainment they’re listening to or advertising they hear.
“The latest vehicles have over 150 sensors. We have sensors that look at what happens if the car's going over some vibrations, so we can determine road quality. Other sensors have cameras and distance readers and so with your permission, turn the cameras on to understand why you're not travelling at the speed that you should be – is it because there's lots of cars around, is it because there's construction?”
Sood and his team are driving the new reality of data and autonomous transport, through location technology. He explains that when data is being collected, there are real privacy issues – something HERE takes seriously with the Open Location Platform.
HERE believes data needn’t be ‘owned’. HERE’s Open Location Platform has the potential to perform the role of trusted intermediary, helping businesses unlock the value of data, while also respecting our customer’s ownership of their data.
HERE’s Open Location Platform offers a secure, neutral and scalable marketplace that can bring value by enabling the exchange of location-centric data.
Collaboration is essential to enable the data infrastructure required for automated cars. HERE’s self-healing HD Live Map, powered by the Open Location Platform, can play a critical role in facilitating this.
Verimi – the single sign-on identity platform in which HERE is an investor – proves how a cross-industry initiative can help people manage their data and privacy.
HERE location solutions allow businesses to craft delightful, location-focussed campaign experiences that give consumers a compelling reason to share their location data.
Through a unique combination of location data and services, we’re able to partner with you to create a new tomorrow. To learn more about how our scalable solutions can help your business, contact our team or learn more about the Open Location Platform.
More from the New Reality series
Can fairer access create more inclusive cities?
Professor Julian Agyeman of Tufts University explores the New Reality of mobility.
Is adaptability the future of transportation?
Seleta Reynolds of Los Angeles DoT discusses the New Reality of transportation.
Can data make cities more human?
Carlo Ratti of MIT shares his views on the New Reality of smart cities.