Real-time travel alerts are one of the most compelling ways of informing people how to make the best travel choices, and can also be used to encourage modal or route shifts to reduce congestion. Providing highly specific, relevant, personally tailored information at the point of decision empowers the traveller to make the best assessment of their current options. However, to be effective, travel alerts have to be almost effortless to use. Current systems typically require users to configure their travel patterns in advance, requiring at least some investment of time. Furthermore, in real life there is often considerable complexity and variability in behavioural patterns of personal travel, which is not captured by one simple configuration. The goal of this project is to make travel alerts both self-configuring and richer, based on automated observation of the actual behaviours of each traveller. By continuously tracking travellers' location, and using other data sources that reveal location or intent, such as journey planning queries or calendar entries, a personal travel map can be built up, with regular journeys and patterns of variation inferred by the system. This data can then be used to dynamically configure subscriptions and switch them on and off to match the actual behaviour of the user on a particular day. SpamJam is innovative in bringing together advances in the capabilities of mobile devices with the latest generation of alert engines to create a learning, adaptive system that can dynamically manage travel alerts. Project partners are Kizoom, O2, Imperial College, Dynamical Systems Research and Tactical Systems Designers.

By 2034 23% of UK population will be 65+ and the fastest increase in those aged 85 and over. As the elderly population expands there is a pressing need to support elderly people to remain well and independent in their own homes. Older middle-aged people (50 – 65) are finding themselves looking towards their own retirement, whilst their 85 – 90 year older parent/relative remains independent feel the responsibility to support their elders whilst meeting their own physical, psychological and material needs. Totalcare has developed a low cost, intuitive system to monitor elderly physical activity at home and provide peace of mind for family members. Totalcare’s “TESS” prototype product, unlike traditional assisted living services such as fall alarms, is “prevention” orientated; it identifies patterns and changes in physical activity indicative of catastrophic health event in independent older people. (i.e. TESSvisualises patterns of bathroom use indicating possible dehydration/ urinary tract infection potentially leading to acute hospital admission. TESS also identifies disturbed sleep patterns indicating risk of falls and progression of early dementia. TESS (The Product) monitors overall physical activity in older people giving evidencing change in activity correlating with health and wellbeing assisting assessment. This gives unique insight to carers (and staff), involving them in care management. Proprietary technology is being developed also which links users, professionals and peer carers creating “social networks with a purpose”; a “virtuous virtual environment”. TESS has been piloted in sheltered accommodation and in individual homes and has been positively received as acceptable, easy to use effective as a means for concerned family members to monitor levels of activity unobtrusively and so provide piece of mind for their dependent relative and for themselves and also vital clues about potential deteriorating health status of their relatives.

Awaiting Public Summary