Thanks to a network of public and private organisations, the Øresund Region is becoming a testing field of location-based communications technologies. Ørestad Nord - the northern part of the future Copenhagen district Ørestad - is on the way to become an international digital meeting place. Research organisations and some of the world’s most advanced companies working within communications technologies are joining forces around the network Crossroads Copenhagen to study situation and location-based mobile communications in Ørestad.

With the initiative, scientists will get the opportunity to test new solutions and products with the approximately 20,000 people who will live and work in the Ørestad district. One of the main topics of study will be trail-blazing communication between people. They will also be able to investigate the interaction between alternative ways of life and the use of technology in the networking society.

Crossroads Copenhagen is a professional network of public and private enterprises aimed at transforming Ørestad Nord into an international centre of development for culture, media and communications technology. The major enterprises involved in Crossroads Copenhagen are NOKIA, CSC, the Danish Broadcast Corporation (DR), the IT University of Copenhagen (IT-C), The Royal Library, the University of Copenhagen, Hewlett-Packard, TDC, Skanska, the Danish Consumer Information and the Danish Business Daily Børsen.

Three-dimensional wireless network

In the Ørestad Nord it will be possible to pinpoint electronic devices with an accuracy of just a few metres in three dimensions. One of the projects that are covered by Crossroad Copenhagen investigates how this technology will be used in everyday life and how to guarantee users’ freedom and security.

The idea is to gradually establish a local, three-dimensional wireless network in the entire district Ørestad Nord. Equipped with advanced cellular phones and other portable terminals, the network will allow the residents and people who work there to communicate wireless with other people inside the district – through sound, live images and text. Simultaneously, anyone will be able to signal automatically to the outside world exactly where they are within the district.

A wireless network of these proportions will be unique in the world. It will cover a population of approximately 20,000 people, two universities, a science park, the largest media-corporation in Denmark, a centre for sports and culture and approximately 1.200 new housings for families and students.

August 2002

More information: Crossroads Copenhagen