OK, you're walking down a street, and you point your cellphone at a movie theater. Onto your screen flashes a list of what's playing and the running times. You point it at a restaurant. It shows you the menu. When you point it at an office building, you get a directory of the businesses inside. Welcome to the world's first intelligent city - which is what researchers at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth are hoping to create. Prof A. Stewart Fotheringham, director of the $12.3 million project, says a key challenge is developing a common language for closed-circuit cameras, satellites, and radio-frequency ID monitors and then processing the collected data into useful information. Already researchers are building a three-dimensional computerized replica of Maynooth's North Campus.The immediate goal is an emergency management plan, but the same technology could be used to send live traffic updates to cars' satellite navigation systems or to help the visually impaired maneuver around unexpected obstacles. We are, Fotheringham told the Irish Tïmes,"entering what was once thought to be the realm of science fiction." - TG

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