“We want to help every community in every corner of the world to bring people and places closer together,” enthuses Tiernan Mines, CEO and Co-Founder at Hello Lamp Post.
Hello Lamp Post was founded in 2018, when Tiernan Mines and his fellow founders Ben Barker and Sam Hill began exploring how the Internet of Things might change our relationships with the place where we live and travel.
“Hello Lamp Post came from exploring the idea of Smart Cities,” says Ben Barker, “What we were really interested in was ‘how do we bring humans into that conversation?’.”
It’s an idea that has captured the imagination of many city planners, universities, property developers and other organisations. Since its launch, Hello Lamp Post has been deployed in over 50 areas around the world, including Vancouver, Sydney, London, Texas, Belfast, Manchester and Singapore.
By placing QR codes on street furniture and landmarks, Hello Lamp Post offers an opportunity for local communities and visitors to the area to engage with programmes or feedback tools, access way-finding or story-telling resources, participate in urban design engagement processes or discover cultural and tourism narratives and hubs.
In one interesting use case, the local community of Exmouth on the south coast of England can use Hello Lamp Post to engage with England’s Environment Agency.
“The Environment Agency discovered Hello Lamp Post at the start of the pandemic when a lot of our in-person flood outreach work was stopped,” explains Kate Pearson, Flood Resilience Advisor at the Environment Agency, “and Hello Lamp Post actually offered the perfect solution for us.”
Since the Hello Lamp Post signs were installed, the Environment Agency has reached hundreds of users, explains Kate Pearson. “It’s almost 1,000 across Devon and Cornwall, which is really good outreach for us,” she explains.
“Ultimately, what that means,” adds Tiernan Mines, “is communities are more informed about the flood risks they are at and they’re also better prepared for when flood events occur.”
Taking action before a flood could save your most valuable possessions and even your life. The Plan Ahead for Flooding resources on the .gov.uk website outline steps that can be taken to minimise damage to your home.
“Using Microsoft as a technical partner is really shaping our growth plans going forward. We’re currently in three continents, but we want to help every community in every corner of the world,” says Tiernan Mines.
“Using Microsoft Azure has really transformed what we are able to do,” concurs Ben Barker. “It means that now and in the future we can scale from several hundred thousands of users to millions of users. It also means that we’ve got access to a wide suite of tools – machine learning, natural language processing and data analytics tools.”
Furthermore, given the sensitivities of the agencies with which Hello Lamp Post works, the inherent security of Microsoft Azure is a major benefit. Ben Barker explains, “Seeing the Azure badge and knowing that we’re working through the Microsoft Azure suite of tools really gives them confidence.”
Now, Hello Lamp Post using Azure App Service, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Azure DevOps with Machine Learning Studio (AI) and QnA Maker (AI) is well positioned to do what it does best: to engage disparate communities efficiently in new and exciting ways and to make our physical worlds interactive.
“Using Microsoft Azure has really transformed what we are able to do. It means that now and in the future we can scale from several hundred thousands of users to millions of users.”
Ben Barker, CEO and Co-Founder, Hello Lamp Post
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