VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a mobile guide for users of Finnish public transport systems which is being piloted in Oulu and also Helsinki. The service delivers real-time information on buses or trams to mobile phones. Hooking into a positioning system that tracks a number of trams, trains and buses, passengers can get access to real-time information on how far away their ride is, and when it's going to turn up at their stop.
 

The Mobile Guide for City Traveller (KAMO in Finnish) is a new mobile application that offers journey planning and stop-specific timetable information. Passengers can follow the route stop by stop during the trip and select an alarm from the mobile guide before the destination stop.They also pay their fare via the application and save journey details for later use. KAMO users can track the progress of any buses, trams or underground trains included in real-time positioning-based monitoring. The service also enables journey planning and tracking the planned route via mobile phone. Travel news concerning problems or changes to public transport is also available via the KAMO application.

The mobile service is based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Once loaded into the mobile phone, KAMO can be accessed using the phone's menu. Using RFID remote reading – featured by Nokia's 6131 NFC model, for example – can enhance the speed of usage. Touching the RFID tag with a mobile phone opens the application on the phone's display without the user having to access it separately via the menu. Tags can be used for mobile travel ticket purchases or accessing stop-specific timetable information. As NFC phones are not yet widely used, the application also works on Nokia's other S40 and S60 models.

The service is designed to serve both city travellers using public transport regularly and casual passengers such as tourists. The service will soon be enhanced with a range of additional services to provide information on local events, news reports or location-based advertisements. In future, users will be able to tailor the KAMO application to offer information only on certain routes or adding and removing services as they need to.

The development of the service was funded by the City of Oulu and Helsinki City Transport (HKL). The KAMO service was published at the UITP World Congress organised by the International Association of Public Transport in Helsinki from 20th to 24th May 2007. The hosts of the congress exhibition and VTT, both demonstrated the service at their stands in the Helsinki Fair Centre. The application was piloted during the congress – visitors were able to load the application onto their mobile phones at VTT's stand and use the application when exploring the city.

One of VTT's objectives from this service is to study the dissemination of mobile applications by means of "social media". In the autumn, VTT will select a group of schoolchildren or students who will be offered the opportunity to use KAMO and distribute it further via SMS message, for example. The purpose of the campaign is to study the efficiency and impact of a novel advertising approach and obtain experience for the commercial launch of KAMO