An Intelligent IoT Device for Real-Time Cloud-Based Tracking of the Terms of Service in Smart Cities

The emerging interest in smart, sustainable cities has propelled an exploration race by adopting various technologies to improve business efficiency. Specifically, the smart technology has a considerable potential in a shared environment, which is defined as a socioeconomic system that allows an intermediated set of exchanges of goods and services between individuals and/or organizations to increase efficiency and optimize resource allocation. Smart technology is capable to track the utilization of shared goods or service in a continuous and real-time manner, which effectively strengthens the trust between the shareholders (i.e., users and providers); however, its application in the sharing economy is still immature. This paper proposes an approach to adopt smart technologies in shared properties in smart cities. The developed method includes (1) identifying critical indicators and developing various sensors to obtain real-time data to assess the user’s utilization of the shared property, (2) developing an IoT device using open-source embedded systems (i.e., Arduino) to integrate all the sensors, and (3) creating a cloud-based, visual interface accessible by property users and providers to monitor service utilization and the user’s compliance with the terms of service. The proposed IoT device was implemented and tested in a shared environment in New Jersey (NJ), USA. Ultimately, this study aims to pave the way to transforming traditional business practices toward more intelligent models whereby both the providers and the users have fewer, or ideally no, regrets in relation to their decisions about the sharing economy environment in smart cities.