Smart Contracts in Action

Design Informatics introduces experts to smart contracts through the GeoPact demonstrator.

On 12-13 March 2019, transport and technology experts visited one of Edinburgh’s DDI hubs for a hands-on demonstration of location-based smart contracts.

The demonstration by the GeoPact team took place at the Bayes Centre, and took participants through the process of completing smart contracts for delivering goods, by visiting various specially designated locations.

Participants role-played couriers collecting a smart box which provided instructions for a series of deliveries governed by the smart contract. A smart contract is an automatically executing agreement between parties written in computer code.

During the exercise, the smart contract was displayed on a large screen, so spectators could witness each stage as participants progressed through different locations.

The GeoPact project uses a combination of IoT and Blockchain technologies to provide a secure and trusted way to collect, verify, store and use location data. With increased confidence in the validity and security of location data, its use within smart contracts could underpin increasingly transparent and seamless transport and delivery services.

For example, a passenger could sign up to a smart contract to pay for a train journey, where payment is automatic on arrival of the train at the destination station. The cost could be based on the train’s arrival time, with a delay potentially generating a discount.

The aim of the GeoPact demonstration was to help experts to engage with these technological concepts and to explore how they might open up location data for new uses.

The event was attended by stakeholders from Edinburgh City Council, Sustrans, Ansons Consultancy and University of Edinburgh experts in the field of transport, mobility and smart technologies.

Previous GeoPact events have be held at the Tate Modern, as part of the Living in the IoT exhibition in which the public could participate, and at the University of Warwick, focusing on the potential of blockchain and IoT in travel patterns.

The GeoPact team is Dave Murray-Rust, Ella Tallyn and Joe Revans