RFID
The tag-and-reader layer under fare cards, bin-weighing and asset tracking. Old, cheap, and still the mechanism behind a surprising number of entries here.
How this list is decided. Membership is not a field an editor set: it is every published entry whose own text names RFID, matched at build time, with the sentence printed under each row so you can judge the match yourself. 13 entries in 13 cities.
✔ Every published entry is checked against the public sources it cites before publication.
Where it appears in the atlas
Every container at Colombo's harbor is tracked by GPS and RFID tags — a different system entirely from the automated cranes now transforming the port's newer terminals next door, run by different owners.
Salik, Dubai's barrier-free RFID road-toll system (running since 2007), switched to dynamic congestion pricing on 31 January 2025: crossings cost AED 6 during 6–10am and 4–8pm peaks, AED 4 off-peak, and are free from 1–6am.
Transurbano launched on 3 July 2010 as a private consortium's replacement for Guatemala City's aging camionetas: Brazilian-built buses with GPS tracking, on-board cameras and an RFID prepaid card, whose fare system was financed by a Q270 million (≈US$35 million) state transfer to the bus owners' association under a …
In June 2023 Harbin's state-owned City Investment Group (through its Chengan subsidiary) launched "Chengbotong," a citywide parking app built on vehicle-detection sensors, RFID and smart terminals across the city's roughly 436,000 off-street spaces and 1.4 million curbside spaces.
Lilongwe Water Board's E-Madzi ('water electronically') kiosks replace attendant-run communal water points with automated dispensers: residents tap an RFID smart card, credit is deducted for the exact volume drawn, and a web dashboard lets the utility monitor each kiosk remotely.
The tolling is electronic but not free-flow: drivers stop at barriers and pay with an RFID on-board unit (KSh 3,000 to fit in 2022), a prepaid card, a bank card, mobile money over USSD, or cash.
History: 1 Oct 2001 launch, Calypso contactless standard, RFID/NFC, Carte Orange discontinued Feb 2009.
Since 2013 Seoul charges for food waste by weight: at RFID-tagged bins in apartment blocks, residents tap an ID card, the bin weighs each deposit and bills per kilogram, replacing a flat charge folded into building fees.
Official ERP page: how gantry-based RFID road pricing works, plus rates and operating hours.
Residents can identify themselves by national ID number or by the RFID chip in their eKTP identity card, and print or screenshot the queue number that comes back.
Its most concrete application is the door-to-door waste fleet, where GPS on the collection vehicles is checked against programmed routes and RFID tags identify vehicles at transfer stations and record their weight automatically.
What it approved was proportionate to the principle rather than to the count: attendants, phone-ahead openings and remote video unlocking immediately, and RFID-triggered doors that need no assistance at all within about eighteen months.
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After a 2015 trial, Wellington City Council went live in August 2016 with SmartPark: 3,800+ RFID in-ground sensors across the CBD detecting bay occupancy, feeding the PayMyPark app for real-time availability and cashless payment.
Others in this group
The whole layer
Every standard, protocol and licence the atlas names, with the open-data licence ladder in one table: Standards & licences.