Accountable

IconAccountableDescription
Institution

The entity that is responsible and accountable for this data collection activity

Organization

The entity that is responsible and accountable for this data collection activity

Purpose

IconPurposeDescription
Accessibility

Ensures that everyone has equal access to a space or a service. Find out more about accessibility and universal design

Agency & Interaction

Enables you to control or interact with aspects of a space or a technology. Find out more about interactive media and virtual reality

Arts & Culture

Enables artistic and/or cultural expression. Find out more here

Commerce

Enables the buying and selling of goods and services. Find out more here

Connectivity

Enables connectivity of devices to a digital network. Find out more here

Dining

For providing food or meal services. Find out more here or here

Ecology

Supports the measurement or monitoring of the natural environment. Find out more about the natural environment, ecology and environmental science

Energy Efficiency

Reduces energy use and/or helps conserve energy. Find out more about energy efficiency and energy conservation

Enforcement

Used for enforcement of rules or regulations. Find out more here

Entry

Supports authentication or validation in order to access a space or a service. Find out more here

Fire & Emergency

Supports services that ensure public safety and health related to emergencies. Find out more about emergency services.

Health

Supports the measurement or monitoring of the aspects of the physical environment that impacts human health, such as radiation or air quality, or in specific contexts such as the workplace. Find out more about environmental monitoring and occupational health and safety

Inform

Supports the provision of information, for example about a location, a service, or to provide assistance

Logistics

Supports the movements of goods or materials. Find out more here

Mobility

Supports how people and materials move around. Find out more here

Planning & Decision-making

Supports the development of future plans; or to enable or measure the impact of a decision. Examples include urban planning

Research & Development

Supports exploratory research and testing. Find out more here.

Safety & Security

Enables a safe and/or secure environment, for example for the purposes of fire safety, home security or ensuring safe passage in places such as airports or roads

Social

For interacting with another person or a group.

Switch

Supports a mechanical function - such as turning a device on or off, opening or closing, or adjusting brightness and intensity.

Waste Management

Supports the handling and disposal of waste, including as recyclables, compost and hazardous materials. Find out more about waste management

Water Efficiency

Reduces water use and/or helps conserve water. Find out more about water efficiency and conservation, and green infrastructure.

Wayfinding & Services

Enables navigation of a location and its amenities and services.

Technology

IconTechnologyDescription
Air Quality

Measures various aspects of air quality, such as pollen, particulate matter, ozone, and greenhouse gases. Find out more here

Assistance Station

Provides access to assistive services. Examples include assistive technologies and virtual assistants

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is a technology that combines both physical and digital content to create interactive experiences and content. Click here to learn more.

Biometrics

Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Find out more here

Cellular

This devices uses a cellular communication network where the last link is wireless, enabling portable transceivers (e.g., mobile phones) to communicate with each other and with fixed transceivers and telephones anywhere in the network. Find out more about cellular networks here

Chatbot

A chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate human conversation with users. To learn more about how chatbots work, click here.

Contactless Payments

Contactless payment systems are are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC) for making secure payments. Find out more about contactless payment systems here.

De-identified Image

Generates still images of a sufficient resolution where individuals can be identified, for example by capturing images of faces or unique numbers such as vehicle license plates. However, images are processed in a way that removes identifying characteristics before it is used or stored (known as de-identified before first use or de-identified on device), for example by blurring faces using computer vision. Find out more about de-identification here.

De-identified Video

Generates video footage of a sufficient resolution where individuals can be identified, for example by capturing images of faces or unique numbers such as vehicle license plates. However, the video is processed in a way that removes identifying characteristics before it is used or stored (known as de-identified before first use or de-identified on device), for example by blurring faces using computer vision.

De-identified Voice

Generates audio data that can identify individuals, but the data is processed in a way that removes identifying characteristics before it is used or stored (known as de-identified before first use or de-identified on device). Find out more about de-identification here.

DTPR API

The DTPR API provides machine-readable access to a place-centric registry of systems and sensors that are described using the open-source DTPR taxonomy. Find out more about the system here

Electric vehicle charger

An electric vehicle charger (EV charger) supplies power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles. Find out more about electric vehicle charging here.

Facial characterization

Facial characterization allows a system to make inferences such as gender, facial expression, and age range, but does not identify individuals. The technology does not retain or use any personally identifiable information.

GPS

GPS is one of the global navigation satellite systems that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. Find out more about GPS here.

Hands-free

Describes a technology where the primary mode of interaction does not require the use of hands, for example, devices that respond to voice commands or gesture based "touchless" interfaces. Find out more about voice-user interfaces here and touchless interfaces here.

Identifiable Image

Generates still images of a sufficient resolution where individuals can be identified, for example by capturing images of faces or unique numbers such as vehicle license plates. Identifying information can be collected either through manual review of images by a person, or through computer vision techniques that derives information in the form of data from images.

Identifiable NFC

A wireless communication protocol for electronic devices that are within a short distance of each other, typically used in ticketing or payment systems. In this case, unique identification is possible, for example if a particular item is closely associated with an individual's personal data. Find out more here

Identifiable RFID

Enables the identification of items using electromagnetic fields, commonly used to track inventory in stores. In this case, unique identification is possible, for example if a particular item is closely associated with an individual's personal data. Find out more here

Identifiable Video

Generates video footage of a sufficient resolution where individuals can be identified, for example by capturing images of faces or unique numbers such as vehicle license plates. Identifying information can be collected either through manual review by a person, or through computer vision techniques that derives information in the form of data from video or images.

Identifiable WiFi Sensor

WiFi sensors measure the strength of the wireless signals from cell phones and other mobile devices. These measurements can be used to track the positions and movement of these devices in physical space. This may be associated with the hardware addresses of the devices themselves.

Image

Generates still images. Find out more about cameras here

Image - infrared

Generates still images in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Inclinometer

Measures the slope, angle or tilt of objects based on gravity. Find out more here.

Induction Loop

An induction loop uses a moving magnet to generate an electric current in a nearby wire. When a metal object moves close to the wire it changes the current. This makes it useful for detecting vehicles or other metal objects. Click here to learn more.

Intercom

An intercom (intercommunication device) is a stand-alone voice communications system for use within a building or small collection of buildings, and is separate from other communications networks (such as the telephone system). Find out more about intercom systems here

LiDAR

Uses lasers to measure distances to objects, collecting data that can create a 3-D representation of the object. Find out more here

Location Beacon

Beacons are Bluetooth low energy (LE) hardware transmitters that broadcast their identifier to nearby portable electronic devices. The technology enables smartphones, tablets and other devices to perform actions when in close proximity to a beacon. Find out more here

Microphone

A device that generates audio. Find out more here

Motion Detector

A sensor that detects the movement of nearby objects.

NFC

A wireless communication protocol for electronic devices that are within a short distance of each other, typically used in ticketing or payment systems. No identifying data is collected in this case. Find out more here

Non-identifiable Video

Generates video footage incapable of identifying individuals due to factors such as low-resolution, so that faces or unique numbers such as vehicle license plates cannot be determined.

Passive Infrared Sensor

An electronic sensor that measures infrared (IR) light radiating from objects in its field of view. Find out more here

Person detection

Person detection refers to when a system can detect the presence of humans in images or videos, and identify where they are located or how many there are in an image, but does not identify individuals. The technology does not retain or use any personally identifiable information.

Personal Device

A mobile device that combines cellular and mobile computing functions into one unit, that is intended for use by one person. Find out more here

Radar

Uses radio waves to detect objects, or measure how they are moving through a space, such as vehicles. Find out more here

RFID

Enables the identification of items using electromagnetic fields, commonly used to track inventory in stores, but not for identifying individual items. Find out more here

Soil Moisture Sensor

Soil moisture sensors measures the water content in soil. Find out more here

Sound Level Meter

Takes acoustic measurements, most typically for measuring noise pollution. Find out more here

System Screen

People can interact with this digital system using the screen that is provided as part of device installation.

Thermometer

Measures the temperature of or changes of temperature in the physical environment, and quantifies those attributes according to a standardized scale such as Celsius or Fahrenheit. Find more more here

Ultrasonic Sensor

Uses ultrasonic waves to measure distances to objects. The sensor emits an ultrasonic wave and receives the wave reflected back from the object. The distance is calculated using the time between emission and reception. Find out more here.

Unmanned Aircraft System

An unmanned aircraft system (UAS) consists of an unmanned aircraft and the equipment necessary for the safe and effective operation of that aircraft. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is one component of this system. For more information, click here to learn more.

Video camera

Generates video footage. Find out more here.

Video camera - infrared

Generates video footage in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Voice

Audio data is collected that does or can identify individuals, either through manual review or by technologies that can determine either what is being said, or who is saying it. Find out more about speech recognition or speaker recognition.

Water Quality

Measures various aspects of water quality, such as the amount of dissolved oxygen in water, pH, nitrates and dissolved oxygen. Find out more here

Weather Station

A set of instruments for measuring atmospheric conditions such as temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure. Find out more here

Weighing Scale

A weighing scale is a device to measure weight or mass. No identifying data is collected in this case. Find out more here

Wireless Access Point

Provides wireless access to a wired computer network, or to the internet. Find out more here

Wireless Charging Roadway

Copper coil segments buried under the road are activated to charge an electric vehicle battery using magnetic induction, which means that electric vehicles equipped with a special receiver can be charged while it is driving along or is parked over the road. Click here to learn more.

Data Type

IconData TypeDescription
Binary

Compressed data into a binary format. Find out more here

Boolean

Data that has one of two data values, for example true and false. Find out more here

Personal

Information about identifiable individuals. Find out more here

Pixel-based Image

A digital image is composed of a grid of individual pixels. Find out more at digital image

Spatial

Data that represents a location, such as an address, a place name or geographic coordinates; or a structure, such as a floorplan. Find out more about geospatial data and building information models

Tabular

Data that is stored in a table, where values are stored in rows and columns. More here

Values / Time

Measurements that are collected at regular intervals over a period of time. For example see time series data.

Processing

IconProcessingDescription
Aggregated

Data that has been grouped or summarized from individual measurements, for example to count up totals or to calculate an average. Find out more here

AI System

Data that is processed by automated, algorithmic or artificial intelligence systems to derive a new result or data point. Find out more about automated, algorithmic and artificial intelligence systems.

Bitmap manipulation

Bitmap manipulation is the process of altering pixels in a raster-based image, such as retouching a digital photograph.

Code signing

Code signing is the process of digitally signing executables and scripts to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted since it was signed. The process employs the use of a cryptographic hash to validate authenticity and integrity. Find out more here

Computer vision

Computer vision refers to computer science methodologies that enable computers to derive data from digital images or video. Find out more here

Cryptonets

Cryptonets are neural networks that can be applied to encrypted data. Due to this capability it is not required to decrypt the data during processing and because of this it is not necessary to even provide the application host with the keys to decrypt the data. Cryptonets are an implementation of Homomorphic Encryption. Find out more here

De-identified

Data that is processed to remove identifying values, usually to protect privacy. De-identification can happen at any point in a data collection process, for example before it is stored in a database, or before it is published. Here we define it to mean after the data has already left a hardware device, or after it has been stored in a database. Find out more here

Differential privacy

Differential privacy is a system for publicly sharing information about a dataset by describing the patterns of groups within the dataset while withholding information about individuals in the dataset. Find out more here.

Encrypted

Data has been encoded so that only authorized parties can access it, which can reduce risk related to handling private or sensitive information. Find out more here

Encrypted at Rest

Encryption at Rest is the encryption of data when it is persisted to a storage medium like a drive or database. It protects the data against unauthorized access of the database itself.

Federated learning

Federated Learning involves both Edge Computing and a Cloud based process which allows machine learning to take place on a large body of decentralized de-identified data. Find out more here.

Hardware audits

3rd Party auditing specialists periodically examine the hardware & firmware to identify security best practice vulnerabilities and/or gaps in disclosure when it comes to the type of data the device is capturing and how it is being processed.

Homomorphic encryption

Homomorphic encryption is a form of encryption that allows computation on ciphertexts, generating an encrypted result which, when decrypted, matches the result of the operations as if they had been performed on the plaintext. Find out more here

Immutable Query Ledger

All interactions with the data throughout its lifecycle, including access and any transformations that are applied are registered in an immutable query ledger creating an auditable chain of accountability mediated by a distributed database.

K-Anonymity

K-Anonymity is used to ensure anonymity when disclosing otherwise personally identifiable data. Attributes of the data are suppressed or generalized until each row is identical with at least k-1 other rows. At this point the database is said to be k-anonymous. Find out more here.

Raw data

Data that has not been processed or altered from the point of collection - the data is effectively identical to how it was gathered from the original data source. Find out more here

RDUA Approved

Data activity has undergone a Responsible Data Use Assessment and determined to provide a net benefit. The RDUA is a process that Sidewalk Labs conducts prior to the start of any data activity.

Regulated

Depending on the jurisdiction and type of data, data is regulated in various ways

Reviewed Internally

Many organizations have internal review processes that consider the potential benefits, risks and implications for privacy for new technologies or data collection activities.

Secure Multi-Party Computing

Secure multi-party computation is a subfield of cryptography with the goal of creating methods for parties to jointly compute a function over their inputs while keeping those inputs private. It allows participants to generate aggregated insights from data while keeping the individual items of data secret.

Transport Layer Security

Transport Layer Security, or TLS, is a widely adopted security protocol designed to facilitate privacy and data security for communications over the Internet by encrypting data while it is in.

Trusted Execution Environment

A TEE is an isolated environment created using special purpose hardware and software to protect the data stored inside. A TEE provides a “trusted environment” inside which a process can run while it is invisible to any other process on the processor, the operating system or any other type of privileged access.

Zero Knowledge Proofs

A Zero Knowledge Proof is a method by which one party can prove to another party that they know a value, without conveying any additional information such as the value itself. Learn more here

Access

IconAccessDescription
Available for resale

The data collected may be resold to other 3rd parties

Available to 3rd parties

Data is available to 3rd parties not involved in the data activity. This does not always mean that data is being resold.

Available to download

Data that can be accessed and downloaded online, either for free or for a fee

Available to me

Available to me but not to other individuals. For example, as an individual you have access to all your electronic toll records for your car, but other individuals do not have access to that.

Available to the accountable organization

Data is available to the accountable organization

Available to vendor

Data is available to the data collection or technology provider

Not available to me

Not available to me or other individuals. As an individual, there isn't a way for you to access this data.

Not available to the accountable organization

Data is not available to the accountable organization

Not available to vendor

Data is not available to the data collection or technology provider.

Storage

IconStorageDescription
Backed up internationally

Data is backed up outside the jurisdiction where it was collected. Find out more here

Backed up locally

Data is backed up with the jurisdiction where it was collected. Find out more here

No data retained

No data is kept or stored

Retained 1 month

Data is stored for 1 month, and after this time period is deleted

Retained 1 year

Data is stored for 1 year, and after this time period is deleted

Retained 2 years

Data is stored for 2 years, and then after that time period is deleted.

Retained 3 months

Data is stored for 3 months, and after this time period is deleted

Retained 5 years

Data is stored for 5 years, and after this time period is deleted

Retained 6 months

Data is stored for 6 months, and after this time period is deleted

Retained 7 years

Data is stored for 7 years, and after this time period is deleted

Retained 24 hours

Data is stored for 24 hours, and after this time period is deleted

Retained indefinitely

Data is retained indefinitely

Retained 6 Years

Data is stored for 6 years, and after this time period is deleted

Shared storage and governance

In a shared data store model the data store is shared across multiple parties and because the infrastructure is shared it becomes possible to enforce governance around the retention, access and destruction of the data by policies built into the structure of the data itself. Find out more here

Stored locally

Data is stored in the jurisdiction where it was collected. Find out more here

Stored on 3rd Party Cloud

Data is stored on behalf of the organization or the data collector in an off-site data centre, such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure

Stored primarily internationally

Data is stored outside the jurisdiction where it was collected. Find out more here

Stored primarily locally

Data is stored mainly in the jurisdiction where it was collected. Find out more here