Device Taxonomy

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

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

Ensures that everyone has equal access to a space or a service.

Enables you to control or interact with aspects of a space or a technology.

Enables artistic and/or cultural expression.

Enables the buying and selling of goods and services.

Enables connectivity of devices to a digital network.

For providing food or meal services.

Supports the measurement or monitoring of the natural environment.

Reduces energy use and/or helps conserve energy.

Used for enforcement of rules or regulations.

Supports authentication or validation in order to access a space or a service.

Supports services that ensure public safety and health related to emergencies.

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.

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

Supports the movements of goods or materials.

Supports how people and materials move around.

Supports the development of future plans; or to enable or measure the impact of a decision.

Supports exploratory research and testing.

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

For interacting with another person or a group.

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

Supports the handling and disposal of waste, including as recyclables, compost and hazardous materials.

Reduces water use and/or helps conserve water.

Enables navigation of a location and its amenities and services.

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

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

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

Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics.

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.

A chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate human conversation with users.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

An electric vehicle charger (EV charger) supplies power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Generates still images.

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

Measures the slope, angle or tilt of objects based on gravity.

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.

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).

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

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.

A device that generates audio.

A sensor that detects the movement of nearby objects.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Measures changes in pressure, acceleration, temperature, strain, or force by converting them to an electrical charge.

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

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

Soil moisture sensors measures the water content in soil.

Takes acoustic measurements, most typically for measuring noise pollution.

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

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.

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.

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.

Generates video footage.

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

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.

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

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

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

Provides wireless access to a wired computer network, or to the internet.

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.

Compressed data into a binary format.

Data that has one of two data values, for example true and false.

Information about identifiable individuals.

A digital image is composed of a grid of individual pixels.

Data that represents a location, such as an address, a place name or geographic coordinates; or a structure, such as a floorplan.

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

Measurements that are collected at regular intervals over a period of time.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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 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, 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.

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.

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.

The data collected may be resold to other 3rd parties

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

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

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.

Data is available to the accountable organization

Data is available to the data collection or technology provider

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

Data is not available to the accountable organization

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

Data is stored for {duration}, and after this time period is deleted

No data is kept or stored

Data is backed up outside the jurisdiction where it was collected.

Data is backed up with the jurisdiction where it was collected.

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.

Data is stored in the jurisdiction where it was collected.

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

Data is stored outside the jurisdiction where it was collected.

Data is stored mainly in the jurisdiction where it was collected.