Building the Future Now with Smart City ICT
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The implementation of Smart City technology is as much about finding a business model that offers a return on the initial investment and support for system maintenance as it is about potential Smart City applications.
In this article, we explore how Smart City systems work and then provide an overview of ways the systems can be used. We conclude with nine best practices that have proven to help cities successfully roll out cost-effective Smart City technology. By following these best practices, cities can improve public safety and city services while limiting initial costs and boosting economic prospects for years to come.
The Internet of Things (IoT) offers an abundance of capabilities for use by Smart City installations. The value of the IoT begins with new information. For example, strategically placed acoustic sensors that detect gunshots have shown that previous assumptions about the levels of gun activity in some U.S. neighborhoods were wrong. Police departments believed that individuals called ‘911’ 80 percent of the time after shots were fired. In fact, this percentage could be as low as 20 percent.
The IoT also accelerates information dissemination. For example, city inspectors collect data on the structural integrity of bridges and other infrastructures but are often understaffed, preventing these inspectors from checking all the infrastructures as thoroughly as needed. Sensors on bridges, however, can provide structural integrity information at regular intervals, alerting inspectors when potential problems may need attention.
In general, the IoT provides more topical information — often in real time — such as status signals sent from parking sensors to smartphone Apps that alert drivers of available spaces. Another example could be the ability of transportation managers to continuously monitor the location of all public buses and mobile Apps that keep travelers updated with accurate bus arrival and departures times.
While it is common to think of the IoT as a loose collection of sensors and gadgets spread across the city, the true value of the IoT emerges in the higher-level applications that transform sensor data into useful insights. The sensors, security cameras, and other data-gathering devices are networked with computers running software that brings intelligence to the system.
Even though they function at a relatively low level, device enablement services can still manage devices and ensure the back-and-forth flow of data. Key components include:
Thus, device enablement focuses on the vertical movement of data between ‘things’ and computers. In contrast, application enablement concentrates on the horizontal integration of software applications that use IoT data. This form of enablement includes Big Data analytics and the ability to make real-time decisions about collected data. Intelligent analytics are vital for extracting the value of Smart City IoT.
Big Data analytics and other applications ideally run on cloud computing platforms or High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems. The latter are cost-effective for tasks ranging from the simulation of complex physical systems to real-time detection of credit card fraud.
In addition to cloud computing and HPC, edge computing has emerged as a useful way to manage diverse types of connections with IoT devices, handle real-time services, optimize data, provide application intelligence, ensure security, and protect privacy.
Edge computing (and a subset of edge capabilities called fog computing) is defined as computing performed near the edge of a WAN or near endpoint devices at the edge of an IoT network (as opposed to the computational processing that that occurs at the cloud data centers). Edge computing allows organizations to satisfy the requirements for lower costs and faster responses that are impossible with data transmissions between endpoint devices and servers located in far-away data centers.
Edge computing — defined as processing at the perimeter of the network rather than at the data centers — offers value by analyzing raw, granular data close to the source, and 1) feeding only the results to higher-level applications, or 2) controlling local IoT devices in real time, at the lowest possible latency.
In addition to improving real-time response close to IoT endpoint devices, edge computing will likely develop into wide-area, decentralized cooperative platforms for IoT and data distribution business platforms by connecting with endpoint devices.
The uses for Smart City technology seem endless, but it is worthwhile to underscore a few of the most promising applications:
Among the most powerful collections of Smart City technology are the Intelligent Operation Centers (IOCs). IOCs enable cities to integrate disparate data sources in order to provide an operational and actionable picture of the city’s assets. Near-real-time data visualization gives city managers the understanding and insights necessary to handle both day-to-day and emergency situations efficiently. IOC solutions can provide comprehensive support for Smart City businesses, acting as the central orchestration element for administrative systems (implementing business data exchange and coordination), industrial systems (integrating city needs with industrial planning), and environmental systems (monitoring and forecasting water, energy, air, and soil conditions).
It bears noting that command and control centers are completely different from IOCs. In times of crisis, however, IOCs are force multipliers for command and control situations — critical tools that enable public safety organizations to integrate a plethora of information sources. City agencies can, in this way, use advanced analytics, Geographic Information System (GIS) visualization software, and sensor data generated by the IoT and mobile applications. GIS technologies are vital. They pictorially make sense of the overwhelming flood of data with which organizations currently struggle.
Both IOCs and associated command/control centers are important components to every successful Safe City effort. Safe Cities deliver social value, such as better overall quality of life, and economic value like industrial development, improved employment rates, and revenue generation from sources such as increased tourism.
Today’s Safe Cities utilize Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to predict, prevent, and reduce crime; address new and emerging threats; improve emergency/disaster planning and response; lower the cost of operations; and allocate resources more effectively. These cities work to create safer communities using advanced analytics, social media, mobile technologies, and collaboration and information sharing tools to support emergency response services, local law enforcement and policing, and the justice and corrections system including local courts and locally operated jails and prisons, as well as probation, community corrections, and parole departments.
Experiences with Smart City development have shown that the following best practices can help achieve useful results at a reasonable cost.
Smart City best-practice planning and use of stakeholders
The core goal of a Smart City is sustainable economic development and growth. Smart Cities use Smart City initiatives to attract more businesses, startups, tourists, visitors, and residents. By optimizing urban transportation, Smart Cities make it easier for people to shop, attend events, and go to work. Safe Cities and clean cities that follow sustainable environmental practices attract companies and individuals who want a good place to live and work. Many Smart City features pay for themselves in a short time, and nearly all of them offer long-term payoffs in the form of thriving social and economic activity.