A quick online search on what constitutes a Smart City can result in days chasing definitions and perusing the various angles by consultants and technologists alike and you’re no closer to getting a clear and concise guideline.
Sure, there are the Smart City Concepts outlines by Frost & Sullivan which are a great starting point to understanding what makes up a Smart City. I’ve been following this growing topic for about 5 years now with a particular focus on how this relates to the geospatial industry and the technologies we use in designing, planning, building and managing cities.
It is old news that the global urbanisation rate is estimated to be 1 million people are moving to urban areas every week. It is also not news that Africa has the fastest urbanisation rate in the world and that by 2030 Africa will sitting on the worlds largest economically active population.
Now take that information and visualise where you think the Internet of Things sits in all of this? The IoT is also not a new term and was coined by the clever guys at MIT in 1999 and they will be the first to tell you that it is not a platform and nor is it the IoT a technology. WTF I hear you say? Don’t be fooled by the plethora of devices and solutions being thrown out there that will have you believe this, but think for a minute. The IoT is a design language that allows all these smart devices and technologies to openly communicate across protocols and platforms that makes sense of the data noise and delivers an solution, perhaps via a platform, that allows you (and machines) to make quicker, more informed and value-added decisions.
It is a coming together of the people of a city (its citizens) that live, work and play there and the government who need to provide the services and safety to these citizens and the trust that is developed between all parties that allows this to succeed.
So if you imagine the Smart City concepts outlined by Frost & Sullivan and position the IoT in the middle and for the magic to happen you need 3 things to be in place:
- A set of ‘things’ (devices, sensors, applications)
- An internet-like connection
- A cloud-based platform that connects people processes and systems
We cannot ignore that 70% of a countries energy is consumed in cities so it doesn’t take much to appreciate that the way cities provide services to their citizens has to get smarter and make cities more livable to meet the demands of its citizens.
At Hexagon Geospatial we look to the 3 stages of a Smart City:
- First we need a digital city or more accurately, a digital representation in 3D (as a minimum) of the urban landscape
- Secondly a city needs to be a safe city so public safety and the safe movement of its citizens is at the heart of this stage
- Thirdly a city is connected and this is the smart solutions for energy, transport, urban planning and sensors that are so often spoken about.
In a series of blogs and vlogs I will explore these stages, the smart city concepts and all things interesting about this growing trend and I will aim to provide this in the context of what it means for Africa.
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