Today, companies are adopting smart technologies, and gradually using them to develop their business and maintain their competitiveness in the market. The leaders of more developed cities are also thinking about adopting these smart technologies in innovative ways to develop public services and make the daily life of the population easier and simpler.
Many cities are currently seeking to take advantage of big data, and emerging technologies such as: artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of things, etc., to facilitate the daily lives of residents.
In the past few years; Smart cities have grown and expanded around the world, becoming more liveable, and in this context; Smartphones play a major role in these cities, providing real-time information about transportation services, health services, traffic, safety alerts, and community news to millions of residents.
Navigant Research's market research report showed; Annual revenue growth for the global smart city technology market from 97.4 billion dollars in 2019 to 263 billion dollars by 2028, with cumulative revenues expected to reach nearly 1.7 trillion dollars.
The report highlighted 443 projects covering 286 cities around the world, and indicated that the market continues to mature, with more cities achieving greater levels of integration between services and technology-driven solutions, enhancing data and insights across multiple sectors of operations and services.
Here are 8 cities that are using big data and emerging technologies in innovative ways to reshape public services:
1- Las Vegas:
Las Vegas ranks number 25 in the list of the most populous cities in the United States, with a population of more than 664 thousand people, and city officials host 43 million tourists every year, and operates 24 hours a day, where it is famous for its beautiful hotels, centers Shopping, and high-end restaurants.
The city has relied on the smart solution provided by the Japanese company (Hitachi); Which bears the name "Smart Spaces and Video Intelligence", which is a combination of hardware and software that combines the power of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data, and analytics to get the best results by collecting data from surveillance cameras, IoT sensors, and social media, And other sources already used.
The city uses this solution to provide integrated, data-driven insights into population movement, operations, real-time safety issues, and resource utilization more effectively, helping to enhance public safety, security, traffic, public transportation, airport and port movement, and much more.
This solution helps the city deal with traffic problems in real time. If a problem is likely to occur at a specific location, the city can create street maps, indicate alternative routes, and take steps to fix the problem before it starts to worsen.
2- Seoul:
(Seoul) Seoul; It is the capital of South Korea, and this large city is inhabited by nearly 10 million people, and it is one of the largest developed cities in the world, where you find modern skyscrapers, the subway that works with modern technologies, temples, palaces, and shopping centers.
As a result of its large population, waste management has become an important field, and in our digital age, big data and the Internet of Things have become part of the solution that can efficiently address the problem.
Ecube Labs has developed smart city waste management solutions, and these were the first smart city projects to appear in South Korea.
Ecube Labs provides a comprehensive solution for smart waste management using software based on cloud computing, connected to the latest IoT sensors, and smart container technology, this includes a complete line of products:
Solar Powered Waste Compression Bins (CleanCUBE).
Ultrasonic fill level sensors (CleanFLEX), in order to monitor the amount of waste in each bin.
Big data platform that collects data from funds (CleanCityNetworks).
The CCNx platform automatically optimizes manual clustering methods, based on machine learning algorithms.
These solutions improve waste collection methods based on real-time data, provide predictive analytics to enable early decision-making, and significantly reduce costs.
Ecube Labs products are now found in more than 150 locations in Seoul, ranging from parks, entertainment venues, scenic spots, to supermarkets, according to Guillaume Weil, project manager.
3- Amsterdam:
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, and is famous for its artistic heritage, and historical canals, with nearly 1,800 bridges, much more than any other city in the world.
The city also has the world's first 3D-printing steel bridge, 12 meters long, across the Oudezijds Achterburgwal - one of the oldest canals in Amsterdam - in the De Wallen region.
The Dutch company MX3D, in cooperation with American software company Autodesk, has developed a six-axis robot that can do large-scale 3D printing.
The bridge supports innovative sensors that send data via a cloud computing service; To address them and analyze the traffic over the bridge, structural integrity, and to determine environmental factors such as: air quality and temperature. The bridge can also send alerts when maintenance is required.
4- San Francisco:
8 smart cities are using emerging technologies to reshape public services
The population of the US city of San Francisco is 884,000 people, and this has prompted the City Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to focus on strategic objectives; To prioritize transportation that does not involve a vehicle.
The city has a road network dedicated to cycling, and includes many types of infrastructure, such as: bike lanes, cycling places, shared roads, multi-use lanes, and bike map maps.
To develop it; The transportation agency uses automated smart screens to monitor major bicycle data, which is evaluated annually to analyze the results of bicycle use in the city, and using the information from these smart screens, the agency added 10 miles to the bikeway network, and developed 30 new junctions.
5- Stratford
The city of Stratford is located on the Avon River in southwestern Canadian province of Ontario, and it is one of the most important cities in the world that has relied on emerging technologies to develop its infrastructure, and one of its most important projects is what is known as the (smart parking project) Smart Parking.
City parking is often a troublesome process and it takes a long time to reach a suitable place where the car can be parked, but smart city data management can relieve this pressure, through regulation and reliance on new technologies. So the city of Stratford has invested in new technologies so that residents can spend less time searching for a parking place.
The city has embedded parking sensors in the asphalt in 78 parking spaces. These sensors send signals over a wireless network indicating whether the place has cars or not, and the information is displayed on the map in real time.
There is also a dashboard developed by Information Builders - a company that specializes in smart solutions, and data analysis - that shows users empty locations, and other data including the percentage of spaces occupied, the average time the car is parked, and the number of cars that used a particular place that day. .
6- Copenhagen:
With dwindling global energy supplies, and the environmental impact of certain types of energy, cities must carefully consider energy use, and energy rationalization is a major challenge that smart cities face using big data.
Frederiksberg Forsyning, a public utility company in Copenhagen, worked to improve their supply network, but data reliability has been their biggest issue, with utility companies often relying on customers for their monthly or yearly meter readings.
To address this, the company set up a communication network across the municipality, then installed sensors in its pipelines to measure usage from the point of production to the substation, then to the customer, and instead of relying on getting frequent meter readings in homes, it now has 700 data points that are constantly in operation. To collect meter readings in real time, this helped them reduce water losses and improve energy efficiency.
7- The Dutch City of Hague:
Hague is one of the most important Dutch cities that attract tourists through its many tourist destinations, so the city’s municipality office has explored the possibility of developing lighting options in the city, not only by using attractive street lights, but by using a new mechanism to improve energy performance and control it remotely in real time.
To implement this; DE NOOD, a leader in classic street lighting solutions, in cooperation with Tvilight smart lighting solutions company, to install an intelligent lighting system, and used the latest smart city data management technology; To provide better control, the sensors built into city lighting systems enable lights to automatically adjust their brightness, based on the human presence in their surroundings.
8- Brussels:
Transport services in Brussels consist of 4 train lines, 17 tram lines, and 50 bus lines. The company that runs these services, called STIB - MIVB, tracks up to 400 million trips annually and 1,200 buses, to take advantage of these Big Data, has teamed up with German software company SAP and data analytics company Cubis, to access the analytics needed to enhance customer service, operate the system more efficiently, while improving the experience of travelers and visitors.
This collaboration has enabled an enhanced efficiency of preventive vehicle maintenance operations, greater transparency when it comes to the use of public funds, the ability to meet the needs of travelers with disabilities, and reduced rates of environmental pollution.
“Cities are full of data that can help us better understand travel times, routes and congestion points on the network,” says Brian Duffy, SAP Regional Head for Northern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “If used the right way it can help. People get to their destination faster. ”
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