Smart cities have become smarter than before with the use of IoT, AI, and sensor technology. A smart city has a strong ICT infrastructure that helps people improve the quality of life of citizens by reducing unnecessary expenditures and wastages. Basically, citizens of the smart cities use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) extensively and participate in E-governance. Undoubtedly, smart cities follow the concept of participatory governance. Additionally, smart cities integrate different parts of their infrastructure and make them more interconnected, intelligent, and efficient. As a result, people achieve a better quality of life. Microsoft CityNext and Oracle Smart city Solutions offer a number of services for smart cities.
Smart City Services
Community Safety
The smart city ensures public safety through a connected and well-managed surveillance system. The law enforcement agencies employ connected surveillance cameras in societies, public places, bridges, and roads. Further, drones monitor commuting routes and long corridors. The police use IoT enabled wearable devices. The environment monitoring is done using sensor based temperature monitoring system, fire and smoke detection and the gas leakage detection. As the citizens of smart cities generate huge amount of data, the safety of data also need to be ensured so that only authorized individuals can access the data. Additionally, the IoT and AI enabled systems can prevent crimes by using face detection system, gesture detection system, and video surveillance for detecting suspicious activities in crowded areas.
Smart Transportation
A smart transportation system has several aspects. It involves connected vehicles, smart traffic control and smart parking. It should ensure smarter, safer, and faster travel between two points. A strong information system with Internet connectivity is necessary. Also, the smart card with Near Field Communication (NFC) may allow travel in any kind of transport system like buses or metro trains. The use of single smart card makes the payment easier. Smart traffic monitoring system uses the sensors and traffic lights to automatically change the traffic signal. It can also respond to the traffic conditions. Smart parking system guides the vehicle driver towards the vacant parking slot. It also integrates payments by measuring the arrival and departure time of vehicles. The vehicular data is also available to people through smart phone applications which lets them know the traffic conditions.
Infrastructure Management
Smart cities adopt various means to manage its infrastructure. In particular, smart public parks use technology to make better experience for the citizens. Also, the smart waste management and smart sewerage makes the city cleaner and better. For details regarding smart city infrastructure, click here.
Smart Healthcare System
Smart hospitals employ sensor based systems to determine the presence of patients in visiting area as well as monitoring the patients from remote. The entire hospital can be monitored and controlled using a web based platform. Smart hospitals can manage the hospital staff as well as medical supplies. The smart hospitals also use robots for patient monitoring, cleaning, and sensitization. Doctors also use wearables to keep check on patients’ health. Smart healthcare system makes the hospitals more productive and the treatment more effective. The elder people may spend more time in their home rather than being admitted in the nursing homes. With body sensors and wearables, the caregivers can get information on their smart phones.
Energy Saving
A smart phone application can control home electrical appliances. People can turn off home devices from their workplace and hence save energy cost. Especially, the smart grids make use of sensor technology to adjust the electricity flow. Whereas, the smart meters records the electricity consumption and communicate this information to the respective department.
Environment Management
Smart cities aims for mindful usage of natural resources. The city authorities can install sensors all over so that they can monitor the temperature, humidity, and pollution level, level of CO2, outbreak of fire or the flood. They can also monitor the amount of rain so that water clogging in any area can be predicted.
Smart Tourism
Visitors of a tourist venue can get the information about different parts of the venue to be visited on their smart phones. They need to scan a QR code which may, in turn, provides the details about the whole area. Moreover smart tourist places enhance the accessibility for all and help in preserving the natural environment.
Smart Homes
Smart homes have connected appliances and strong security system so that residents can utilize their time for their job, self development, health and entertainment. In particular, smart homes can offer following services to the residents
- Energy saving by using smart HVAC systems
- Smart appliances that we can operate with our smart phone or smart speaker
- Automatic doorbells and door locks
- Home security using video surveillance system and detection of window glass breaking
Hitachi offers the safety and security intelligence for the public.
Disaster Management
Smart cities use seismic detectors, acoustic detectors, glass break detectors and vibration detectors to identify the natural disasters. In addition, the data analysis can be used to forecasting the floods. Further, with the use of sensor technology, it is possible to track the effected people and animals.
E-Governance
Smart cities offer a number of online services to citizens to make their life easier. These services are online water, electricity, gas bill payments, and house tax filing. Also there is grievance portal where citizens can submit the complaint about any issue like sewage and garbage problem and they also track the status of their complaint. Smart cities make effective use of e-governance services. With the use of web portals and mobile apps, the citizens can access these services. Moreover, the data analytics and business intelligence provide more insights which help in making the services better for citizens.