13 Dec How Smart Cities Use IoT to Drive Innovation
Many local and state governments are embracing IoT to improve everything from traffic flow and energy efficiencies to public safety. The core values of IoT for government include:
- Real-time operational awareness
- Faster and more efficient response
- Improved government services
Boston, Los Angeles, and Wellington, NZ, are three cities using real-time awareness fed by networks of live Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to improve outcomes and strengthen decision-making in their cities.
Whether addressing emergencies, civic engagement, or municipal operations, IoT data grows even more valuable when it is combined with location information.
When you fuse IoT-generated data with real-time location analytics, you can filter data to focus on what is most important, issue alerts, and drive data-based decision-making, for both urgent situations and the long-term.
In the Event of Emergency
As tragedy shook the Boston Marathon in 2013, first responders across the city lacked the connectivity and real-time data necessary to coordinate effectively. Without an online-based platform, it was impossible to relay critical updates and orders among thousands of individual first responders, race participants, volunteers, and spectators.
“The Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 showed us what data we needed to have online and not just on paper,” said Desiree Kocis, Geographic Information System (GIS) Coordinator at Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).
By the 2014 Boston Marathon, things had changed significantly. Public facing, IoT-enhanced web maps showed live event details such as the race route, the locations of medical facilities, and law enforcement staging areas. Integrating data streams from thousands of sensors, devices, video feeds, and locations enabled Boston officials to better address critical aspects of the race, including tracking personnel and resources in real time and shifting public safety assets where needed.
Even the runners became outfitted with data-producing sensors. Before the race, all participants received bibs containing individually registered microchips. These chips transmit a runner’s time and location data every five kilometers, which is then processed in real time. Doing so allows officials to keep track of how many active racers are in the field as well as how many people are in each section of the course, enabling security and medical resources to be reallocated accordingly.
Not only does IoT integration support marathon officials in accounting for all participants in motion, it serves as the foundation for information being shared quickly and easily among the public, event security, and emergency responders.
This benefit proves essential on race day where 60 different agencies, including state and local police as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), use a common operating picture powered by GIS-based location technology to orchestrate an event that draws a worldwide audience and more than half a million spectators.
Improving Disaster Response and Recovery
Technology and innovation had always been a priority in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington – but not nearly as much as after a series of earthquakes struck the city and region between 2010 and 2016.
Sandwiched between a protected harbor and a mountain range formed from an active tectonic fault line, Wellington’s geography coupled with the need to be resilient to disaster forced city officials to take a long look at how the city operated.
Because of its constrained geography city officials had been turning to IoT technology to better understand how people used and related to the city.
Sensors, video cameras, and other integrated devices have been installed to monitor everything from how carparks are used, to being able to clean up broken glass in playgrounds before it hurts children. These capabilities were mobilized following the earthquake to answer questions like: Were vulnerable people ok? Where had buildings been self-evacuated by their occupants? And what had happened seismically to the building stock?
City Council Innovation Officer Sean Audain says Wellington’s focus on optimizing IoT-generated data has influenced citizens and politicians alike. “Once we had information flowing back to us we could use three dimensional capabilities to show the Minister of Civil Defense an environment he could understand and what the actual problems were,” Audain said.
Wellington began engaging the public with open data hackathons, inviting New Zealand and Australian citizens to access and search through government data as they saw fit. Doing so changed the conversation from how cities should be engaging with constituents to being about how constituents and communities are driving that engagement with their local government. This created greater citizen interest in local IoT data which, in turn, prompted officials to lobby for the necessary capital investment.
With its intense focus on maximizing the benefits of location intelligence and IoT data, Wellington actively experiments with new sensor technology and advanced analytics, using its network of inputs to proactively detect problems such as panhandling or threats on wildlife. On a more everyday basis, the city uses spatial analysis to better manage its traffic and parking, including running location-specific simulations.
Overall, Wellington officials believe significant potential exists to empower citizens and make the city more resilient by sharing IoT data and enabling community action.
Intelligent Integration
The city of Los Angeles is constantly evolving and growing. To meet this growth, greater numbers of departments across local government rely on smart technologies like IoT sensors. Generating data around the clock, the city’s sensors and devices can be found in police cruisers, sanitation vehicles, traffic signals, at the airport, and even in streetlights.
To track, route, and maintain its fleet more efficiently, the Los Angeles Solid Resources Collection Division (SRCD) processes live IoT inputs from more than 700 trucks equipped with Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and electronic inspection reporting.
These components, in conjunction with millions of city trash cans embedded with RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags, help officials know whether trucks have completed their collection routes. Additionally, these sensors provide vehicle telematics, which range from the percentage of engine wear and tear to how many lifts each hydraulic arm has performed.
Since 2014, Los Angeles Department of Public Works Bureau of Street Lighting has been replacing light sensors on individual street lights with remote censoring nodes. These smart devices not only monitor whether the lamp has burned out, but if the electrical currents in the light register correctly or if any other broken components require maintenance as well.
Further, each censoring node is outfitted with cellular connectivity and a GPS radio; so, despite lacking hard-lined connectivity into the city’s network, every smart light is virtually tethered without investing in additional infrastructure.
Patrick Cross, Information Technology Manager for the Bureau of Street Lighting, points out that smart applications of IoT aren’t concerned exclusively with cost efficiency.
“That smart lighting both saves energy and reduces maintenance costs is of great appeal, but delivering a higher level of customer service and satisfaction is a priority as well,” Cross said. “Before, it took a citizen making a complaint to discover that a light went out. Now, we’re aware of when and where any streetlight in the network needs attention and can ensure city lights are functioning properly before anyone notices they might not be.”
Network integration provides Public Works staff real-time awareness of the smart light’s location and condition, as well as information pertinent to its upkeep and unique specifications. Considerable time is saved when field crews know precisely where to go, what work needs to be completed, and which tools they’ll need to complete the job on the first attempt.
Making sure that street lights are functional is an essential city service, especially near businesses and residences where pedestrians may be at risk. Smart lights ensure illumination in intelligent cities like Los Angeles, highlighting new potential for the fusion of IoT and location technology.
Unleashing GIS Technology’s potential in every industries