Making Cities Smarter

September 26, 2013

Katharine FraseIBM

Cities Are…• Infrastructure

• Water• Buildings• Transportation

• Services• Public safety / emergency response• Education• Social services

• People!• How can data, analytics, and IT help all of these

be more effective, not just more efficient?

Integrated Command Center in Rio de JaneiroMitigating the impact of severe weather events is Rio mayor’s top priority,

to enable effective planning and response to emergencies

• 48-hour forecast updated every 12 hours at 1 km resolution with the physics for the urban environment, sub-tropical micro-meteorology, and complex topography

• Disseminated via a web portal at the client site through specialized visualizations

• Coupled flooding model at 1m resolution (see below)Three-dimensional forecasted clouds with terrain

surface and precipitation (above) and estimated surface runoff from heavy rainfall (below)

Stuck in Traffic – Why?

Network CapacityNetwork Capacity ConstructionConstruction Yankees

GameYankees

Game VIP VisitVIP Visit Police ActivityPolice Activity Utility WorkUtility Work Railway

CrossingRailway Crossing

DoTDoT PWPW MLB?MLB? Mayor?Mayor? PolicePolice UtilityUtility CNCN

In cities multiple agencies take actions that impact the overall quality of service

Coordinated in-context decisions are key to optimal results

However – in-context decisions require a complete picture, which needs analysis on information, which typically lives in many silos

City Operations Organizer & PlannerIBM Research / a city in the Midwest• Integrates data from multiple heterogeneous data sources• Provides a broad range of analytical capabilities across

domains• Enables in-context decision making and operations

planning

Impact• Reduced some police investigation times from 4 hours to

just minutes, an improvement of more than 95 percent

• What took a crime analyst hours to do can now be done by a police officer in minutes

• Minimized traffic jams by planning ahead for scheduled construction, road closures, and maintenance operations

• Minimized schedule conflicts by centralizing city planning and consolidating data from multiple departments

• Increased citizen satisfaction by providing more reliable, efficient, and responsive municipal services

Currently available as a commercial offering

Impact AnalysisImpact Analysis

Crime impact AnalysisCrime impact Analysis

Traffic impact AnalysisTraffic impact Analysis

Challenge• City agencies need to improve sustainability in water and energy

management

• Predict and prevent disasters through real-time visibility to water and energy consumption data

Solution• A cloud-based system that enables citizens to access information

about their energy and water consumption habits and share best-practices

• A web-based tool that provides the city with an integrated view of its water and energy management, and allows citizens interested in changing consumption patterns to understand the impact of their actions

Results• Water: 151 pilot households saved 89,090 gallons of water in 9

weeks. Pilot participants reported leaks 8x more often than other smart meter households.

• Energy: Single-family household (engaged) saved $79 annually w/o device upgrades. Portal users (35% of pilot group) conserved about 31,504 KWh ($3,780) compared to non-users. Active portal users conserved by 11%. Minimal portal users conserved by 4%.

Participatory Network

The project engaged citizens in managing their energy and water consumption, to encourage informed behavior changes that save money and conserve resources

Dubuque, Iowa – Engaging Citizens

• Dublin recognized that addressing its challenges and priorities required cross-city transformation, not just “Smart” projects in individual domains.

• The “Dublinked” partnership was set up to share and exploit city information to:• Identify better ways for public or private sector organizations to deliver city services• Make information and technology accessible to small enterprises and entrepreneurs in

the city• Encourage the creation of innovative public and commercial systems to help Dublin

achieve its goals by changing the way the city works

Dublinked: A Partnership for a Smarter City

• Founding members include Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council, DunLaoghaire Rathdown County Council, and NUI Maynooth

• Private sector partners include IBM, Intel, and Accenture

• Launched in October 2011 with 3,000+ individual datasets across planning, environment, water, and transport

• 10s of applications have been implemented from the open data platform, resulting in the first new businesses backed by VC with global markets

• The partnership is now generating VC-backed new businesses, and specific business cases for Dublin to invest in solutions with proven social, economic, and environmental benefits.

Dublinked: A City Intelligence Platform

• And we have learned: • It takes time• The city needs to establish a realistic forum for setting cross-city priorities and investments• Openness is the right principle, but is not without risks ‒ and good data isn’t free• Data isn’t enough; the ecosystem needs access to tools and expertise• Engage with the community through events, in decision-making and priority-setting

What’s Next? What if…• A city enabled and used social media to connect, inform,

encourage its citizens?

• Agencies worked together to reach an optimal planning or operational solution?

• Citizens could get the answers they need, no matter whom they ask in the government?

• A city began to be smart – informed, flexible, responsive…

• Citizens and city leaders had access to an open community to share ideas, gain insights, and engage in public discussions on solutions for their cities? It’s available now! We just launched:

• www.people4smartercities.com• Register by clicking on the sign-in button

• Contribute your ideas and projects on the share-your-idea tab

• Engage in conversations in the community and share with networks