Improving quality of life with smart city data analytics

Municipal leaders across America are turning to smart city technologies to make their communities better places to live, work, and play. Smart communities rely on analytics to glean insight from massive amounts of data collected by sensors throughout the city. With real-time information about everything from the flow of traffic to the status of critical infrastructure, smart city data analytics can deliver the intelligence city leaders need to make better, smarter, and more timely decisions.

Designing and launching smart initiatives requires a partner that city leaders can rely on for deep expertise and proven solutions. For many municipalities throughout the country, Spectrum provides essential smart city technology, established expertise, and an ecosystem of partners that can help municipalities get more value from their investment in smart city data analytics.

What smart city data analytics can do

Smart city projects are driven by vast amounts of real-time data streaming into city servers. By aggregating, transforming, and evaluating these data sets, smart city data analytics can provide critical intelligence about nearly every aspect of city government.

With a superior smart city data analytics solution, cities can:

• Reduce crime. Smart video analytics can help law enforcement sift through massive amounts of real-time video footage to identify criminal activity and potentially dangerous situations, such as a backpack left unattended in a public place. Analytics can also help to pinpoint the sounds of gunshots or cries for distress detected by sound sensors, and help law enforcement officials understand how to best prioritize resources to reduce crime.
• Minimize commute times. Transportation officials can use smart city data analytics to identify where changes in traffic patterns can help reduce congestion and shorten commute times. Analytics also enable public transit officials to better predict rider demand and to create more efficient routes that get people where they’re going faster.
• Simplify parking. With data from sensors that identify open parking spaces throughout the city, smart city data analytics can show drivers where to find an available spot close to their destination.
• Protect critical infrastructure. Smart analytics allow city managers to monitor the health of bridges, water towers, dams, roadways, and power stations, taking preventive action to avoid disasters and keep essential infrastructure in good working order.
• Ensure public safety. Using cameras and drones to get a real-time view of conditions throughout the city, officials can have greater situational awareness to identify public safety concerns before they become an issue. Officials can issue alerts for severe weather and environmental conditions, and monitor the activity of crowds to ensure safety at large gatherings.
• Manage utilities. Smart city data analytics allow utilities officials to manage supply and demand more easily while conserving power and water and protecting utilities from threats.
• Improve emergency response times. Analytics can provide first responders with earlier alerts to emergency situations, helping to shorten smart city emergency response times. Drones can communicate with individual in distress and deliver lifesaving supplies before first responders can arrive.
• Reduce energy costs. Smart outdoor lighting can reduce energy costs by dimming when there is no immediate need for illumination. Analytics can also help to minimize energy consumption in public buildings, detect potential water leaks and theft, and minimize the cost of waste management by allowing crews to service only the receptacles that are nearly full.

The infrastructure needed for smart analytics

Smart city data analytics require a powerful analytics platform that can aggregate data in disparate formats, transform it into usable information, and analyze it to search for trends, anomalies, threats, and opportunities. A smart city analytics platform must serve the needs of multiple departments and be robust enough to handle vast volumes of streaming data.

In addition to an analytics platform, smart city projects require a wide range of smart data collection technologies. From sensors and IoT devices to smart phones, cameras, and drones, these data-capturing devices provide managers with a real-time view of conditions throughout the city. Sensors may measure everything from volume of traffic to the amount of trash in a receptacle or the amount of stress and vibration within the supports of a bridge.

Cities also need a high-speed network that can connect a myriad of sensors and deliver the data they produce back to an analytics platform. Smart data transmission relies on a network that can accommodate massive amounts of data in a wide range of formats and communication protocols, delivering it quickly, reliably, and securely to city servers in real time.

The final layer of infrastructure is the interfaces that convert intelligence developed through smart city data analytics into actionable insight. Interfaces like dashboards, websites, mobile apps, and digital signage render the findings of data analytics in ways that let city workers, citizens, and businesses get the information they need quickly and easily.

Spectrum: network, know-how, and partners

Spectrum provides local governments with the connectivity, expertise, and resources required to deploy smart city data analytics for a variety of programs. Spectrum’s dedicated fiber network reaches more than 840,000 miles across the U.S., creating a foundation of connectivity that has made over 8,500 cities “smart-ready.” Spectrum’s network provides the speed, security, and reliability that data analytics require as well as the flexibility to use a wide array of communication protocols to handle a broad range of data formats.

Along with a dedicated fiber network, Spectrum offers extensive expertise and an ecosystem of proven partners that city leaders can rely on when building smart solutions. From designing smart initiatives to deploying the infrastructure for smart technologies, Spectrum serves as a trusted partner to help cities ensure the success of their investment in smart solutions.

FAQs: What are smart city data analytics?

What are smart cities?

Smart cities use intelligence gleaned from a wide range of data sources to improve how cities are run and services are offered. Data from sensors, IoT devices, smart phones, drones, and intelligent cameras provide city leaders with clear visibility into what’s happening at every layer of city government. Armed with this knowledge, cities can identify how to serve citizens and businesses more effectively, and put programs in place to make cities better places to live, work, and play.

What are smart city data analytics?

A smart city data analytics platform aggregates and transforms data collected from a myriad of sources and analyzes it to produce actionable intelligence about everything from managing traffic and public safety to improving utilities and enhancing civic engagement.

What are the benefits of smart city data analytics?

Smart city data analytics can help city managers make changes to traffic patterns that reduce congestion and shorten commute times. Analytics can also enhance public safety by identifying potential criminal activity, monitoring crowds more effectively, and improving emergency response times. Analytics can track the safety and health of critical infrastructure and improve utility management to conserve resources, reduce costs, and ensure continuous availability of electricity and clean water.