Data: The Cornerstone Of Smart Cities

Let’s take Santa Clara County (a customer of my company) as an example. With a population of 2 million, the county was looking to improve its emergency services response time and location accuracy. The team integrated 17 city datasets to support building a dynamic map for the dispatch system. With this shift, they were able to increase the number of known addresses in the county by 50%. That’s huge. And it means that citizens can better trust that they will get timely responses in the case of an emergency.

Another example of a smart city in action can be seen in Montréal, the city that won the Canadian government’s Smart Cities Challenge, which was referenced earlier in this article. The overreaching theme for Montréal’s smart city project is "sustainability." By harnessing the power of data, the city is focused on improving Montréal’s mobility (transportation), food and government collaboration and decision-making processes. This looks like reducing single-occupant vehicle car trips, reducing waste along the food distribution chain, supporting the responsible use of data in the community and more.