Wiring up the connected city
Connecting state and local government leaders
The Connected City Blueprint identifies smart cities’ connectivity options, their benefits and the value propositions.
WHAT: “Connected City Blueprint” from the Connected City Advisory Board and the Wireless Broadband Alliance
WHY: Fast, reliable wireless connectivity is a key enabler for smart cities. Besides providing and infrastructure for economic development across a variety of sectors, it also allows the government to better manage and run the city by powering big data and analytics technologies.
The blueprint identifies and aggregates cities’ perspectives on how to structure connectivity plans and the resulting value propositions.
FINDINGS: A variety of wireless connectivity technologies are available to enable Internet of Things applications to work together to facilitate smart city initiatives. The blueprint’s list of wireless technologies and their main applications are intended to help city officials decide which tools are best suited for their environment and how to implement them.
Different wireless applications require specific access technologies, and officials should determine which tech best suits the application. IoT applications, for example, have coverage restrictions. Other considerations include interoperability, network scalability, reliability requirements, power for IoT sensors and network traffic patterns data from IoT devices. Other factors discussed include security, network architecture and cost.
Besides enabling specific applications, the blueprint shows city managers how they can embrace new technologies and track the everyday workings of a city from traffic flow to trash collection. It also lays out a value proposition for becoming a smart city -- cross-sector business opportunities, digital equality, greater accessibility and better citizen-facing services -- that all stakeholders can understand.
TAKEAWAY: A smart city requires an infrastructure that allows it to continually improve its collective intelligence, collect more specialized data based on lessons learned and facilitate coordination between agencies and communications from constituents.
Read the full report here.