Smart city in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT)
IUESA: Thanks to IoT, smart city changes to reality rapidly. The growing number of electronic devices in personal life and our businesses that connect to the internet and share data can be mentioned in this regard.
Smart city refers to a part of IoT dealing with urban infrastructures and facilities; from transport to garbage collection system and distribution of electricity. Citizens’ access to democratic processes such as decision-making, open data, and election has been improved by smart technology.
It has been specified in the researches that many works will be developed by IoT. For example, Telefónica is a company that is aware of the new challenges posed by today’s society. This is why the company offers the means to facilitate communication between people, providing them with the most secure and state of the art technology in order for them to live better, and for them to achieve whatever they resolve.
In waste management, there are some censors connected to recycling bins that alarms when the capacity fills. However, sending required number of garbage collection trucks also will be managed better.
Generally, this issue can alter the urban service contracts. Collected data from these censors can be combined with demographic data to provide better services to citizens.
One of the other strengths of smart city plan is different programs to participate different groups of people in urban affairs by using available tools and data. Citizens can report accumulation of garbage in their neighborhood or insulting graffiti. Then, contractors’ operating speed can be evaluated.
Parking lot can also be developed in a smart city by using sensors to monitor parking. This means that information of parking capacity is real in city. Proper distribution of parking spaces in car parks reduces traffic around them and air pollution as well.
Collected data of environmental monitoring stations and weather data can be used to solve traffic of certain areas and reduce their pollution.
Motion sensors report traffic congestion in the city in order that drivers can choose their routes intelligently.
Not only smart city infrastructures help city residents, but also visitors and tourists van take advantage of them. This means that online statistic of visitors from sightseeing attractions can be displayed. By using these data, city authorities can have a proper planning for tourists.
