from Smart Cities Council “READINESS GUIDE“: CHAPTER 2: HOW TO USE THE READINESS GUIDE | Smart Cities Readiness Guide page 24; and CHAPTER 4: UNIVERSAL | Smart Cities Readiness Guide page 70++, page 95
Seven smart city enablers:
1. Instrumentation and control
Implement optimal instrumentation
2. Connectivity
Connect devices with citywide, multi-service communications
3. Interoperability
Adhere to open standards
Use open integration architectures and loosely coupled interfaces
Prioritize use of legacy investments
4. Security and privacy
Publish privacy rules
Create a security framework
Implement cybersecurity
5. Data management
Create a citywide data management, transparency and sharing policy
6. Computing resources
Consider a cloud computing framework
Use an open innovation platform
Have access to a central GIS
Have access to comprehensive device management
7. Analytics
Achieve full situational awareness
Achieve operational optimization
Achieve asset optimization
Pursue predictive analytics
Definitions of Enablers:
Smart cities can radically improve all of the
responsibilities through the power of ICT
(information and communications technology).
ICT can make buildings more efficient, water
and energy more affordable, transportation
quicker and neighborhoods safer. In the
Readiness Guide, we refer to these transformative
technologies and capabilities as enablers.
They put the “smart” in smart cities. The seven
technology enablers are listed below.
1. Instrumentation and control is how a smart
city monitors and controls conditions.
Instrumentation provides the eyes and ears of
a smart city. Examples include smart meters
for electricity, water and gas; air quality
sensors; closed circuit TV and video monitors
and roadway sensors. Control systems provide
remote management capabilities. Examples
include switches, breakers and other devices
that let operators measure, monitor and control
from afar.
2. Connectivity is how the smart city’s devices
communicate with each other and with the
control center. Connectivity ensures that data
gets from where it is collected to where it is
analyzed and used. Examples include citywide
WiFi networks, RF mesh networks and cellular
networks. (Note: When a cellular network
communicates with devices, the Readiness
Guide refers to it as connectivity. When it lets
people communicate, the Guide uses the term
telecommunications. These are arbitrary distinctions
used only in the Guide to make it easier to
distinguish between the two sides of communications
– devices and people.)
3. Interoperability ensures that products and
services from disparate providers can exchange
information and work together seamlessly.
Interoperability has many benefits. For one, it
prevents the city from being “locked in” to just
one proprietary supplier. For another, it gives the
city more choice, since it can buy from any
company that supports the city’s chosen standards.
For another, it lets the city build projects
over time in phases, with confidence that all the
pieces will work together in the end. Open standards
are the key to interoperability.
4. Security and privacy are technologies, policies
and practices that safeguard data, privacy
and physical assets. Examples include the
publishing of clear privacy rules and the implementation
of a cybersecurity system. Security
and privacy play a critical role in enabling
smart cities because they build trust with
people. Without trust, a city may have difficulty
adopting new technologies and practices.
5. Data management is the process of storing,
protecting and processing data while guaranteeing
its accuracy, accessibility, reliability and timeliness.
Data is king in a smart city. Proper
management is essential to maintain data integrity
and value. A citywide data management,
transparency and sharing policy – including
proper policies around access, authentication
and authorization – is one step toward proper
data management, as explained below.
6. Computing resources include 1) billions of
computer “brains” of all sizes, from wrist watch
components to server farms, 2) in those computers,
a similar range of simple to very complex software,
and 3) data, which has little value until it is
communicated. Open standard software interfaces
and data encodings enable digital communication.
Most city data refers to things and phenomena
where locations are important, so spatial standards
are among the essential open standards that
enable smart cities.
7. Analytics create value from the data that
instrumentation provides. Examples include:
forecasting crime the way we already forecast
weather; analyzing electric power usage to
know when and where to expand or adjust to
accommodate demand; analyzing conditions
to predict which equipment needs repair; automatically
plotting the best route for a mass
transit user, and creating personalized portals
for every citizen by analyzing what they value
most. And analytics that utilize data from
across departments have tremendous potential
to identify new insights and unique solutions
to delivering services, thereby improving
outcomes.
CHAPTER 2: HOW TO USE THE READINESS GUIDE | Smart Cities Readiness Guide