How Does a Smart City Work?

If you ask Wikipedia, it explains, “A smart city is an urban area that uses electronic devices and sensors to collect data.” What are these smart cities? Why do they collect data? How do smart cities work? Apart from answering these questions, there’s a lot more to know about technology in smart cities. Let’s dive right in.

By 2050, 68% of the world’s population would be living in urban cities. The gradual shift in preferences and lifestyles creates the need for technological innovation and vice-versa. The emergence of smart city initiatives is the outcome of the growing challenges and necessity for accommodation for the huge population.

Data – The Fuel for Smart Cities

As mentioned earlier, the network of smart city projects works with the help of electronic instruments and sensors. These devices collect data and provide basic information across all smart city activities and operations. The sensors collect and transmit several aspects of data, including smart city infrastructures, locations, and smart city solutions. This data pertains to the regular activities performed by human beings, either directly or indirectly through various devices.

Integration with APIs

Historical and current data is gathered from various sources. The Internet of Things (IoT) in smart cities ensures smooth absorption and integration of data across several entities in the smart city network. Application Programming Interfaces are used to enable the data to communicate with each other and create meaningful records. You can collect, share and analyze the data in a custom Corteza Low-Code app. Moreover, your Cortezainstance can run on a public or private cloud, making smart city data accessible on any device on any location. This eases the process of collaboration across multiple teams and organizations.

Advanced Analytics

Smart city projects involve advanced analytics to carry out large-scale operations and activities coherently. These may include location-specific operations or resource allocation where the need arises. Such analytics become crucial in determining the next course of action in a certain situation, especially in times of emergency. Thus, a reliable software solution is always the first choice for any smart city governance project. Smart city applications have sophisticated analytics engines to digest data points and, process and transform them to reveal incisive insights. With powerful analytical tools, the data around smart city growth can be easily projected with the help of predictive modeling techniques and critical decision-making can be made easier.

Visualizations

When advanced analytics churns data, it reveals vital patterns and trends in the data. Rich dashboards, metrics, and reports created in Crust help in a detailed analysis of the data and discovering insights from them. Armed with the hidden information unveiled by visualization tools, smart city governance teams can handle vast quantities of data quickly and utilize the greater comprehension power provided by robust software. These visualizations also help teams get the stakeholders in the loop and make essential decisions in the least time.

Smart cities and Corteza

Smart city initiatives demand equally efficient software that can run the cities and entities at the same pace and allow smooth communication across geographical limitations. The Corteza open-source low-code development platform, created and maintained by Planet Crust, provides a seamless experience for all smart city projects and helps you enable smart city applications with the leading low-code solution.

Get a free trial today and explore the endless possibilities of smart city solutions!