Local Government & The Internet of Things
Agenda
A bit about me
What the Internet of Things is
Lots of examples
How it works
Why it is important
The risks
The challenges
Smart Cities
Civic Hackathons
Advice
Isis Group
Small company that is focussed on transformational change of business and ICT
Primary work is currently moving government agencies (mostly) to take up Cloud (in various forms), through Common Capabilities (mostly), and implementing Service Management to support those new technologies
A bit about me: Twenty Five years in the industry
Freelance writing and blogging for about the same (various publications, currently National Business Review and CIO.com)
Author of two books “How to migrate your ICT services to Cloud” and “Wellington as a Smart City”
Have worked with most of the larger Government Agencies in New Zealand and have a good working relationship with the Wellington City and Greater Wellington Regional Council
One of three organisers of Civic Hackathons in Wellington
I quite like technology
What is the Internet of Things?
At it’s most basic level it is when everyday objects have network connectivity allowing them to send and receive data
The Internet of Things requires Devices (& Enchanted Objects), the Internet, Cloud Computing, Mesh Networks, Big Data, and Open Data Disciplines all of which will power Smart Cities
Gartner says that by 2020 there will be 26 billion devices on the Internet of Things and a value of $1.9 trillion in that year (some estimates have this at 40 billion)
Massively increases data creation
Has benefits and risks that must be managed
Example: Water Management – Blossom
How it works
The device attaches to the Internet (can be built like lego)
It collects a range of data from all kinds of different sensors
That data is sent via the Internet to a Cloud service
The data is aggregated creating Big Data
That data can be made Open (publicly accessible to everyone)
In the context of Local Government, that data can be used to help create “Smart (or Sensing) Cities
Example: Artificially Intelligent Traffic Systems
Universities are building “artificially intelligent” traffic systems
Cars are monitored via clusters of sensors as the enter and exit city intersections
Slow, fast, and erratically driven cars, which cause congestion, can be tracked and their behaviour on overall traffic flow accounted for
Traffic is managed by the AI on a city-wide scale
Over time, the system learns and adapts its own behaviour
Why the Internet of Things?
Allows massive collection of data on almost anything
That data can be analysed to improve systems
Environmental monitoring; air quality, weather, earthquake and tsunami warning systems
Infrastructure management; structural integrity, maintenance, waste management
Industrial applications; predictive maintenance, robotics
Energy management; power management in buildings and homes
Medical; bio-monitoring
Home automation; heating, power, security, appliances, entertainment
Transport; traffic flows, real-time public transport, parking, congestion measures
Community outsourced Apps save money
Example: Cyclist and Walker Counter
Created at a Wellington Civic Hackathon
Counts Cyclists and Pedestrians
$150 versus $3,500 plus
Sonar and pressure sensors
Ten kilometre range
Solar powered
Being used on Mt Victoria in Wellington to monitor track usage
Risks
Privacy & Security
Complexity
Costs (particularly from large global tech companies)
Very early in lifecycle
Power usage (Environmental Impact)
Space
A “basketful of remotes”
The Data Flood
The Future: The Data Flood is coming
Example: TaxiShare Prototype
Result of a Civic Hackathon
Team took data from Araflow blue tooth sensors, airport barrier arm data, rubber strips, and live airline timetables
Taxis in Wellington move in “surges” between the airport and CBD with 2,500 (on average) travellers moving into the city in peak, each in a taxi or private car (some bus usage
The TaxiShare App allows travellers to connect with each other at the airport as they arrive to share taxis
Reduces taxis, better for the environment, reduces company or government agency costs, reduces congestion
Big Data
Big data is a blanket term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand data management tools or traditional data processing applications. – Wikipedia
As we move to more of an online world the amount of data we capture increases exponentially
Our customers want to interact with us on a digital platform, not a face to face platform (it’s too slow)
The requirement then is that we collect increasing amounts of data that must be turned into real-time information that is accessible anytime, anywhere, on any device
Open Data
Open Government Information and Data Work Programme (DIA):
make non-personal government-held data and information more widely available and discoverable, easily usable and compliant with open government data principles within the NZ legal context; and
facilitate agencies’ release of the non-personal government-held data and information that people, communities, and businesses want to use and re-use.
Data must be shared be default where it can be (privacy)
That data must be robust and always available
The requirement is then for us to make available (non-attributable) data anytime, anywhere, in a robust fashion for other’s to consume
Example: Blue tooth sensors
Being used in Wellington (and other centres)
Tracks, in a non-attributable way, smart phones by looking for their blue tooth signal
Can be used to:
Monitor traffic flow times
See which intersections are least congested (intelligent routing)
See where visitors move within the city on event weekends
Analyse pedestrian wait times
Differentiate (with programming) between cars and buses
Smart (sensing) Cities
Globally, residents are demanding Smart Cities driven by information that is extracted from Big Data collected by the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things describes the new environment that will collect data and relay back information to residents
Local government is at the heart of this movement and must adapt to this new model or face irrelevance as it is built around them
It is not for local government to buy, build, or create these services, it is for local government to make data and information available to feed them while extracting value for future planning
Smart (sensing) Cities – More Examples
Sensors everywhere; personal smartphones, cars, buses, cameras, road side counters, water systems, air quality, sewage systems, weather, bicycles, taxis, and more
Real-time public transport (and taxi) information including arrival time, congestion, number of people on the service, and other information
Traffic management and analysis in order to decrease congestion and ease flows
Free wireless
Fault logging and things like pothole management or waste management so bins are only collected when full)
Digital Art and Graffiti
Digital collaboration in all things controlled by the city including redefining the consultation process between local bodies and residents
The Challenge
Management of risks
The horse has bolted
“Shadow ICT”
The Data Flood pours into local body at an increasing rate however, not all data needs to be kept. The value of data in this context is largely determined by time. The vast proportion only has value for minutes, if hours.
That data has to be processed into information, not necessarily by local government, and made available to the organisation (longer) and the world (shorter).
We must engage the Community to build the applications based on data and information we make available
This requires a very strong strategy, discussion amongst local bodies, and then a plan to deliver.
Where to start: Civic Hackathons
The word hackathon is the coupling of “hack” and “marathon”
In this context, to “hack” is to make an every day things extraordinary
Challenges are decided by a group
It is usually held over a weekend where people split into teams to create specific solutions to the challenges posed
Allows the Council to engage in a very practical and pragmatic way with the community to provide resource that makes a real difference
Quite common with most large global cities carrying them out regularly
Are important because they are the creation ground of many Internet of Things devices and ideas
Reach out to your local ICT Community, most likely their will already be Hackathon groups that are working in your city
Hack Miramar
The challenge was to improve transport for Wellington and in particular, on the transport corridor from Miramar (Eastern Suburbs) to the CBD
50 participants
The Wellington City Council provided food, coffee, data, and a GIS specialist
Nearly all of the City Councillors came and spent time over the weekend with the teams
Five viable ideas; TaxiShare, Real Time Bus App, Future Ideas, Traffic Visualisation, and @WellyArrivals
Foundation for future events
Final Thoughts & Advice
The Internet of Things will have a large impact on Council’s because of the rise of Smart Cities
It is here now, there is no avoiding it, and there is no stopping it, start to research what is going on
Consider employing an “Innovation Manager” or similar
ICT are not always best placed to help with the front end of this, remember you are the customer, however, will be instrumental in setting up data sharing platforms
The community will bring the applications
Beware large multi-nationals trying to bring their solutions, this is a hot selling area at the moment
Recognise that it is a shifting area with little or no standards
Start to build now in order to be ready in a year or two for the data flood
Questions
You can find me at:
www.isisgroup.co.nz
www.whatisitwellington.com
Twitter @ianapperley