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Image courtesy of WeMake Milano at Flickr.com
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Nowadays, technology is such a big part of who we are that everything is being affected, down to the simple things we do on a daily basis. Everything from how your home, companies and even cities. The Internet of Things (IoT) is how different devices, vehicles, homes and other technological objects interact with each other via internet, sensors and software in a way that allows users to exchange data between them. This new infrastructure is becoming a part of our world by including objects that can be controlled remotely via an already existing network infrastructure. This opens the door to a whole range of integrations that will not only bring on efficiency, but accuracy and economic benefit. All of this leads to smart grids, intelligent transportation, smart homes and of course smart cities. It continues to grow more and more as the years pass and these integrations are truly becoming part of our lives. Of course our present lives and for sure the future has been affected greatly by virtual reality and other technologies, but we cannot leave out one of the most influential and maybe even one of the biggest technological advances to be expected in the near and far future: IoT. Focusing on cities, making them “smarter” basically comes down to integrating places in the city and activities that we do on a daily basis, in an automated manner that interact with us via internet, sensors and other electronic devices to control and facilitate them. Here are a few examples, which you can explore in more detail in a future post on the Don Burns Blogspot site.
First of all, let’s clarify what a smart city really is. This urban development will bring together a variety of technological elements that offer solutions so as to manage more effectively a city’s assets. This could include things like a school, library, law enforcement, waste management, power plants, among others. The main goal, as is true with the IoT, is to improve the quality of life of the people who live in these smart cities. This will basically happen once services are made as efficient as possible through the established networks.
Street lighting
By simply detecting a pedestrian and vehicles presence with a special device, this technology can adjust its outdoor lighting control system. This technology will allow the lights to adjust automatically based on the real need to make use of the light. This will not only save money, but create just the right environment depending on those present at the moment.
Parking
This one has had a few different advancements that will allow you easier access to parking be it indoors, on the street or automated valet parking. Smart parking allows cities to save space, be environmentally friendly, security and of course safety. The actual installation process can be quite easy as well. The way of using it is very easy as well, with a simple either key card or code you can get the system to retrieve your car making it time efficient. Not like today when some still have issues locating it in those huge parking lots.
Waste management
There are a few technological advances out there that allow cities to dispose of their waste in a lot faster and easier way. One example is Bigbelly, which is a smart waste and recycling system. It will program pickups based on data that is collected via a cloud-based system. This same system will be able to avoid overflows, and generate all kinds of notifications that can help prevent messes and become more efficient with pickups and disposals.
Structural health
Building will wear away with time, but right now knowing when to make modifications or changes is left to visits made by specialized companies. This can be very time consuming, not to mention imprecise. With smart technologies, vibrations, material conditions and any other important condition can be monitored in real time to avoid any catastrophes. By having this data, it can also allow companies to make remodeling plans a lot more efficient and exact.
Traffic and Smart roads
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Image courtesy of jonbgem at Flickr.com
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Vehicles are not the only ones getting integrated with tons of cool features from turning on the car with your cell phone to self parking vehicles. Roads and monitoring of road conditions is also on board with IoT. Smart roads will be able to offer warning messages, climate conditions, and detours when necessary. They can also adjust to offer more lighting when driving at night and send alerts when you are in need of assistance.
There are actually more cities than you’d imagine taking the lead as the smart cities of the future today like Laguna Croatá, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Stockholm, among others. To stay up to date you can even visit events to find out more.
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