How Real-time Web-based GIS Helps Build the Smart Cities of the Future
The concept of “smart cities” has gained global recognition as the leading vision for future urban development. In this context, the integration of web-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with real-time capabilities has emerged as a crucial tool in making cities smarter. This article explores the concept of smart cities, along with the associated technologies, highlighting the potential of real-time web-based GIS in city planning. Additionally, the article addresses the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for future smart cities utilising real-time web-based GIS.
Introduction
By the end of this century, more than 90% of the global population will live in urban areas. The nature of future cities will significantly influence most people’s lives, regardless of whether they personally inhabit urban spaces. The Internet, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) have led to the development of “smart cities.” These cities are seen as the future and are being promoted by organisations like the EU and ASEAN.
Geospatial Technology plays a crucial role in the development of smart cities, as urban areas continually generate diverse real-time geospatial data. The progress in geospatial technology has paved the way for the realisation of practical applications like autonomous driving and indoor navigation. Furthermore, leveraging geospatial data can enhance the efficiency of complicated urban systems.
In the context of smart cities, public administration authorities rely on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a crucial tool for processing spatially oriented decisions. Web-based GIS solutions are extensively employed to provide interactive visualisations of real-time spatial data. These systems not only facilitate citizen engagement but also empower individuals to actively contribute to the enhancement of their own surroundings through data collection. This article offers an overview of the utilisation of web-based GIS in the construction and advancement of future smart cities.
Definition of Smart Cities
The definitions of smart cities encompass a range of perspectives as the concept gains recognition and adoption. Various conceptual relatives, such as digital cities, intelligent cities, virtual cities, ubiquitous cities, and information cities, have been identified. In this article, the focus is on the definition proposed by Kumar (2015), which highlights the continuous operation of smart cities, real-time communication of knowledge to citizens, and the creation of convenient and comfortable living communities. This definition aligns well with the integration of real-time web-based GIS, allowing for the analysis and processing of diverse geographic data within smart cities.
Real-time Web-based GIS
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a combination of computer hardware, software, and geographic data used for processing and analyzing geographically referenced information. Web-based GIS systems operate on a straightforward client-server model, similar to many Internet applications. In this model, client stations send requests to a server station, which processes the requests and returns replies to the clients. Real-time web-based GIS systems, in comparison, provide faster processing and higher throughput for GIS data streams compared to traditional GIS. These real-time systems excel in handling location-sensitive data with high temporal granularity, which is continuously generated.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi has emerged as the favoured technology for wireless local area networking within cities. It offers high-speed remote access to the Internet over short distances. Over the past decade, Wi-Fi has become widely available throughout densely populated urban areas, allowing users to potentially access network connectivity from any point within the city. By utilising triangulation or Wi-Fi Fingerprinting techniques with multiple Wi-Fi Access Points (APs), the real-time locations of mobile devices can be obtained and tracked. This low-cost and highly available Wi-Fi-based real-time positioning technology finds application in numerous smart city scenarios.
IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) envisions a global network where machines and devices seamlessly interact with each other. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been extensively utilised to gather data in various IoT applications. However, challenges arise in urban environments, where WSN signals can be weakened by obstacles and disturbances, and the communication bandwidth between sensor nodes and gateway nodes may be limited. To overcome these limitations, WSN technologies are often integrated with other technologies such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Global Positioning System (GPS), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This integration enables the provision of valuable information such as location and status, as well as facilitates tracking of people and assets in IoT environments.
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is a way to solve complex problems by involving a large group of people through an open call. It taps into the collective knowledge and skills of a diverse crowd to find solutions. This approach encourages collaboration and creativity, as it brings together people from different backgrounds and experiences. Crowdsourcing has become popular due to technology and online platforms that allow easy interaction and collaboration. By using crowdsourcing, organisations, communities, and governments can access a wide range of ideas and expertise to tackle challenging problems and achieve positive outcomes.
Real-world Application Example
Emson introduced a seamless eHealth solution (Hear AED) by integrating the principles of IoT, crowdsourcing, and real-time web-based GIS. Their model involves equipping Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) with smart devices. Whenever the emergency department receives a distress call related to a witnessed fall accident, the smart devices in the vicinity of the incident are activated, generating an audible alarm. Passers-by who hear the alarm can respond by locating the device, which then displays the navigation path to the accident site. Furthermore, the smart device provides instructions on how to utilise the AED effectively in order to save the victim. However, the current implementation of this model only offers support for outdoor navigation, lacking the capability for indoor positioning and navigation at this time.
How Real-time Web-based GIS Helps Build the Smart Cities of the Future
Future smart cities will undoubtedly exhibit significant differences compared to present-day cities. Spatial orientation will play a crucial role in addressing various urban challenges and making important decisions. In this context, the collection and analysis of extensive amounts of data, particularly geospatial data, will be imperative. Consequently, the utilisation of real-time web-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will emerge as a pivotal tool in the construction of future smart cities. By leveraging real-time web-based GIS, smart cities can enhance services to citizens and communities through two primary avenues: crowdsourcing and data visualisation. This approach will facilitate more efficient and effective urban management.
Currently, there are already many websites and projects that use crowdsourcing. In future smart cities, where most people will have smartphones with GPS, location-based crowdsourcing will be a popular form of crowdsourcing. Compared to other types, location-based crowdsourcing needs to consider one more thing: location. Having lots of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots can improve the accuracy of positioning when GPS doesn’t work well indoors. Therefore, making sure there are enough Wi-Fi hotspots in cities is important for getting good results in location-based crowdsourcing.
Additionally, data visualisation plays a crucial role in effectively communicating information to citizens. Real-time web-based GIS is a powerful tool for achieving data visualisation by representing geospatial data graphically, often through maps. However, many websites and applications with real-time maps lack proper design that aligns with users’ needs, knowledge, skills, and abilities. In future smart cities, it is essential to implement more data visualisation techniques to enhance the user interfaces of websites and applications. This will enable citizens with limited knowledge or skills to use them effortlessly and seamlessly.
The model proposed by Emson is an ideal prototype integrating the concepts of IoT, crowdsourcing, and real-time web-based GIS, but there are various obstacles to overcome for its practical implementation, such as noise issues and ascriptive responsibilities. From a web-oriented standpoint, ensuring device connectivity stability and maximising Internet speed are crucial, especially during emergencies. Consequently, the upcoming 5G wireless technology, with its significantly higher speed, will greatly enhance efficiency in this regard.
Furthermore, the implementation of 5G technology holds great potential for enhancing transportation systems within cities. While numerous applications presently gather real-time traffic data from mobile devices, future cities will rely on more detailed maps. High-definition maps (HD-Maps) can be accessed by autonomous vehicles via the internet, necessitating the use of the 5G network to maximize reaction speed and ensure heightened safety measures.
Moreover, the introduction of 5G technology opens up new opportunities to tackle challenges faced by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). These challenges include signal weakening and bandwidth limitations. However, the 5G network, with its ability to connect over 100 billion devices and provide a bandwidth of 10 Gbps (gigabits per second) and low latency, offers a promising solution to overcome these obstacles.
Conclusion
Real-time web-based GIS will play a significant role in constructing smart cities in the future. By leveraging crowdsourcing and data visualisation, it can enhance the delivery of efficient services to citizens. Despite potential challenges, real-time web-based GIS can be seamlessly integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT), offering added value to communities. Furthermore, the advent of 5G, the next-generation wireless technology with significantly higher speed, holds the potential to resolve a substantial portion of the issues faced, thereby facilitating the development of smart cities with a focus on big data, particularly geospatial data. As the 5G network achieves complete coverage, new potentials and challenges related to geospatial technology and the web are expected to arise, stimulating further discussions. Future studies may also explore methods to optimize models or prototypes that integrate real-time web-based GIS and IoT, aiming for continued improvement in these areas.
My name is Glenn Kong. You can find me on Medium or LinkedIn.
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