Big data can have a dynamic impact on city and town management. Major decisions, such as changes to public infrastructure or the implementation of new services, rely on information. Today, data is being collected faster and in greater volumes than ever before. In an Internet of Things world, cities are able to gather information from just about everywhere and at all times.
That’s not to say data hasn’t been collected before the Internet of Things. Everything from utility readings to the number of cars on the road to interactions between passengers on the street has helped produce data that was later leveraged by city officials in an effort to improve public services. An influx of automobile accidents at a particularly dangerous intersection may lead to the installation of a traffic light. Increased attention may be paid to a certain section of the city of where reports indicate more people are spending time.
With the Internet of Things, data is even easier to collect. Connected public trash barrels can learn when residents are throwing away their garbage. Park officials can gain insight into who is attending their parks and how often. Essentially, any public interaction can be quantified and collected as digital information, all for the sake of using that data to improve public services.
This might sound a bit frightening and it should certainly be noted that we haven’t reached the point where the aforementioned examples are commonplace, but they do speak to the potential and power of big data in town and city offices. An article in the Globe and Mail predicts that the city of the future will be build by big data. As Dave McGinn, the article’s author, points out, the big data era is just underway, so its influence on city planning is just getting started.
“We are only now at the earliest stages of this transformation,” McGinn writes. “But consider the magnitude of this leap: Only in the last decade have we seen the emergence of the quantified self – the idea of understanding and bettering oneself through data, whether it’s number of calories consumed per day or hours slept in a week. Now that concept is being applied to whole communities. And it will impact cities just as it has individuals: With decisions based on more empirical information than we’ve ever had before, making choices will be that much more clear cut.”
Data collected and used at this level will require robust analytics systems designed to extract, transform and load vast quantities of information. Business intelligence reporting is already a major undertaking at a private organization. In a major city office, where a number of departments rely on their data, this must be done with the utmost efficiency.
Ultimately, the ability to collect more data will benefit everyone involved, as long as those tasked with managing it have the proper tools at their disposal. Working with a data management software provider will help all organizations, from small to midsize businesses to major cities, improve data processing and move forward in the big data era.