Location-Based Services and Smart City Initiatives on a Global Scale
Location-Based Services (LBS), when combined with data analytics and city demographics, has tremendous potential to tap into the pulse of the city and thereby improve the quality of life for…
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Location-Based Services (LBS), when combined with data analytics and city demographics, has tremendous potential to tap into the pulse of the city and thereby improve the quality of life for citizens. The integration of LBS and Smart City Initiatives with city demographics and data analytics leads to better insights as well as enables city authorities to target the right people at the right time and at the right place. There are many international examples of LBS aided Smart City Initiatives proving the above statement.
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This integration is a win-win for both citizens as well as government authorities. Moreover, this will empower city authorities to gain better insights into citizen requirements and accordingly plan as well as disseminate city services. This, in turn, will increase citizen satisfaction levels, thereby improving city branding which will further attract businesses and improve city revenues. Listed are set of International Smart Cities that leveraged the Location-Based services.
Smart City Initiatives
Smarter Safety Services – Seoul, South Korea
Key Objective: Providing greater autonomy to children, the disabled, the elderly and Alzheimer patients.
Description: Smart devices have been developed which utilize LBS to track children and the elderly when they move out of designated location boundary; integration with city CCTV network to track the exact location of the missing member.
Benefits/Impact: Family members and police department to be able to trace their missing members.
Smart Tourist Guide – Nice, France
Key Objective: Updating local resident and tourists about the recreational and tourist spots.
Description: Leveraging LBS and GIS, Nice delivered relevant information related to the tourist spots, buses, guest houses, and hotels to its residents; tourists are also informed when they enter the city boundary.
Benefits/Impact: Availability of relevant information on the current travel location.
Crime Mapping and Smart Police Departments – Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Key Objective: Crime mapping, Hotspot generation, crime trend.
Description: Tracking the locations of different types of crimes and offenders by LBS and geocoding them in GIS maps to generate crime maps and hotspots for smarter police departments.
Benefits/Impact: Proactive crime detection, rationalised police van allocations, efficient surveillance and tracking.
Commitment to Sustainability – Dubuque, Iowa, USA
Key Objective: Energy efficiency and management & checking water proliferation.
Description: Location-based sensors installed to trace the energy or water leakage and send its location to the concerned departments by geocoding it on GIS maps.
Benefits/Impact: Rationalisation of energy consumption, demand Side energy management, water conservation, monitoring, savings, water surplus.
Wait-Less Bus System – Dublin, Ireland
Key Objective: Improved bus transit system, information regarding the buses’ waiting time and optimal route.
Description: Integrating location-based geospatial data and buses timetable into a central GIS thus creating a dashboard; then utilizing this dashboard and tracking real-time data information about bus timings; GIS also helped in.
Benefits/Impact: Efficient management of bus flow and detailed information about bus availability to citizens.
Smart Healthcare – Pan Europe
Key Objective: Leveraging LBS and Wi-Fi to provide Emergency medical services to the citizens.
Description: Under a healthcare program called Calyx a wearable device has been created which will measure special vital signs of the citizens and communicating with the healthcare services by sending the geographic location thus leveraging location intelligence.
Benefits/Impact: Provisioning of prompt and on-the-spot medical services; ailing person benefited with greater autonomy.
Collective Energy Harvesting – London, UK
Key Objective: Tracking citizens who are either walking or using cycles, decrease in pollution.
Description: Citizens can make their presence felt LBS, they can be a part of the London Cloud if they are either walking or cycling, thus being the part of collective energy harvesting.
Benefits/Impact: Motivated citizens to use walking and cycling as a mode of transport; zero carbon footprint.
E-Governance – Los Angeles, USA
Key Objective: City services to be delivered online, online complaint lodging.
Description: Leveraging location-based information dissemination to map city services and analyze complaints registered online through location-based pictures and videos.
Benefits/Impact: Availability of city services information with the citizens, quick and prompt grievance redressal.
On-the-Go Parking – Barcelona, Spain
Key Objective: Improved, efficient and sustainable urban parking.
Description: Using LBS and superimposing it on GIS maps to update user about the nearest parking availability.
Benefits/Impact: Citizens are updated with real-time parking information based on their locations.
Smart Disaster Management – Haiti
Key Objective: Prompt emergency service, location identification, efficient rescue operation.
Description: Using LBS as a base, Ushahidi created an app that was used by the Haiti earthquake survivors to identify their location and convey them to rescue and relief workers; GIS mapping was also used to locate the nearest open area for setting up base camps.
Benefits/Impact: Millions of lives saved as locations were identified on a real-time basis and quick relief facilities such as food and water were provided.
