A smart city installs sensors which can share information with the public, businesses, city managers and other sensor systems. The city connects its sensors and services via the Internet of Things (IoT). The different sensor systems store their information in a common data warehouse and make it available to those who need it.
Using CCTV cameras and video analytics to anonomously detect people (so the system knows a person walked down a street but doesn't know who that person is) is one example of smart city sensors in action. The people, bicycle and vehicle counts are uploaded over the internet to "Brokers". The Brokers process the data and makes it available to all end users - comprising an Internet of Things. Such a system is supplied by our sister company - Retail Sensing.
In the high streets and city centres, VT Smart Counters are counting people. They provides both real-time and historical data for "Big Data" analytics.
They can also be used within individual retail units to discover vital analytics like sales conversion rate, average queuing time and the most popular area of a store. This demonstrates in a practical way the city's commitment to retail on the high street.
A city is not just about streets, buildings and buses. Nor is it just about giving cutting-edge connectivity to sensors and devices, and the IoT. It isn't about "things" at all. It's about people. And how their lives can be made better in order to keep the heart of the city beating.
For more on smart cities see the Retail Sensing web site or contact [email protected].