Cities Could Be Next For Smart Move
Now that Smart Homes are taking off, we have a new concept to get our heads around and that is Smart Cities.
This has been a key theme of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the regular barometer of what is expected to be big in the year to come.
But what exactly are Smart Cities?
Apparently, this is about local councils investing in ‘Internet of Things’ technologies to ‘improve the experience of citizens and visitors.’
An outfit called Wi-Fiber, for instance, was exhibiting smart streetlights, arguing that multi-purpose lampposts were the future for the Smart City.
Their Intelli-Platforms on poles, Networked to the city, not only provide LED illumination that can change colour, they also incorporate cameras, microphones and speakers.
Not only can these dim and cut energy consumption when no-one is about, there was talk of using them to automatically spot vacant parking spaces.
If you visit town and need a space, a network of lampposts that knows where you are, via your mobile App, could lead you to a space.
There were also ideas about noise detection, immediately pointing cameras towards the source of the sound, of crowd control and of making public announcements via streetlamp loudhailers.
Then there is Xaqt, already trialling a Smart City solution in Kansas City, Missouri (KC,MO).
Check out www.smartkcmo.xaqt.com to see live mapping of traffic congestion, available parking spaces and the location of the Streetcar that plies through the heart of downtown.
However, are we talking life-enhancing innovations, which we cannot wait to arrive here in Solihull?
Or are these several steps closer to that Orwellian nightmare where we are all watched by the unseen?
