big data
& IoT
HANDLING BIG DATA IN
TOMORROW’S SMART CITIES
In the future, our connected cities will enable convenience and efficiency like never before, but their success
depends on how Big Data will be handled and managed, explains Andy Bowker, executive founder of ebb3.
I
t is estimated that by 2050,
around 70-80 per cent of the
predicted world population
of nine billion will live in
cities. With finite resources a
pressing concern, governments,
both national and local, and
service providers are prioritising
sustainability to make urban living
both enjoyable and fulfilling while
avoiding the mistakes of historic
mass urbanisation.
The ambition is to make the
future city an inclusive, efficient
24 | June 2017
and sustainable environment
for those who live and work in
it. The Internet of Things (IoT) is
increasingly viewed as the vehicle
to deliver these ambitions with
businesses such as Cisco and IBM
collaborating with companies to
develop and deploy data driven
transport, waste management, law
enforcement and energy solutions.
Data will be the key to all this.
The split-second data analysis
carried out by inter-connected
machine-to-machine technology
that powers the automated
decisions required by the smart
city can only happen through the
capture and use of data.
By 2020, it is estimated that
solution providers working to make
smart cities a reality will be worth
$400bn. While these developments
would certainly make life easier,
there has been much less said
about the underpinning issue of
data management.
With 7.2 billion people
connected more than ever before