Gadgetory

governments have a huge amount of data a smart city is how to use that data to be more effective as a government agency of the will of people that's how I define it Chicago is known for its awe-inspiring skyscrapers and the l-train that rises above the streets but it's what's going on underground that's helping transform it into a smart city Chicago is literally digging deep to build itself into a smart city one of the main problems is incomplete underground maps of the water sewer and power lines now the fix comes from a phone they can take videos of construction sites to help create a digital blueprint of the city's underground so ultimately what we want to get to is they have a three-dimensional understanding of the underground facilities in the future when we're going to design the new gas main that goes in we'll be able to understand and anticipate where we can lay that gas main it so then as they go through here when they dig and excavate they can anticipate our no other electric power is so they don't hit or damage it and what it causing an outage underground mapping is just one of the projects headed up by UI labs an innovation accelerator with public private and academic partners it's City digital initiative focuses on improving urban infrastructure throughout Chicago Chicago is a leader in terms of publishing data and as of a couple weeks ago we became the first city in the world to stream live data from green infrastructure so the city of Chicago has many areas that are in flood plains create infrastructure elements our treatment with the street level that can divert stormwater and so with the sensors are capturing is how much water and a volume basis is being actually diverted from heading into the sewer UI Labs is also experimenting with sensors and cameras to help buildings conserve energy and use their space better what this allows them to do is to turn real time capture of how people are moving through the building into essentially a heat map because your data aggregated that no one is using the south main lobby between 4:00 and 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday and you can power down the heat and power down the lights most of these programs are still in their research or pilot phases but Chicago does have a smart initiative set to start on Labor Day the cities connecting new LED streetlights to a smart grid which will know when a light is out or when the brightness needs to be adjusted but with Chicago's recent rash of problems including an alarming number of homicides and budget issues where does smart technology fit into the city's priorities we can do the things you need to do while also doing some things that are preparing for the future I don't think it's either/or but you have to be smart about it but it's not that easy even Silicon Valley is struggling with this stuff so why hasn't this all happen a lot quicker Apple releases a new iPhone every year after all well transforming big cities like San Francisco and Chicago is expensive the imperfect is about big they are Chicago's underground mapping project for example is estimated to take more than five years just to map the downtown area and then there's the politics getting a big city to be more nimble and being able to use technology we're not really built for dealing with individual residents we kind of do it at mass if it's something that helps people and not a bunch of policy experts the public will be supportive still one thing's for sure technology is changing our cities the next question will be whether it was worth