Growing Cities Manage Services Through Smart Modules

The continued growth of cities puts stress on existing urban infrastructure. Finding smart solutions to manage and grow city services allows citizens to voice and track concerns, holds local government accountable, and improves operational efficiencies for services such as waste management. The right solutions for disaster warning systems can even save lives.

Image credit: Responscity Systems

By 2050, nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas. More than one-third of that growth is expected to come from three countries: India, China, and Nigeria. That kind of urban growth can wreak havoc on city services, including transportation, waste management, and emergency services.

The use of smart city technologies will help counteract that by enabling cities to operate more efficiently. India’s Responscity Systems is among the companies helping to ease urban growing pains. The company has developed a modular solution that allows cities to roll out smart city services as they are needed.

A Smart Approach to Public Services

The Responscity solution is based on its Digital House Identification (DHI) platform, which uses RFID tags and cloud-based services to improve public safety. The RFID tags are mounted outside of each home or business and connect to Responscity’s servers. Each tag links to a digital record that stores the building’s geo-location, plus the address, contact information, and relevant services for each specific property.

Using the DHI, each property is assigned a unique EasyCity code through the Smart Addressing System. Using a mobile app or website, residents can share the alphanumeric code with emergency services, delivery drivers, and visitors, who receive the address and geo-location on their devices. The system allows local agencies to send SMS or email messages to building owners individually or in groups. If a water main breaks, for example, the public works department can notify the affected homes and businesses.

The Citizen Connect module allows local officials to broadcast text or voice messages to the entire city or send targeted messages to specific populations based on demographic or geo-location information.

Citizens also can use the app or website to create portals, establish neighborhood groups, look up property sale information, and send alerts to local agencies. A feedback management module enables users to post complaints or suggestions to the city, which are forwarded to the appropriate departments. Citizens can track the progress of their complaint online, so the system provides government transparency and accountability.

Responscity also has other modules for public services. The waste management module allows operators to manage trucks, routes, and schedules in real-time through an online dashboard. The disaster management module connects fire, police, and hospital emergency systems to improve response times and recovery efforts, while simultaneously notifying residents of crisis situations.

Flood Prevention System Saves Lives

Beyond the disaster management module, Responscity created the Early Flood Warning System to help reduce damage resulting from frequent floods in India. From 2000 to 2019, natural disasters in India impacted 1.08 billion people and resulted in nearly 80,000 deaths. Floods account for 52 percent of India’s natural disasters and another 30 percent are the result of cyclones. Having an early warning system is critical.

Buses, cars and people in flooded area.

Image credit: Responscity Systems

Developed using Intel® technologies, the Early Flood Warning System is a cloud-based platform that uses Intel® IoT gateways to collect and analyze data from APIs, rain gauges, and water sensors along rivers and other waterways. It correlates real-time water-level data with the geo-location data for each town to predict potential flooding events and warn residents of impending disaster.

Manually collecting this data is inefficient and can take as long as five hours before citizens are notified. With the Responscity Early Flood Warning System, the Intel® gateways aggregate the data in real-time. City agencies are notified immediately of rising waters, and within 10 seconds they can send automated messages to alert citizens. The system enables communication across fire, police, hospitals, and other emergency services.

As urbanization continues, cities will need to expand their digital infrastructure and provide services that support the swelling population. Responscity uses IoT technologies to connect citizens, businesses, and local governments to improve city life.