Dashboards in IBM's Intelligent Operations Center monitor city services providing operational insight and centralized intelligence capable of optimizing efficiencies and improving planning.
As more and more people flock to urban centers worldwide, 2000 of them have already met the challenge by switching to smart monitoring and real-time analytics that optimizes public transportation and roadway management. China's Zhenjiang being the latest addition to this list of smart cities worldwide makes it symbolically the 2001st.
"Working with forward looking cities like Zhenjiang, and 2000 other smarter cities projects around the world, IBM is able to help make cities smart," said an IBM spokesperson in a recent video entitled IBM Helps Zhenjiang Build a Smarter City.
Regardless of the exact number of cities involved, over $36 billion is slated to be spent on smart city infrastructure projects over the next decade, according to Pike Research, with China representing the largest single market.
"By integrating technology and intelligence into the physical transportation infrastructure, cities can improve capacity, enhance the traveler experience, and make transportation systems more efficient, safe, and sustainable for future growth," said Gerry Mooney, General Manager of Smarter Cities at IBM.
The heart of Zhenjiang's smarter city efforts will be the installation IBM's Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) which will use sensors installed at the city's 400 transit centers and 1000 public vehicles to analyze traffic patterns, obtain and disseminate real-time traffic updates, and anticipate traffic flow disruptions before they become a problem.
Together with the government of Zhenjiang, IBM hopes to improve the city’s transportation system, as well as "support the government's effort of building a harmonious society, and accelerate the economic growth and transformation of this vibrant country," said Dah-Chuen Chien, General Manager, IBM Greater China Group.
By investing in a system-wide transportation upgrade using IBM’s Intelligent Transportation software, centralized dashboards will provide city managers with a consolidated view that includes real-time analytics that track and categorize traffic patterns over 80 routes in and around Zhenjiang.
As a result, Zhenjiang IOC will increase traffic throughput with optimized routing and improved efficiency, plus the system will provide advance warning of potential traffic jams, giving managers a chance to mitigate or even eliminate them before they happen. By simulating the entire transit fleet and passenger flow across the transportation network, the IOC also maximizes road capacity as well as rapidly responds to incidents.
Our aim in partnering with IBM is to "make our public transportation system faster and more efficient, while making our city a better place to live in," said Mingnian Yin, Director of Reform Commission, City of Zhenjiang.
