Glasgow To Be UK's First 'Smart City' 98
CowboyRobot writes "Once the 'Second City' of the British Empire, scrappy Glasgow — whose now-demolished Gorbals was once known for urban grimness on a par with Chicago's South Side or New York's Hell's Kitchen — has the chance for a whole new lease on life as the UK's first 'smart city.' The UK's government has just announced a $38 million (£24 million) grant to fund pilot projects in the city that show how mass deployment of sensors and real-time information can help local government run more efficiently while also boosting the quality of life for its 600,000 citizens. Glasgow won the prize in a competition among 30 British towns and cities for state help in looking at the possible contribution of smart technology."
Integration (Score:4, Interesting)
And this is where integration with existing projects should come first, lest we end up reinventing the wheel. http://www.fixmystreet.com/ [fixmystreet.com] http://www.opentraintimes.com/ [opentraintimes.com] http://www.openstreetmap.org/ [openstreetmap.org] http://www.flightradar24.com/ [flightradar24.com] the 45MB/min MIDAS Gold DATEX traffic information service from http://www.tih.org.uk/ [tih.org.uk] - and many more. And by far not just travel related either, but lets not allow Glasgow to 'create' new apps and datasources that just replicate ideas and services that are already out there.
I hope the administrators of this fund have a good long hard look through http://data.gov.uk/ [data.gov.uk] for inspiration and partners to work with, and that we as users and techs can help push them to make the right choices.
I've already emailed a few relevant parties. Have you?
Re:This is smart? (Score:4, Interesting)
Knowing the reputation of various UK administrations, it will be put to use to spy on people and fine them for small misdemeanors.
Re:This is smart? (Score:2, Interesting)
In any discussion of societal values, sooner or later someone will invoke Arken's Law or Godwin's Law, or both.
Kind of puts things in a slightly different light, I think. People who call "stereotype!" can be stereotypes.
(And yes, I realize that is recursive.)