Cities of the future

Creating a smart city is a massive challenge for any urban manager. But some trailblazers have already set a path that can be followed for easier implementation

Words | Lukas Duffek, Cross Zlín, Czech Republic

With more than 20 years of experience in developing traffic devices, Cross Zlín defines its smart city project as two distinct procedures. First is the production of traffic technology hardware such as road traffic stations, traffic light controllers, weigh-in-motion systems, parking systems and traffic counters. Second, there is the development of a software platform for integration and interoperability between on-field technology and end users, which is the main endeavor of the Incinity software branch of the company.

Changing city operations

As it lacks an official definition, it can sometimes be difficult to understand exactly what makes a smart city, so Cross Zlín’s Invipo platform defines it in the simplest terms so that the ordinary users can understand it easily.

A smart city is one that uses modern technologies and their data to create services that contribute to the efficient operation and control of the city, while increasing operational awareness. Or, to put it another way, a smart city is a city that transforms data into information that helps citizens live better lives in their urban environment.

For every municipal area, the method of smart city technology implementation remains similar, regardless of the size of the area.

First, on-field hardware must be delivered. The technology must be integrated with existing local data sources

and other data providers. Other steps include deploying a network capable of interconnecting all devices. This should be made up of a server housing and hardware environment, and big data storage with the capability of storing as much data as is required.

Once the basic data infrastructure is in place, the implementation process is finalized with the installation of an integration platform for monitoring, maintenance, control and analysis. This enables the city to develop ‘intelligence’ in form of smart scenarios, rules and verifications. In this last step, Incinity delivers a public web portal and mobile application to the citizens.

The particular success of technological cooperation proved itself in the smart city project that Cross Zlín recently undertook in the Turkish city of Izmir.

A real smart city

With a population of four million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir, presented a great opportunity to implement smart city technologies and to observe improvements experienced by the local population.

The joint venture between Cross Zlín and AŽD Praha delivered more than 4,000 devices, plus the integration platform. The project began in 2014, finished in 2017, and was not only the largest project in the region but has also developed into becoming the largest project of its type in the world.

The project was launched with the aims of consolidating the traffic situation; improving public transport services; supplying the public with information about their city via a mobile app; and establishing new city services, making it the first ‘smart city lab’ in the region.

Technologies that made it happen

Part of the project was the delivery of more than 400 traffic light controllers, 100 red light and other enforcement systems, more than 200 traffic counters, 107 pedestrian-zone bollard entries, 1,500 GPS-tracked buses, 2,000 on-street parking spaces, more than 30 monitored parking lots, 110 CCTV camera devices and 108 variable message signs. The functionality was provided by establishing the adaptive traffic control system, public transportation prioritization, violation registers, management of parking spaces and pedestrian zone access, statistics and reporting tools, an online public City Dashboard, and a mobile application for users to access data and reports.

The results

The most visible ameliorations brought by the smart city implementation became apparent shortly after the project had begun. The local traffic flow improved significantly, which can be demonstrated by comparable measurement of the test rides with and without adaptive lights control on the selected roads with heavy traffic. The time savings were in the range 30-60% on short and long routes.

The smart city project also provided new data and statistics for reporting, which consists of a complete set of historical data enabling the comparison of previous and current status. This data range doesn’t just serve traffic managers, but can also be used in a wider context.

The project has also shown improvements in the area of city intelligence, providing notifications of failures and unexpected behavior. The improvement of city intelligence is calculated and measured by a complex rule engine controlling the city, which enables interoperability between systems and enabled devices. n

Opposite: Cross Zlín recently

collaborated with AŽD Praha to turn Izmir, Turkey, into a smart city

Above: A screenshot of

Cross Zlín’s Invipo smart city platform

Eight steps to creating a smart city

Creating an intelligent urban area is a huge challenge. Experts at Cross Zlín have identified eight steps that might be helpful: 1) Be prepared for big data. Data is constantly growing, and coping with this volume requires detailed groundwork. 2) Be prepared for change and remain flexible, otherwise the project can freeze. 3) Acknowledge that the first version of the schedule won’t survive, no matter how precisely it was created. 4) Embrace invention within the city. Even though the city can’t tell you how to make it smart, those implementing such a project must be prepared to be innovative. 5) Use common sense in implementation and attempt to keep a bird’s-eye perspective. 6) Simplify everything. 7) Use prototypes. 8) Measure, measure, measure. Measure everything that is measurable.

Sometimes it is the only way how to show the difference between the previous and current states.