Smoother, Fast, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data's Driving the 21st Century City

Smoother, Faster, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data’s Driving the 21st Century City Industry Perspective

Smoother, Faster, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data’s Driving the 21st Century City

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“Big data is important because we’ve now garnered the ability through technology to get the insight we need from all sorts of data to make better decisions. into disparate data and overlaying that data with geographical information to get a much more clear picture and solve persistent challenges.�

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SAP Industry Perspective

Smoother, Faster, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data’s Driving the 21st Century City

In 1945, Peter Drucker called car-making the “inence on so many sectors of society.

At the time, Drucker’s characterization of the auto industry might have been true. However, in a recent interview with Dante Ricci, the director of strategy and innovation at SAP Public Services, Ricci gave government that moniker, calling it the “industry of industries,” especially when it comes to big data.

In this GovLoop Industry Perspective, we draw upon insights and case studies from our interview with SAP’s Ricci to share four examples of big da-

helping government to achieve: Smoother Roads Faster Commutes

In many ways, Ricci is right. Drawing upon the “4 V’s” that are often associated with big data, what other sector is collecting the volume and variety of data at the same velocity, while also being able to stand behind its veracity?

Moreover, big data is making government’s impact on that former “industry of industries” even more pronounced, since so much of the big data revolution is happening around transportation.

Cleaner Stations Safer Streets

setts, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Edmonton, Alberta to demonstrate how big data is positioning government as an innovative “industry of industries.”

Smoother, Faster, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data’s Driving the 21st Century City

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The app works by using the device’s accelerometer as well as its GPS in order to pinpoint those pesky bumps in the road. Consistent problems are routed or recorded as known obstacles, like speed bumps.

As Ricci said in a recent blog post: “Whether automatic or triggered by citizens, these inputs have the potential to change the way public work is reported, allocated and completed. A water leak, damaged road service or faulty stoplight in a remote area may not be reported for some time – especially if ‘reporting’ number, potentially at the start of a busy working day, and being moved from department to department.

1. SMOOTHER ROADS What if citizens became “sensors?”

through its download and enable a mobile app on their mobile phone that allows the city to collect data about bumps in the road. Instead of sending out crews to conduct time-intensive reviews, the city looks at the ‘citizen sensor’ data being sent by people’s

Many citizens have the power to tell the relevant authority immediately – using technology they have paid for, and which they carry with them at all times. Citizens have the power to transform the way the public sector works – alinterventions, and changing the relationship between government and its citizens for the better.” er of big data.

Who doesn’t want to shorten a painful commute, getting home in half the time it takes right now? to help residents to improve their neighborhood ton is using the data for both real-time insight as well as long-term investment planning.

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SAP Industry Perspective

Part of the solution is removing roadblocks and putting real-time data in the hands of drivers. As Ricci told us, “big data should be viewed in combination with other new technology innovations to allow for real-time citizen interaction with social media and mobility.”

Ricci cited the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, as a prime example. Through a real-time “Construction on Your Streets” map, citizens can look otherwise hamper their drive.

improved through big data. Consider the following scenario when it comes to assisting light rail commuters to plan around potential delays: Imagine a situation where you’re a regular commuter on a light rail train and there’s unscheduled downtime on one of your lines.What if you could wake up and have a text message, voicemail, and e-mail notifying you of the unplanned downtime along with alternate suggestions and mation?

This is all possible today at ever-decreasing verge database and application platform capabilities in-memory so organizations can operate in real-time to greatly improve the ability usage patterns and could do so in a matter of minutes as opposed to the technologies of a few years ago that would take days or weeks to process such a query, if it could be done at all.

This data analysis could be further expedited by

What’s most important here is that government is leveraging its big datasets to place information in the hands of citizens in as close to real time as possible so that they can make better decisions regarding their daily commutes.

powerful in-memory software and leading SAP partner hardware to help government agencies to query multiple types of data sources – at speeds and in volumes can help access and deliver information at unprecedented speeds – up to 100,000 times faster. Public sector data is capviews expose analytic information across your organization. You can analyze large volumes information in real time. Learn http://www. saphana.com/community/learn/

What happens when a citizen arrives at a bus, train place to sit and the citizen experience is downright unpleasant.

Ricci said the good news is that technology exists to enable agencies “to personalize service through anonymized data.” Expanding on this idea, Ricci said: “In particular, a person can be at a certain place at a certain time, reporting its relative dirtiness or cleanliness through a variety of communications channels - from social media to email or text. In aggregate, an organization can view the collective opinion at a particular location. If you have a cleaning crew responsible for 20 different stations, that kind of intelligence allows you to pinpoint a station, focus your attention and take care of a problem more quickly.”

Smoother, Faster, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data’s Driving the 21st Century City

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What’s interesting in this situation is that, unlike the previous applications that rely on more structured data, this scenario involves a certain amount of unstructured, social data. Ricci explained: nology is the enabler when it comes to this kind of information. You might be viewing structured data from transactional systems and unstructured information from video or social media.

With big data technology, you can agree on the insights being shared with you and start collaborating to identify a solution.”

tion so that streets remain safe for citizens despite a change in personnel?

Ricci said the Village of Schaumburg, Illinois, is one shining example. Schaumburg’s secret weapon is a tool called Jam, an enterprise social network solution from SAP that is designed to facilitate collaboration among employees. According to a recent report, Jam has become the go-to hub for Schaumburg personnel. In fact, employees launch Jam when they start their work - day or night.

department employee that works the night shift.”

In other words, “big data should not be looked at as a siloed technology enabler, but rather it should be looked in combination with other new technology innovations to allow for real-time citizen interaction with social media and mobility,” said Ricci.

daytime workers through groups on Jam. In the past, their voice may have gone unheard because now they can share ideas and get credit they deserve,” the report noted.

4. SAFER STREETS Speaking of social and collaborative technology, how do you ensure continuity between police department staff working the day and night shifts?

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SAP Industry Perspective

makes city streets safer, but it makes employees

“Big data technology can help agencies identify new opportunities with state-of-the-art analytics in order to maximize citizen’s return on investment.

When budgets are slim and your organizato develop a precise understanding of your busi-

big data technology is having on impact on comapplied to transportation alone. Ricci mentioned many other ways that big data helps government to “leverage real-time information to accurately forecast tax revenues, improve budget management, and increase the effectiveness of resource allocation.”

Moreover, “big data technology can help agencies identify new opportunities with state-of-the-art analytics in order to maximize citizen’s return on investment. When budgets are slim and your organization is forced to do more with less, it is critical to develop a precise understanding of your busidata helps your agency accomplish that kind of visibility and value.

In fact, if what Ricci said is true - that government truly is the “industry of industries” that collects and coalesces enormous amounts of data to make decisions that have a profound impact on the lives of average Americans - then an investment of time and resources to leverage that big data seems small in comparison to the cost of opportunities lost.

In conclusion, Drucker also said, “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.” That might also be true, but big data path ahead.

http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/on_your_ streets/construction-on-your-street-map.aspx http://cityminded.org/how-a-rush-hour-commuter-disruption-can-could-lead-to-sustainable-resilience-7392 http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/streetbump.asp h t t p : / / s c n . s a p . c o m / c o m mu n i t y / p u b l i c - s e c t o r / blog/2013/10/04/how-new-urban-systems-are-transforming-the-city http://www.asugnews.com/article/successfactors-sapjam-HCM-village-of-schaumburg http://www.saphana.com/community/learn

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ABOUT SAP

ABOUT GOVLOOP

The public sector is emerging as the single largest

GovLoop’s mission is to “connect government to improve government.” We aim to inspire public sector professionals by serving as the knowledge network for government. GovLoop connects more than 65,000 members, fostering cross-government collaboration, solving common problems and advancing government careers. GovLoop is headquartered in Washington D.C with a team of dedicated professionals who share a commitment to connect and improve government.

greatly from the innovations SAP delivers. Modern form can help agencies exploit the opportunity of big data by empowering users to access information anywhere, adapt to changing conditions, more accurately predict outcomes and, ultimately, make better decisions. Analytics tools are now much more intuitive and powerful, and they are no longer the domain of a select few data analysts and scientists. Instead, real-time analytics presented in easy-to-digest visual form are now available for all stakeholders.

For more information about this report, please reach out to Andrew Krzmarzick, Director of Community Engagement, GovLoop, at andrew@govloop.com, or follow him on Twitter: @krazykriz Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 407-7421 Fax: (202) 407-7501 Twitter: @GovLoop

Smoother, Faster, Cleaner, Safer: How Big Data’s Driving the 21st Century City

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