American City & County: The New Cloud Over Smart Cities

While 66 percent of U.S. cities are currently investing in smart city technologies, and 25 percent of those without smart city systems are exploring how to embrace this new frontier, there still is the question about the definition of a “smart city.”

There are many definitions and facets to a smart city, but the underlying theme should be connected cities. The new “urban cloud” connects sensors and cameras, and citizens and government. Smart cities are always essentially connected.

Connected cities use data from social networks, mobile applications and IoT sensors to optimize energy efficiency, security, traffic, infrastructure, public safety, emergency response and more. However, for the cities that are evaluating smart city tech for the first time, there’s the question of how to deploy next-gen applications without the underlying network in place.

Then, there’s the question of funding these efforts, and determining which applications provide real ROI.

Mike Gundling, TerraGo’s Vice President of Product Development and Marketing, tackled these questions in a recent American City & County Magazine guest article. Specifically, he discussed how it’s possible to leverage a smart city network that actually pays for itself. By way of example, smart street lighting can help cities cut costs more effectively.

The article also discussed how solutions like TerraGo Magic allow for the easy configuration of mobile apps that can be customized for all types of applications –from 311 services, public safety, utilities and city workflows that connect citizens and agencies in ways never before possible.

Becoming a connected city may seem cumbersome and costly. Thankfully, there is a connected city network that pays for itself, and zero-code smart city applications to exploit it for the betterment of life for all citizens.

Click here to read the full guest article in American City & County Magazine. If you are a city CIO and are seeking more information about how to make your city more connected, please contact TerraGo here.