Page 21 - Digital solutions for integrated city management and use cases: A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

The ability to integrate and utilize data from multiple smart city systems or solutions is a defining
criterion of a city platform. This concept is illustrated in the following Figure 5.

Figure 5: Typical view of integration by a smart city platform 14

Regardless of the underlying technology or mix of technologies, to be successful in its intended
purpose, the city platform should:

1 Have a modular design, where each module manages a different element of the smart city.

2 Allow for organization, transparency, flexibility and scalability in terms of its design.

3 Be capable of interacting with both human beings (H2M) and computers or machines (M2M).
4 Be able to collect and process vast volumes of various types of high-velocity data autonomously,
including in real time, from multiple and third-party sources.

5 Bring together different information systems, devices and applications in the city to communicate,
and to exchange data accurately, effectively and consistently.

6 Allow for the data that flows in to be processed and analysed to generate actionable insights
and sound decisions.

Moreover, expanding on point No. 5 (relating to information systems), the following aspects are
15
required of a city platform to ensure adequate interoperability:

1 Interoperability with different technologies: refers to the capability of supporting different
technologies for capturing information and communications standards as well as internal/
corporate and/or external information systems.

U4SSC: Digital solutions for integrated city management & use cases 9