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LearningTranscript
00:00Hi there, my name is Michael Malkuin and I represent Open and Agile Smart Cities and
00:08Communities and I'm going to be taking you through two short training segments. The first one as you
00:15can see is relating to implementing open data platforms, data spaces and local digital twins
00:21and then when we've completed that we're going to talk about open architectures and minimal
00:26interoperability mechanisms it's going to be exciting. Of course with so many topics to cover
00:31in such a short time it means that I won't be able to cover anything in any great detail
00:37but hopefully it will be enough to give you a good sense of what this topic is about, why it's
00:41important and we'll be able to point you to some useful training resources where you can dig into
00:45these things in more detail. So let's get into the first training segment. What we're going to be
00:52looking at as we see here is the roles of open data platforms, data spaces and local digital twins
00:59and their value to a local community or city. What are the steps to implementing each of these
01:06and how we can use the Data Space Support Centre to find the information resources needed.
01:12So let's get on with it. Now open and shareable data are two really important topics related to
01:19how we can use all the data that's been gathered in the city. Open data is something that's very
01:25familiar to us in cities and communities because for many years we've been sharing the kind of data
01:32that anyone can access use and share widely on our websites and in other ways for the benefit of our
01:38citizens and our businesses. So open data is data that is not in any way sensitive it's data that is
01:45valuable to anybody and anybody can use and share them as they want. However, shareable data is something
01:53different. It's not data that's just open. It's data that I carefully choose to share with specific people
02:00and organisations and for specific purposes. It's data that's restricted to certain organisations and roles within
02:09those organisations and therefore has to be managed much more carefully than open data. Now many cities
02:18and communities are already providing useful open data to citizens and businesses and this is the next
02:24step. How we can make use of all the valuable data that's been gathered by the city administration
02:30and by many partners within the city to be able to be used to help make sure the city as a whole works
02:37really well. Now let's start with open data platforms because this is something we know a lot about,
02:43we're experts on and we know that these data is being shared, open data is being shared widely
02:50for a number of very good reasons. The first of course is about accountability. Local administrations
02:56are elected by their citizens. They tax the citizens and the businesses and use that money to provide
03:03services. So it is only right that citizens and businesses are able to see who is making the
03:09decisions, why they're making them and how the money that is being collected through local taxation is being
03:16used to benefit local people. So accountability is a key reason. It's being open and transparent with
03:23how the city administration works. But equally valid is the way that open data is often really valuable in
03:30saving staff time. Citizens and businesses have many questions of local authorities. Things like,
03:37when is my rubbish going to be collected? Or how can I find out which schools my children are able to go to?
03:46So there are many questions that citizens and businesses need to ask of local authorities. And rather than
03:53having to phone up and taking lots of staff time or maybe visit the offices, if that information is
04:00available in an easily searchable way online, this not only saves the citizen time, but it actually means
04:06that local staff in the city administration are not wasting a lot of time on calls and on talking to
04:14people face to face. So it saves staff time. Thirdly, and obviously that's implied by what we said just now,
04:21that when the right information is made easily available to citizens,
04:25then this is a service. It makes things much easier for citizens if they're not having to try
04:30and find out what's the right phone number to call or try and get the bus to the local offices of their
04:35city council. If they can just go online on their phone or on their computer and get that information
04:40quickly and easily, that's a really important and valuable service for the citizen. And then of course,
04:45finally, often central government itself is mandating the use of open data for all of these reasons to
04:52make sure that the citizen is able to get the information that it needs from every level of
04:57administration. So that's what's happening. And that's been happening for a long time. And many cities are not just
05:03content with making their own data more openly available for the citizen and business, but they work with their
05:09partners to provide a common open data platform so that there's a one-stop shop where citizens who are
05:15interested in finding out useful information about what's happening in their city can go to one website
05:21and see there all of this information in one place that enables them to get that information easily and
05:26quickly. So what about shareable data? Well, shareable data is needed because a city is managed
05:33with different systems and different domains, mobility, utility use, shopping and commerce, health,
05:42housing. So there are many different agencies that manage different aspects of the city. And all of
05:48these agencies are collecting lots and lots of data increasingly to be able to do to manage their
05:54aspect of the city well. But of course, each of these different systems interact with each other,
06:01and therefore it's important that the data from each of these different systems that's relevant to
06:08helping the other systems to be able to do a good job, that that data needs to be easily available
06:15so that the different other systems in the city can use it to help make better decisions about how
06:22they're doing their work. For instance, it's very useful if there's a big sports event happening in the
06:28city for public transport and other agencies to be aware of that so they can make proper
06:34preparations to make sure that people can travel and all the other things that need to be done.
06:39And so it's very important that there's really easy ways for relevant information to be shared between
06:47the different systems that are managing the different aspects of the city. And that's why the European
06:53Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities has been set up to provide guidance
06:59to cities and communities as to how they can do that. There's lots of really good information that
07:03you can see where there's a link on this page to find out more details about the many practical
07:11advice and information that's provided to help make this work. But one of the recommendations is about
07:19setting up and consolidating interoperable local data platforms that are able to integrate and reuse
07:25data in cities and communities. That's what we're talking about and that's something that the European
07:29Commission has seen as a really important way that cities can help develop and provide the information
07:37that people need. And so that's what we're talking about today. This is something that's really useful
07:43and it's something that's mandated by the European Commission that's aiming at helping the flow of
07:50information around local areas and around the European Union as a whole. And so we need to think
07:59how to do it. Now, initially, we used to think about data being stored in data warehouses. But some years
08:07ago, this was opened up to talking about data lakes where you'd often find, for instance, a city
08:14administration would host the data lake and would get data from its many partners and put all of that
08:21data in whatever format it was and so on within that one place so that whenever anyone needed any of that
08:27data, it could be comparatively easily retrieved and used. However, that centralised way of storing data is
08:35gradually being replaced by a more decentralised way of doing it, which is oftenly called data spaces.
08:42And in data spaces, what you're looking at is where there's a data ecosystem where a particular sector or
08:49application bringing together a number of different agencies that are working to deliver some aspect of, for
08:55instance, city life, like transport, or, or energy or whatever. So all the different agencies that are
09:03aiming to deliver that aspect of city life are able to share data not by putting it into a central repository,
09:11but by opening up by enabling other people to take data from them, from them, and use it under proper
09:18terms and conditions. So what's happening is the data is held by the organisation that generated it and
09:26owns it. But that that organisation has agreed to make that data available for certain purposes by other
09:34agencies within the within that ecosystem. So as an example, if you can imagine, there's an area of the
09:42city where a lot of construction is going to be taking place planned, you know, maybe new housing,
09:49a retail office space or whatever. And there's a real focus on making sure that that new area of
09:55development is low carbon, that that what you're doing is making sure that in the design and build,
10:04and then in the ongoing management of that area, that energy use and the carbon footprint are minimised as
10:10far as possible. Well, in order to make sure that you've got an overall understanding of how to
10:18reduce the carbon footprint of that area, there are many stakeholders that need to be brought on board,
10:24each of whom have different viewpoints, different aspects of the data that need to be made available,
10:30so that the whole of that construction area can be managed properly to deliver what's needed.
10:36And a data space allows that to happen. It allows all the different stakeholders that are involved
10:42in designing and building and implementing and managing that new area of the city are able to
10:48share the information that helps them, each of them individually, to make the right decisions to get
10:53that carbon footprint as large as it can be. And that's just one example of many of where different
10:59ecosystems within the city that are aiming to deliver something important are able to share data
11:04together to all do a better job in making that work. So the benefits of data spaces are that you're not
11:12trying to force people to share data who see no reason for doing it, or make the case or justify why
11:21that should happen. A data space starts with an existing group of stakeholders, of organisations,
11:28that all are working together already to deliver on a common aim. And so they can see much more easily
11:35the value of sharing data among themselves. And the other great benefit is that they're not losing
11:42control, if you like, of their data by providing it in some other place, a central repository, but they
11:47continue to maintain control of their data, and only allow it to be shared with others when it makes sense
11:54for them. So it puts them much more in control of all this valuable data that they're gathering.
12:01The challenges of course are that that's great, but you still need to work hard at technical
12:06interoperability, because all of these agencies may be collecting and managing and holding that data
12:11using different formats and different approaches. And the other thing is, it's very important to put in
12:16place very strong governance rules to make sure that people can when they take that data from another
12:23partner can be sure that it's reliable, that it hasn't been changed in any way. And if they build
12:29any applications on top of it, that they can have the confidence that that data will continue to be
12:35provided at the same level of quantity and quality that's needed. So a number of benefits, a number of
12:41challenges, we just need to make it happen. And in doing that, if you want to make sure that you are
12:48really able to benefit from the best experience around, the place to go is the Data Space Support
12:53Centre, which provides all kinds of support and help from documentation, interactive websites,
13:00communities, and specific advice for particular issues that you might be interested in. And it's
13:08really worthwhile going and looking to see all of the resources that are there available in the Data
13:13Space Support Centre to help you to do what you need to do in building the local data spaces that
13:18you need to put in place. So that's data spaces. The next step in data sharing are local digital twins.
13:26And that's where you're not simply collecting data and sharing data among yourselves, but you're
13:33bringing together data about the city in a way that really anchors that data to particular parts of the
13:40city to geographic locations and enables you to understand what's happening in all the different
13:46parts of the city and how all of those things link up together. It enables you to have effectively a
13:53digital replica of the physical city so that you can see what's happening in the real city by using
14:02that digital replica to do it. And so that you can model different options and all the rest of it to
14:08help you make sure that you're making the best and the most effective decisions for managing the
14:14physical city. It's really about three different aspects of the city. First of all, obviously,
14:20it's about places and physical assets. It's about being able to describe these things in digitally
14:26and link them up with IoT devices and video cameras, all kinds of things like that that are providing
14:34real time or near real time information about what's happening in all of these different places,
14:38and therefore gain a really good sense of what's going on in all the different areas of the city.
14:44But an effective local digital twin doesn't stop there. It will also be able to take on board the
14:50different processes that are going on, what organisations are doing what, how they're delivering on the
14:56different services that are needed. And it will also look at the different kinds of people that live and
15:01work in the city. What are their different needs? What are they doing at different times of the day
15:06or night? Where are they? And so really getting an understanding of all the things that are going on,
15:11both the physical, the processes, and also the people of that city, to make sure that all of these
15:17things can be managed comprehensively and together. So a digital twin, it could be a digital twin of the
15:24whole city. And here's a very good example that I was able to see in China a few years back where
15:31you can see depicted the whole city, all the different aspects of the city, and get a real
15:36sense of, you know, what's happening in different places, so that you've got an overall picture of
15:43any problems that might be developing and what kind of things might need to be done to solve them.
15:48And that means, as you can see, that there's some pictures there of where you've been able to drill down
15:52into actual video of particular areas of what's happening. And you can obviously, there's many
15:58options for you to use that overall digital twin of city to drill down into seeing what's happening
16:04in very specific places. And you can even drill down even further, for instance, to actually,
16:09here's a traffic light that's not working. And you can find out that particular traffic light,
16:14what are all the components in that traffic light, what components are not working, so that when you
16:20found out that traffic light isn't working, it's very easy to know precisely what sort of parts are
16:25needed, and what kind of repairs might be required to get that traffic light working back up again as
16:31quickly as possible. So this is the idea of a digital twin, being able to see the whole picture, but also
16:37being able to drill down and find out how you can solve any problem that you see in the city as a whole,
16:44to be able to solve that problem in the particular place where it's happening. So, as we can see,
16:50digital twins can have huge advantages for a city, it can help planning by helping to look at what
16:56different options you might have before you build them. And then when things have been built, what
17:02might happen to that city? What might the impacts be? And what could you do about it? So this is a great
17:08way of putting in place plans, not just for building and construction, but how you can react if there's
17:15a disaster or some other issue happens. But it also helps you not just in looking forward, but actually
17:21helps you in the day-to-day management of the city, because when it's linked to sensors, actuators,
17:26video cameras and so on, you can get a very good sense of what's happening, where anything might be
17:33going wrong at any particular time? What might be going wrong? What might the impact of that thing
17:38be if it's not dealt with? What are the kind of things that could be done to mitigate those problems?
17:44And what could be done to quickly solve that problem in the first place? And so it's a great way to help
17:49you manage the city better. So imagine a flood, for instance, something that's very, very much still in
17:55our minds at the moment. So the additional twin of the environment will help you to understand how
18:02there's a flood happening. So how quickly are the waters likely to rise? Which roads and transport
18:09links are going to be covered first and will become impassable? Which parts of the city are likely to be
18:15safe havens for people to go to? And which are ones that people need to evacuate quickly? Where might
18:21power outages happen and where might be good places to store equipment and so on that would help with
18:27dealing with the impact of flooding? So that's a really useful aspect of a flood. But not just that,
18:33if you've got a digital twin that's really focused on dealing with these kinds of disasters, you could
18:39also map which organisations are best placed to provide help. What help could they provide? Who manages
18:45key buildings that could provide shelter? And how can you make sure that opened up in time? What
18:49information is needed by different agencies and so on? And where are agencies that may have staff in key
18:56positions that could really help to manage any natural disaster as it's occurring? So that's a very
19:04important aspect. And then, of course, when you're looking at people, it's very useful to know which
19:11people are most vulnerable when any disaster or any problem happens. What's the best way to communicate
19:17with the different kinds of people in the city? Where might they be at any particular time? Are they
19:21at work? Are they shopping? Are they likely to be at home? So that you can make sure you can manage
19:27the safety of the different sorts of people in your city, should there be any flood or something like
19:32that. So that's just one example of how a digital twin can provide you with really comprehensive and
19:38effective solutions for any challenges or natural disasters that might happen in your city.
19:44So we've been talking about four stages. The open data platform that many city councils will already
19:51be very experienced with. How you can open that up so that it's not just holding data that's generated
19:58and managed by the city administration, but also can provide a one-stop shop for useful information
20:04locally, where data is gathered from many different partners in that one place. The next stage is being
20:11able to share sensitive data between partners using a local data space, well-managed data sharing ecosystem,
20:19and then the next stage on the line is once you're able to unlock and unleash the data that's being held
20:27by these many different agencies, how can you use all of that rich data to help build a local digital twin
20:33that can provide the information that managers need to be able to manage that city and community better.
20:39So this is the issue, really. It's about thinking about these different stages, if you like,
20:45of opening up the data that's been gathered in the city and thinking about where is my city, where is my community,
20:52and where do I need to go to next to be able to be able to use that data even more effectively.