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