Smart cities in South Africa – the role of technology in urban development
Urban areas in South Africa are rapidly evolving, necessitating modern solutions to tackle multiple challenges, from resource management to environmental sustainability. The concept of smart cities has gained significant traction globally, and South Africa is no exception, with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious Lanseria Smart City project paving the way.
If successful, this development can demonstrate the intersection of technology and urban planning, and it reflects how tech giants like Asus Business, with its suite of business technology solutions, are crucial in realising such visions.
EE: Tallinn maps accessibility of public transport stops
The project will map over 1000 stops and make use of the Crowdsorsa mobile game app, which has been employed in Helsinki to map crosswalks and traffic lights.
Tallinn is using a network of volunteers to map public transport stop accessibility. The volunteers will assist in mapping and photographing over a thousand public transport stops in the Estonian capital.
The project makes use of the Crowdsorsa mobile game app, which has been employed in Helsinki to map crosswalks and traffic lights.
US: Texas: Brownsville: Nokia, NTT DATA taking private 5G-enabled smart city approach global
In the city of Brownsville, Texas, Nokia and NTT DATA have delivered private 5G for a range of smart city applications
From a technological perspective, the variety of cellular-enabled solutions that could be present in a city is effectively open-ended; given this complex and vast addressable market, the digital transformation from city to smart city has been slower than in other areas. However, as business models, ecosystems, strategies and tech stacks have evolved, smart cities could be poised for a break out—in fact, Nokia and NTT DATA recently announced a global, joint go-to-market partnership focused on bringing private 5G connectivity to bear on a wide range of smart city use cases across airports and cities.
US: How AI Handles Traffic with Smart City Infrastructure
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way cities handle traffic management. As urban populations grow and the number of vehicles increases, older traffic systems are struggling to keep up. AI has emerged as a practical option to help ease traffic, boost safety, and create smoother transportation in smart cities. The Role of AI in Managing Traffic
AI assists cities in monitoring traffic, predicting congestion, and reacting to changes in real-time. Smart city setups generally include tools like sensors, cameras, and processing units that provide large sets of data for AI to analyze. With this information, AI spots patterns and suggests ways to keep traffic flowing more smoothly.
Why AI is powering a revolution in public sector services
Microsoft’s Didier Ongena explains how generative AI, digital twins and the cloud are helping governments and city leaders to optimise operations and deliver better services to citizens
Every public sector employee in the UK spends more than eight hours per week managing data and performing routine administrative tasks, according to Microsoft’s 2024 Harnessing the Power of AI for the Public Sector report. The research shows that 45 per cent of respondents are “drowning in unnecessary administrative tasks”, with 55 per cent saying this workload negatively impacts their ability to get on with the day job, and nearly half indicating it compromises the quality of service they provide and limits how long they can spend directly interacting with the public.