芝加哥与大数据：智慧城市的未来

编者注：尼克·洛加斯（Nick Rojas）是一名商业顾问和作家，生活在加州洛杉矶。

作 为一种文明，我们可能并不会变得越来越智能。然而，我们使用的技术毫无疑问将会发生这种改变。自智能手机出现以来，我们目睹了智能家居、智能电网，甚至帮 助粉丝寻找停车位的智能球场的出现。近期，这一趋势正越来越明显。关于大数据的传播、收集和处理，基础设施应用的规模和范围正在扩大。这帮助我们更好地理 解并发现周围环境。

关于智能技术可扩展性的案例包括类似芝加哥这样的“智慧城市”。通过传感器节点和手机来收集并管理大数据，作为美国第三大城市的芝加哥似乎将成为这一领域的模范。

这一区域的范围达到237平方英里，参与试验的居民数量则达到270万人。而这一试验预计将带来一些引人注目的进步。具体应用场景包括：

• 交通控制系统：通过分辨工作日和休息日交通流量的不同，加强交叉道口的车流控制。
• 维护管理：这可以提升车队车辆的寿命。
• 智能电网：配电方式总是会根据环境因素，例如温度，得到调整。
• 监控犯罪活动的趋势：以更有效的方式跟踪汽车窃贼，甚至被偷的车辆本身。
• 公共工作：关于冬季为了道路除雪而需要的盐，如何进行保存、运输及使用。
  

芝加哥将这些称作“物阵列(AoT)”。温度、湿度、光照、声音、一氧化碳、二氧化氮、运动、低分辨率红外线、手机信号，以及行人流量（通过蓝牙获得），这 些指标可以帮助我们更好地理解城市，以及城市居民和访客之间的互动。这些功能将通过在未来3年时间内安装的约500个传感器来实现。数据、硬件和软件都将 开源，这将提升透明度，同时吸引独立开发者带来他们自己的应用。这一阵列中不会存在任何监控设备。

当然，未经分析的数据本身没有太大价值。在这一方面，AoT与传统的互联网数据处理方式有所交叉。“预测分析项目”和“智能数据平台”将对原始数据进行处理，从而帮助公共部门和服务做出由数据驱动的预测。（这里不会有少数派报告，或是芝加哥警察局的预防犯罪部门。）

在一份公告中，芝加哥市表示：“芝加哥的智能数据平台是一款工具，帮助领导者实时分析数百万行数据。这将有助于做出更智能、更有提前量的决策，解决城市中的一系列挑战。”

那么我们要如何实现这一目标？利用大数据去加强城市基础设施的理念需要某些技术进步。当我们将常见的通信技术加入其中时，我们可以将AoT视为一种混合体，将多种技术整合在一起，从而创造出一种信息基础设施。

在手机开始将人类语音数字化之后，手机也逐渐开始以多种方式去收集、保存及处理数据。“智能”一词被创造出来。集成电路、无线通信，以及软件的发展使智能手机成为可能，而智能手机使用了超过25万项专利。（仅仅与电信网相关的专利就达到8万项。）

随着智能手机技术的发展，传感器技术也是一样。传感器节点、网状网络，以及用于收集并传送环境数据的类似技术正在悄悄发展，在农业等领域获得应用。而配合 Arduino等开源控制器，这带来了一种对用户友好的现成解决方案，从而给AoT等项目提供了便利。因此利用电路板，公众可以很方便地获得数据，以及获 得数据的途径。

前往任何一家RadioShack门店，你都会看到有配备了配件和说明书的Arduino产品销售。这反映了目前什么样的技术正得到使用。

一 些专利已经过期，因此可以被公众使用。与其他产品类似，规模经济证明了先进技术如何走向成熟，并被公众所使用。信息技术已经非常普及，你会看到一些工具套 装向爱好者提供了开源平台，使他们可以开发出多种应用。类似地，无线通信和网络设备使数据的获得变得非常简单。一个资源不多、预算有限的普通人就可以几乎 从头开始打造自己的“智能家庭”。

这表明，技术的发展已足够成熟，而许多地区政府和州政府可以以较大的规模建设基础设施，并收集类型广泛的 大数据。更重要的是，这一过程可以确保透明，因此所有人都可以获得数据、硬件和软件。如果某人有需求，那么也可以开发自己的设备，并直接利用来自AoT的 数据，从而满足其个人需求。

关于智慧城市的模式，最难预测的一个方面在于控制智慧城市的政策。智慧城市的开发是否将符合地方法律？关于如何分配资源，哪些问题应当优先解决，以及如何评判项目已经成功或何时成功，其中也将会出现争议。

一种模式打遍天下？目前尚不清楚，芝加哥是否能成为整个世界效仿的楷模。由于每一座城市都有所不同，因此需要分析的数据也将不同。例如，印度的Dholera就不需要跟踪道路撒盐的问题，而该城市也在探索自己的智慧城市发展模式。

毫无疑问，对智慧城市感兴趣的人将会持续关注芝加哥。由于一个主要因素，芝加哥的做法将推动公众的接受甚至参与。大部分城市并不会强调开源，因此随着这一理念的成熟和发展，芝加哥将成为其他城市的榜样。

有趋势表明，全球人口正在更多地向城市地区集中。因此在全球范围内，智慧城市将成为一个高达1.5万亿美元的产业。

公民权利的情况又是如何？相对而言，这不会是一种威胁。类似气温和汽油成分等数据不会带来奥威尔笔下的状况。

我 们生活在这样的时代里：大部分人并不清楚，他们自愿失去隐私，而从谷歌搜索结果中删除数据将会像焚书一样简单。芝加哥的开源模式，如果能配合强有力的政策 和监督，那么相对于常见的手机等工具并不会带来更大的威胁。在本文中提出这一问题是必要的，但从更大的范围来看，毫无疑问我们有更重要的事情要办。

考虑到所有这一切，我们可以期待，手机能帮助我们寻找停车位，而政府可以削减支出。有史以来首次，我们的政府将不必要求你在机动车管理部门前排队。这或许是一种拓展。无论如何，这都将改变我们对城市的看法。

Chicago And Big Data

Editor’s note: Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles, Calif.

As a civilization, we may not be getting smarter. However, the technologies we use certainly are. Since the introduction of the smartphone, we’ve witnessed the emergence of smart homes, smart power grids, and even smart football stadiums for helping fans find parking spaces. Lately, the trend has been to go big. Infrastructure applications are ever increasing in size and scope for transmitting, collecting, and processing big data in an effort to better understand and navigate our surroundings.

Examples of scalability with regard to smart technology now include “smart cities” like Chicago. It appears that the third largest city in the United States will become a leading model for collecting and managing big data from sensor nodes and cell phones throughout the area.

That’s 237 square miles and 2.7 million residents participating (knowingly or not) in an experiment expected to yield some impressive enhancements. Examples include:

• Traffic control systems: Enhance the flow of traffic at intersections by determining changes related to work and holiday schedules.
• Maintenance management: This could enhance the life of fleet vehicles, etc.
• Smart grids: Power distribution is always subject to change as it relates to environmental metrics like temperature
• Monitoring trends in criminal activities: Track car thefts and even the stolen cars themselves more efficiently.
• Public works: The storage, transport, and application of road salt in the winter as it relates to snow accumulation.
  

Chicago’s calling it “The Array of Things” (AoT). Temperature, humidity, light, sound, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, motion, low-resolution infrared, cell phone signals, and foot traffic (via Bluetooth) are among the metrics being used to better understand the city and the interaction which occurs among its residents and visitors. It will be done with about 500 sensors installed cumulatively over a period of three years. The data, hardware and software will be open source, which is expected to promote transparency and invite independent developers to come up with their own applications. There will be no surveillance devices incorporated into the array.

Of course, data alone has little value until it’s analyzed. This is where we see some overlap between AoT and more conventional models of processing data which are mined from the Internet. The Predictive Analytics Initiative and SmartData Platform will be avenues through which the raw data is processed to make data-driven predictions for many public departments and services (and no, there won’t be minority reports or a pre-crime division of the Chicago Police Department).

In a press release, the city of Chicago stated that “Chicago’s SmartData Platform is a tool that will provide leaders the ability to analyze millions of lines of data in real-time; this helps make smarter, earlier decisions to address a wide range of urban challenges.”

How did we get here? The concept of utilizing big data to augment a city’s infrastructure required some technological evolution. When we include the communications technology that we now take for granted, we can appreciate AoT as an amalgam of seemingly countless technologies combined in a concerted effort to create an information infrastructure.

After phones began to digitize the human voice, they expanded to include ways to collect, store and process data; and the term “smart” was coined. Developments in integrated circuits, wireless communications and software make smartphones possible and are represented by over 250,000 patents (80,000 patents related to telecommunications connectivity alone).

As smartphone technology developed, so did sensors. Sensor nodes, mesh networks, and similar techniques for collecting and transmitting environmental data have been quietly developing for applications in agriculture, for example. That along with open source controllers like Arduino have not only provided user-friendly off-the-shelf solutions for projects like AoT, it makes both the data and the means for collecting it accessible to the public, right down to the circuit board.

Go into any Radio Shack‎ and you’ll see Arduino products available with peripherals and user instructions. That’s an example of what kind of technology is being used in this endeavor.

Patents expire and enter the public domain. And as with other products, economies of scale demonstrate how advanced technologies mature and become more accessible to the public. IT has become so pervasive that you see kits that offer open source platforms for hobbyists, giving them the ability to develop numerous applications. Likewise, wireless communication and networking devices geared toward data acquisition are also quite accessible. It’s actually within the budget of an individual with modest resources to develop their own “smart home”, nearly from scratch.

This is an indication that technologies have matured to the point that local and state governments can now create an infrastructure on a larger scale to collect big data based a broad array of data types. More importantly, it can be done with transparency, so that everyone has access to the data, hardware, and software. If one so desired, they could develop their own devices and utilize the data directly from AoT in ways that benefit their personal needs.

The least predictable aspects of smart city models are the policies that control them. Will it be implemented in a way that explicitly adheres to the laws of the land? There may also be competition in regard to where resources are directed and what problems should be solved first, if/when the project proves successful.

One size fits all? Whether or not Chicago will be a model for the world to follow remains to be seen. As every city is different, so are their analytics. Dholera, India for example, will not be tracking road salt as they pursue their own ambitious plans for a smart city.

No doubt, people interested in smart cities will be keeping a watchful eye on Chicago. It has one main attribute that is sure to promote public acceptance and even participation. The emphasis on open source is not found in most cities, which makes it an example to others as the concept matures and develops.

As trends suggest bigger concentrations of people in urban areas, it’s also projected that smart cities as an industry will become a $1.5 trillion global phenomenon.

What about civil liberties? Relatively speaking, it’s not a threat. Data types like temperature and gas composition are not exactly the stuff of Orwellian conspiracies.

We live in a time when most people are unaware of the privacy they voluntarily forfeit or how book burnings are made obsolete by having data simply erased from Google search results. The open-source Chicago model, if accompanied by robust policies and oversight, are a much smaller threat than the things we see happening with cell phones every day. Raising the question in the context of this article is necessary but in the grand scheme of things, there are certainly bigger fish to fry.

All things considered, we should look forward to a time when a mobile device can find a good parking space, or big data can reduce spending in government. It may be the first time in history that your government doesn’t ask you to wait in line at the motor vehicle department. OK…so that may be a stretch. In any event, it’s sure to change the way we think of cities.

via:techcrunch