Why Smart Cities and Natural Hazards organisations should integrate dual-use smart sensors
In this thought piece by the NSSN’s Natural Hazards and Smart Cities Theme Lead, Peter Runcie, the opportunities arising from integrating dual-use smart sensing are explored.
Smart sensing is a broad group of technologies that collect data from the world then process, analyse and share it as useful and actionable information.
These technologies are crucial components of many Smart Cities and Natural Hazards initiatives. Smart sensing enables informed planning and decision making with data sourced from sensors in the natural or built environment.
In it’s Smart Places strategy the NSW government says smart places “integrate technologies into the built environment to capture and convey data and insights”.
Smart cities can use satellite sensing data to better understand land use when planning new developments, and install sensors in buildings and bridges to help asset managers monitor structural condition and reduce maintenance costs.
Sensors in urban centres can collect information about pedestrian activity and traffic patterns, and use environmental sensors to monitor heat, air and water quality.
The plethora of insights gained from smart city solutions can be used to support better planning, deliver more effective services and inform health and wellbeing initiatives in communities.
Air quality sensors are helping Newcastle City Council measure if coal dust in the city is from coal trains or stockpiles. Credit: UTS
Smart sensors are helping Parramatta City Council measure air quality in areas with very high pedestrian traffic. Credit: UTS
In the case of natural hazards, the more obvious applications of smart sensing are for monitoring weather, fires and flood levels.
There are many other applications that relate to each of the four "stages" of natural disasters – Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery:
While Smart Cities and Natural Hazard initiatives both use sensors to collect data for informed planning and decision making, until recently there has been little overlap between them.
Governments and industry participants have deployed smart city solutions with the aim of improving how our cities and towns operate on a day to day or "business as usual" state.
In contrast, emergency services use smart sensing to better respond to disasters – very much the opposite of a "business as usual" state.
As natural disasters become more frequent and more intense, their impact has become front of mind for city planners, infrastructure operators and communities.
Here are some ways synergies can be realised between Smart Cities and Natural Hazards smart sensing initiatives:
Opportunistic data sharing
Smart city operators and natural hazards focused organisations have access to a wealth of data through sensing and other means. This is often at significant expense.
Much of that data, however, is underutilised. It may well have additional value when shared and used by others and to support collaborations between organisations.
For example, power utilities collect detailed electricity usage data to support planning and business operations.
This data (with appropriate privacy protections) could also be used by governments to help assess localised urban heat severity and vulnerability.
NSSN Natural Hazards & Smart Cities Theme Leader Peter Runcie
In another example water sensing data is often collected by local governments for compliance purposes.
If shared with emergency services, this data could also be used monitor the progress of floodwaters.
In these examples the approach to data sharing is "opportunistic" – one organisation offers to share their data with another that may be able to use that data.
There are, however, some limitations to this approach.
Firstly, the data may not meet the needs of recipient organisations.
Sensors may not be ideally located for their purposes. Data quality may not be at the desired level or data formats may be difficult to work with.
In addition, the data may not be reliable and available when it's needed.
For example a smart sensing system deployed by council to monitor public space usage may not have the necessary power and data communications redundancy required if that same system is to help inform evacuation responses in times of crisis and when infrastructure is impacted.
Dual use smart sensing
An alternative approach to data sharing is to identify at the outset how data may be used by a range of stakeholders. This may include the general public.
This should be taken into consideration when planning and designing a new smart sensing solution.
There are some challenges to this approach, and these are likely to be in four areas:
While it is true that the solution may become more costly and complex when supporting multiple needs, it is likely that many of the challenges can be overcome and there is an overall net benefit.
Individual organisations can address many of these concerns by negotiating cost sharing arrangements and service level expectations and by developing in-house competency in data sharing.
There are also broader opportunities to establish data sharing standards and larger scale data sharing infrastructure that can be used between multiple organisations – government, industry and academia.
Flood waters affected Lismore, northern NSW in 2022. Credit: AdobeStock
Drone view of a country road near Sydney, leading through a partly burnt forest affected by the devastating bushfire season at the end of 2019. Credit: AdobeStock
Natural hazards are a fact of life and the public expects that governments and service providers will cooperate with each other through each of the four phases described above, ideally with minimal disruption to normal service.
It makes sense then to actively explore “dual use” smart sensing solutions that can support city planning, service delivery and natural hazards management.
Innovation networks like the NSW Smart Sensing Network exist to facilitate these types of engagements and help organisations navigate through the various opportunities and challenges they present.
Peter Runcie is leading the NSSN’s Sensing the West Forum in collaboration with CSIRO, Celestino and Western Sydney University in Parramatta on Wednesday, March 13. The event will explore the role of smart sensing in developing greenfield sites in NSW. More details here.