From measuring traffic flow to particles in the air like pollution and allergens, cities have increasing amounts of sensors. Many cities are looking to utilize this data to become increasingly smarter. We as individuals have a lot of data about ourselves and our activity. How can we combine our own personal data with public sensor data to create not only smart cities but even smarter residents?
Google Maps optimizes trips by looking at congestion in traffic. Municipal agencies push alerts and notifications to residents based on notable events, such as air quality deterioration during forest fires. These are examples of utilizing data on a large scale, and pushing down actions to individual segments.
The bottom-up approach would be fundamentally different. By utilizing my own patterns, such as exercise history and recovery, I can determine what may have impacted my general drowsiness by combining exposure to allergens during my last days’ activity. With Prifina, this app can also be entirely on the user’s side, meaning the data is combined close to the individual with the personal data engine and not shared with anyone at all.
Our cities are often part of our own identity and something we use in the first few words when describing ourselves. Yet our activity in them is also fundamentally private, where location patterns and habits can be difficult to utilize, if the data is shared in any way. This is where handling data on the user’s side can help unlock more use cases and fundamental value.
Recently, together with our partners and the Prifina Personal Data Engine, we’ve been exploring possibilities to build “Smart City Applications” that would run on the user side. This means that the user can utilize their Prifina account with an application that features public sensor data from the smart city.
An example that has surfaced many times is taking public air quality data, such as pollution, allergens or air particles overall, and combining that with wearable data to see how your environment influences your stress levels, your physical recovery and your overall well being. Based on this data, applications can suggest areas to avoid, or routes to take to decompress.
Similar to how GrubHub or Lyft is available in certain cities, Smart Resident Apps could possibly become a competitive advantage for some municipalities, where their residents can use technology to meet their own goals better. What are those goals? This is why it’s important that applications are on the user’s side, as those goals are personal, (your wearable data is personal and they are meaningful only for you). They should remain something you set with full confidence privately.
By separating the data from the devices, you can really level the playing field and get more innovation to flourish. Cities are no different. With all the sensor data available, we need to open the ecosystem to new applications that empower residents and make cities more enjoyable. With all the creativity in the developer community, and the selfish interests of making cities more livable, this seems like an area ripe for new innovations.
I for one would like to have smarter “Bay Area” apps.
Connect With Us and Stay in Touch
Prifina allows you, as an individual, to bring your data from different devices and services into one place under your control. Then, you can take that data and power different applications that give you daily value, such as insights or recommendations, without sharing it with anyone.
You can follow us on Twitter, Medium, LinkedIn, and Facebook or listen to our podcast. Join our Facebook group Liberty. Equality. Data. where we share notes about Prifina’s progress. You can also explore our Github channel.
"smart" - Google News
March 29, 2021 at 11:03AM
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Smart Cities and Even Smarter Residents Empowered by Personal Data - Medium
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