In a safe city project, command center operators rely on data to monitor events and prevent unwanted incidents from happening. In this sense, data analytics solutions become an effective tool for them to achieve those objectives.
Data are all around us. In a safe city project, command center operators rely on data to monitor events and prevent unwanted incidents from happening. In this sense, data analytics solutions become an effective tool for them to achieve those objectives.
The types of data that can be analyzed by these solutions include structured ones, such as databases and spreadsheets, that confine to set data models. They can also be unstructured ones. These include video, audio, e-mail/text messages, and messages running on social media such as Line or Twitter.
“In the recent past, we could focus on fixed sources such as cameras and sensors. But today, we cannot delay integration of new device types. Sensors are increasingly mobile and changing in accuracy/status,” said Gary Nestler, Global Solutions Leader for Emergency Management for Smarter Cities at IBM. “Our solution comes pre-integrated with a number of disparate data sources such as first responder solutions, social media, weather, computer aided dispatch systems, camera feeds, social media, and more, but it is very important that we never become the limiting factor in what our customers can access, evaluate, or act upon.”
The key function of a data processing solution is the analysis of data to see if they can be co-related to one another, if there is a causal relationship in them, and if any patterns can be found. In doing this, the solution helps make predictions on how likely something may happen and, once it does, provides actionable intelligence on what to do.
“Our solution builds models that provide cascading impacts on critical assets that are affected by emergencies or other incidents, performs simulation to provide a ‘what if’ operating mode to simulate actions and responses before they are implemented, and accelerate collaborative responses through unified dashboards, near real-time mission-specific alerts and notifications, decision support analytics and mobile accessibility," Nestler said. “Modeling, correlation, data mining/business intelligence and real time analysis seamlessly provide the intelligence to create a dynamic, geospatial, common operating picture and analytic-based insights that speed decision making and time-to-action.”
On what constitutes a good data analytics solution, Nestler said that it must be flexible, agile, secure and responsive. Clarity and ease of use are also key, so that operators know instantly what to do in an emergency situation.
“The solution must be in terms used by the 'boots on the ground,'" he said. "This is not a solution targeted at an IT audience; it is specifically to support and improve the operations team. As such, it must use language, terms and context which the operations team understands. If they don’t trust it/understand it: it fails.”