对智慧城市建设至关重要的6大“黑科技”
「编者按」：
作为新一代信息技术支撑、面向知识社会的下一代创新环境下的城市形态，智慧城市正在成为第四次工业革命的载体。技术是智慧城市建设的核心驱动力，那么有哪些技术直接影响了智慧城市建设呢？
本文翻译自全球地理空间领域权威媒体GeospatialWorld, Six technologies crucial for smart cities一文。如需了解更多信息，请点击文末“阅读原文”。
智慧城市是万物互联的城市，而万物互联在很大程度上依赖于科技的发展。让我们来看一下对智慧城市至关重要的六项技术。
技术革新是将一个城市转变为互联互通、可持续发展和具有较强适应力的智慧城市的关键，通过技术革新可以很容易地获取信息。智慧城市可以为市民提供各种智能服务，从而方便市民的生活，为他们节省时间。另外，智慧城市可以将社会公众与管理部门连接起来，人们可以给管理部门提出一些让城市变得更好的反馈建议。而这一目标的实现离不开技术的发展。
政府管理部门可以使用技术收集城市信息，并将这些信息与实际操作相结合，从而使城市变得更加智能和安全。
信息通信技术
建立一个双向的沟通渠道对于智慧城市至关重要。这就是信息通信技术的作用。信息通信技术在公众与政府之间架起一座桥梁，公众可以与政府进行互动，这样政府就可以建立一个由公众选择的城市。信息通信技术可以帮助政府分析国家的需求模式，从而创建一个网上资源库，来解决类似的问题。社区中的电子通信媒体有助于创建集体智慧，并借助分析和深度学习进行资源优化配置。
物联网
传感器
传感器在城市中非常隐蔽，但是它们无处不在。传感器是智能控制系统的关键组成部分。对于一个控制系统而言，为了对其环境进行了解，通常会配备一系列的传感器去采集所需要的数据。然后，再使用适当的变量来描述其环境并相应地调整其操作。多种传感器的使用以及技术的不断发展革新，使很多过去由于高成本和可用性受限的应用成为可能。传感器类似一个转换器，将物理参数转换为电子信号，从而可以被解读或者输入到自主系统里。这些传感器的信号包括光、压力、温度、湿度、降雨量和各种其他参数。
地理空间技术
智慧城市里建立的所有的东西都必须保证准确，而这个的前提就是正确且可持续的方案。这就需要准确、清晰且详细的数据进行支撑，而地理空间技术恰巧可以提供各类解决方案的底层基础。它可以提供精准的位置信息，来确定具体需求，以便可以使用更好的解决方案。地理空间技术为收集数据和转换这些数据的观测提供了一个必要的框架，以促进基于软件的智能基础设施解决方案的实现。
人工智能
智慧城市是一场数字革命，在这个过程中会产生大量数据。这些数据只有被处理之后才会有价值，才能获得信息。人工智能对于数据处理至关重要。
人工智能通过处理数据并从中获得信息来实现机器与机器之间的交互。为了理解智能城市中人工智能的应用，我们举个例子。在一个系统中，当能量快到达峰值时，人工智能可以了解其通常在何地、何种情况下发生，而这些信息可以用于更好地管理电网。同样，人工智能也可以在智能交通管理和医疗设施中发挥作用。
区块链
区块链应用是智慧城市中的新概念。区块链技术可以获取数据流。它与智慧城市的融合可以更好地连接城市服务，同时提高服务的安全性和透明度。在某些方面，预计区块链将通过智能合约对城市带来影响，包括协助记账、处理事务和管理设施。智能合约是自动执行的合约，买卖双方之间的协议条款直接写入代码。它允许不同的对象之间在没有第三方的情况下进行可信赖的交易并执行协议，使该过程更安全、便宜、便捷。区块链还可以用于智能电网，以促进能源共享。
智能能源管理，智能医疗保健，智能居民服务，智能通信，智能治理--所有这些共同定义了一个智能城市。
另附原文，供大家参考：
6 ways autonomous vehicles could impact our lives
By Aditya Chaturvedi
Smart cities are cites where everything is connected to each other and this is highly depended on technologies. So let’s have a look at six technologies crucial for smart cities.
Technological literacy is a key to turn a city into smart city which is well connected, sustainable and resilient, where information is not just available but also findable. It is not a new thing that smart city is all about providing smart services to its citizens which can save their time and ease their lives. It is also about connecting them to the governance where they can give their feedback to the government as of how they want their city to be. And this aim can’t be turned into reality without technology.
Using technology, the officials are able to gather city intelligence and this intelligence when integrated with the operations, make the cities smarter and safer.
Let’s have a look at six technologies without which smartness of a city can never be enhanced.
Information and Communication Technology
Creating a two-way communication channel is very important for a city to be smart. And here comes the role of Information and communication technology. ICT builds a bridge between the citizens and the government where the citizens can interact with the government and in return, the government can build a city which the choice of its citizens. ICT helps the government to analyze the demand pattern of the state and thus create a pool of resources to address the same online. The electronic medium of communication in a community helps in creating a collective intelligence which can be deployed for resource optimization with the help of analytics and deep learning.
Internet of Things
Internet of things is like veins of the city spread all across and connecting each dot. Every device that is part of a smart city needs to be connected to each other so that they can talk amongst and can take decisions for themselves which in return allows managing resources of a megacity population. This is where the IoT comes in, providing the perfect template of a body of communicating devices that provides smart solutions to everyday problems. All smart solutions in smart cities are based on Internet of things where they are connected and smart enough to decide their action.
Sensors
Sensors are hidden but ubiquitous components of the urban landscape. Sensors are a crucial component of any intelligent control system. A process is improved based on its environment and for a control system to be aware of its environment, it is typically fitted with an array of sensors, from which it collects the required data. It then uses the appropriate variables to characterize its environment and adjusts its operations accordingly. The availability of a multitude of different sensors and continuously evolving technology enables applications that were infeasible in the past due to high costs and limited availability. Sensors are like converters which convert parameters of a physical nature to an electronic signal, which can be interpreted by humans or can be fed into an autonomous system. These signals for conventional sensors, amongst others, include light, pressure, temperature, humidity, moisture and a variety of other parameters.
Geospatial Technology
Whatever is built in a smart city has to be right and so to build right a right plan is the need which is sustainable and this requires accurate, concise and detail data and here comes the role of Geospatial technologies which provide the underlying foundation and ultimately the fabric upon which solution can be built. It provides location which allows pinpointing exactly on the need so that better solution can be applied to it. Geospatial technology provides a necessary framework for collecting data and transforming observation in these collections to facilitate software-based solution around smart infrastructure.
Artificial Intelligence
Smart city is a digital revolution generating a huge amount of data. Those data are of no use until and unless they are processed, which generates information in return. This massive amount of data generation brings the role of Artificial intelligence that can make sense out of those data.
AI allows machine to machine interaction by processing the data and making senses out of that. To understand the interesting aspect of Artificial intelligence in the context of smart cities, let us take an example. In a system where energy spikes tend to happen, AI can learn where they usually occur and under which circumstances and this information can be used for better management of the power grid. Likewise, Artificial Intelligence also plays a role in intelligent traffic management and healthcare facilities.
Blockchain
Blockchain application is new to smart city concept. Blockchain technology secures data flow. Its integration into smart cities could better connect all city services while boosting security and transparency. In some ways, blockchain is expected to influence cities through smart contracts, which help with billing, processing transactions and handling facilities management. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller directly written into lines of code. They permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out among disparate parties without the need for a mediating third party, making the process safer, cheaper and faster. Blockchain can also be used in smart grids to facilitate energy sharing, a concept which is trending these days.
Smart energy management, smart healthcare, smart citizen services, smart communication, smart governance – all these define a smart city.