Ipswich in Queensland has become the only Australian city to score a gong in IDC Asia Pacific’s list of the 19 most outstanding smart city projects in Asia Pacific, excluding Japan. It was recognised in the administration category along with Wuhan East Late Free Trade Zone in China.
Auckland Council’s Safeswim initiative scored a gong in the safe water category. They were the only ANZ winners. China, Taiwan and Singapore as the biggest winners claiming five, four and three awards respectively.
The winning entries were selected across 12 functional categories: Administration; Civic Engagement; Digital Equity and Accessibility; Education; Public Health and Social Services; Public Safety; Smart Buildings; Smart Water; Sustainable Infrastructure; Transportation; Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture and Open Spaces; and Urban Planning and Land Use.
Jaideep Thyagarajan, senior market analyst at IDC Australia, said: “Ipswich City Council has revitalised itself by rolling out initiatives that aren’t just about implementing emerging technologies, but about building a connected community by solving common problems in refreshingly innovative ways by deploying solutions in a very collaborative fashion.”
He added: The Ipswich Smart City program is a testimony for what public private partnerships can achieve. Their initiative goes beyond digital technologies, where they aspire to embrace new ways of working, learning and living as they work towards achieving their mission of being a truly connected community, full of ideas, energy and innovation. Under their Smart City Program, they have projects which include smart parking and transport, smart lighting and energy management, autonomous lawn mowing and automation, and so on.”
Of Safeswim, IDC said: “From February to November 2017, Auckland Council and Watercare worked in partnership with Surf Life Saving Northern Region and the Auckland Regional Public Health Service to upgrade the ‘Safeswim’ program, to better provide accurate information about swimming conditions in the region.
“Safeswim now provides a fully-integrated web and digital signage platform to provide advice for beach users, allowing them to ‘check before they swim’ and make informed decisions about when and where to swim. The system combines real-time data on the performance of the wastewater and stormwater networks with predictive models, to generate forecasts of water quality at 92 swimming sites around the Auckland region.
“The water quality predictions include a range of factors such as rain intensity, duration and location, as well as tide, sunlight, wind speed and wind direction. The water quality information is complemented with advice from Surf Life Saving Northern Region and the Auckland Regional Public Health Service on other safety hazards, such as dangerous wind and wave conditions, rip currents and the presence of hazardous marine life.”
