{"id":12991,"date":"2021-06-17T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindthegraph.com\/blog\/?p=12991"},"modified":"2022-10-18T08:09:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T11:09:15","slug":"urban-computing-challenges-big-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindthegraph.com\/blog\/urban-computing-challenges-big-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Computing: Facing the Big Challenges of Big Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nowadays, big cities face big issues such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and energy consumption. These big issues in big cities can be tackled by using big data<\/strong><\/a> (which means treatment of large volumes of data).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is precisely what urban computing is. It can be defined simply as the use of big data to cope with the big issues of big cities<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s elaborate more about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban Computing involves a process of acquisition, integration, and analysis of big and heterogeneous data generated by diverse sources in urban spaces. Such data sources include sensors, mobile devices, vehicles, buildings, and humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Urban Computing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the paper entitled \u201cUrban computing: concepts, methodologies, and applications<\/a>\u201d, the authors introduce a general framework for implementing Urban Computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban Computing connects non-intrusive and ubiquitous sensing technologies, advanced data management, analytic models, and novel visualization methods to create solutions that improve the urban environment, human life quality, and city operation systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must also highlight that Urban Computing is an interdisciplinary field. It integrates computing science with other fields like transportation, civil engineering, economy, ecology, and sociology in the context of urban spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably, the big question haunting your mind right is: how to implement Urban computing to overcome big cities’ issues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, good news, there is a framework for it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban Computing Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the paper entitled \u201cUrban computing: concepts, methodologies, and applications<\/a>\u201d, the authors introduce a general framework for implementing Urban Computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The framework is composed of four layers: Urban Sensing, Urban Data Management, Data Analytics, and Service Providing. Each layer has a specific function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Urban Sensing<\/strong> layer is in charge of collecting data from urban spaces. This data collection can be performed by different techniques such as participatory sensing, crowdsensing, and mobile sensing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Urban Data Management<\/strong> layer allows organizing data by some indexing structure that incorporates both Spatio-temporal information and texts for supporting efficient data analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Data Analytics layer<\/strong>, different techniques such as Data Mining<\/a>, Machine Learning<\/a>, and Data Visualization<\/a> are used to identify patterns in data and get valuable information from it for subsequent decision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Service Providing<\/strong> layer comprises various solutions and services aimed at improving people\u2019s driving experiences, reducing traffic congestion, air pollution, and energy consumption.  For example, in the case of detecting any traffic anomaly, this information will be delivered to the transportation authority for dispersing traffic and diagnosing the anomaly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what challenges does Urban Computing face?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an ideal implementation, Urban Computing faces three big challenges: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.Sensing and data acquisition.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This challenge is about how to collect urban data in a non-intrusive and continuous way considering the limitations in the number of sensors distributed in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building new sensing infrastructures could achieve the goal, however, it would increase the burden of cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans as a sensor is a new concept that may help to tackle this challenge by using their posts on social media or their GPS traces to understand the events happening around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans as a sensor bring new challenges such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n