Issue - meetings

Smart infrastructure platform - update and business plan

Meeting: 13/07/2016 - Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board (Item 8)

8 Smart Cambridge: Smart City Management Platform progress report pdf icon PDF 705 KB

To consider the attached report.

Decision:

The Executive Board:

 

(a)        NOTED the progress to date.

 

(b)        NOTED the forward plan for the delivery of the first phase. 

 

(c)        AGREED that Councillor Francis Burkitt and Professor Nigel Slater would lead on this project on behalf of the Executive Board.

 

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Executive Board with a progress update on the Smart City Management Platform, which formed part of the Smart Cambridge project.

 

Noelle Godfrey, Programme Director of Connecting Cambridgeshire, presented the report and reminded Members of the Board that the aim of the Smart City Platform was to collect, process and make available data to help improve transport and reduce congestion in Greater Cambridge.  It was emphasised that this project involved use of leading edge technology and as a result the very nature of its work was experimental.  She acknowledged that a vast amount of data already existed which could be collected, with the main problem being that it was neither joined up nor readily available for the public or professionals to use.  The Smart City Platform would therefore seek to resolve this problem by:

 

·         collecting transport and transport-related data from many existing and new sources;

·         combining and processing this data;

·         making this data readily available to the public, planners and other IT developers.

 

It was reported that work to date had proceeded well and that the first project stream was already underway and would be complete by April 2017, with a second commencing in January 2017 and scheduled for completion in April 2018.  A project plan and outline timescales were appended to the report. 

 

Noelle Godfrey referred to a presentation provided by Dr Ian Lewis, Director of Infrastructure and Investment at the University of Cambridge, which he gave to the Joint Assembly meeting on 7 July 2016.  A copy was appended to the report which provided an overview of the development of the Smart Cambridge Platform and the architecture associated with it.  The following approach to achieve the project’s objectives was noted:

 

·         informing travellers about their travel choices.  A portfolio of ‘apps’ for use by the public would emerge and be provided by the Smart Cambridge Platform itself through collaborative contributors in the region including the University of Cambridge and commercial partners;

·         supporting intelligent planning of the transport infrastructure.  The Smart Cambridge Platform was already collecting the data necessary for a detailed practical analysis of the impact of transport schemes and the richness of information would grow with time.  The University of Cambridge would also exploit this data for research analysis, which could benefit the region;

·         providing the framework within which the digitally connected city would evolve.  There was ongoing discussion regarding other sensor data that would inevitably become available in the region, from air pollution data to cycling and footfall sensors and other traffic data.  The platform was designed from the outset to accommodate additional sources as they became available.

 

Councillor Roger Hickford reported that the Joint Assembly had considered this report at its meeting on 7 July 2016 and that the officer recommendations had been overwhelmingly supported.  Members of the Assembly had questioned whether data could be sold the interested third parties and also questioned whether the relatively small amount of funding in the context of the City Deal programme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8


Meeting: 07/07/2016 - Greater Cambridge Partnership Joint Assembly (Item 6)

6 Smart Cambridge: Smart City Management Platform progress report pdf icon PDF 705 KB

To consider the attached report.

Decision:

The Joint Assembly:

 

(a)        NOTED progress to date.

 

(b)        NOTED the forward plan for delivery of the first phase.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which provided a progress update on the Smart City Management Platform that formed part of the Smart Cambridge project.

 

Noelle Godfrey, Programme Director of Connecting Cambridgeshire, presented the report and reminded Members that the aim of the Smart City Platform was to collect, process and make available data to help improve transport and reduce congestion in Greater Cambridge.  She acknowledged that a vast amount of data already existed which could be collected, with the main problem being that it was neither joined up nor readily available for the public or professionals to use.  The Smart City Platform would therefore seek to resolve this problem by:

 

·         collecting transport and transport-related data from many existing and new sources;

·         combining and processing this data;

·         making this data readily available to the public, planners and other IT developers.

 

Noelle Godfrey reported that work to date had proceeded well and that the first project stream was already underway and would be complete by April 2017, with a second commencing in January 2017 and scheduled for completion in April 2018.  A project plan and outline timescales was appended to the report.

 

Dr Ian Lewis, Director of Infrastructure and Investment at the University of Cambridge, took Members through a presentation appended to the report which provided an overview of the development of the Smart Cambridge Platform and the architecture associated with the platform.  The following approach to achieve the project’s objectives were noted:

 

·         informing travellers about their travel choices.  A portfolio of ‘apps’ for use by the public would emerge using data from the Smart Cambridge Platform itself through collaborative contributors in the region including the University of Cambridge and commercial partners;

·         supporting intelligent planning of the transport infrastructure in the future.  The Smart Cambridge Platform was already collecting the data which could contribute to a practical analysis of the impact of transport schemes and the richness of information would grow with time.  The University of Cambridge would also exploit this data for research analysis, which could benefit the region;

·         providing the framework within which the digitally connected city would evolve.  There was ongoing discussion regarding other sensor data that would inevitably become available in the region, from air pollution data to cycling and footfall sensors and other traffic data.  The platform was being designed from the outset to accommodate additional sources as they became available.

 

Anne Constantine asked whether this data had been used as part of the modelling undertaken on some of the transport infrastructure schemes.  Dr Lewis confirmed that this data had not featured as part of the modelling used for City Deal schemes, but made the point that Local Authorities undertook their own modelling which required slightly different data.

 

Councillor Noel Kavanagh sought more explanation over the use of air quality sensors.  Dr Lewis reported that 20 air quality sensors had been deployed which were able to be moved to certain locations in order that data could be collected to better understand the impact of traffic.  This  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6