BARCELONA, Spain, Nov.
20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- During Smart City Expo World
Congress, IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) announced an
agreement to use IBM technology to help more effectively manage
beaches and parks within the Barcelona Metropolitan
Area territorial jurisdiction.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area
will use analytics tools on its beaches and parks within its
jurisdiction to manage large datasets from multiple sources, as
well as cloud computing to help make better decisions.
Using IBM Intelligent Operations software, city officials
and park and beach staff will have access to real-time information
to manage most all aspects of parks operations. The software
centralizes all information related to parks management providing
officials a comprehensive view of all events, infrastructure and
park assets. For example, in a single system, it can aggregate data
on all public play areas for children, all maintenance of
landscaping and trees; or provide a view into all available
activities for older people. For the metropolitan area's beaches,
it will help better manage usage demand for sports and
entertainment and help monitor and manage conditions such as red
flag warnings during rough ocean conditions or the presence of
jellyfish.
This integration of data, analysis, and coordination across
multiple parks, beaches and among cities will help city officials
and staff predict and prevent issues that could impact citizen
satisfaction.
To engage the metropolitan area's 3,2 million citizens, this new
smarter cities technology will also allow citizens and cities to
jointly interact and participate in the improvement of public
facilities. For example, a citizen will be able to report through a
mobile device if a park bench is broken, and then check the status
of the repair in the future. Cities can also use it to inform
citizens if there will be a park remodeling project or a closure
for a special event.
In the future, the cities of the AMB will be able to expand the
use of the IBM Intelligent Operations Center via the cloud to other
areas.
Medium sized cities, such as those in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, are facing the
same challenges of big cities, all within budget constraints. This
in turn is leading them to explore technology that can help improve
efficiency, manage city operations more effectively and at the same
time, ensure citizen needs are met.
"Through our deep expertise with thousands of Smarter Cities
client engagements, IBM is helping cities around the world
transform how they deliver services and engage with citizens
through the use of Big Data, analytics, cloud computing and
new mobile and social computing technologies," said Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma, vice president, IBM
Smarter Cities Europe. "The Barcelona Metropolitan Area is undertaking an
innovative project that will make it even more responsive to its
citizens, and a leading administration for innovation."
The Barcelona Metropolitan
Area's population is equivalent to 43 percent of the population of
Catalonia and generates 51 percent of Catalonia's GDP. The 36
municipalities that belong to AMB are Barcelona, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona,
Santa Coloma de Gramanet, Cornellà de Llobregat, San Boi de
Llobregat, Sant Cugat del Vallès, El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans,
Castelldefels, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Esplugues de Llobregat, Gavà,
San Felíu de Llobregat, Ripollet, Sant Adrià de Besós, Montcada i
Reixach, Sant Joan Despí, Barberà del Vallés, Sant Vicenç dels
Horts, Sant Andreu de la Barca,
Molins de Rei, Sant Just Desvern, Badia del Vallès, Corbera de
Llobregat, Castellbisbal, Pallejà, Montgat, Cervelló, Santa Coloma
de Cervelló, Tiana, Begues, Torrelles de Llobregat, El Papiol, Sant
Climent de Llobregat y La Palma de Cervelló
About IBM
For more information on IBM Smarter Cities, visit
www.ibm.com/press/smartercities.
To join the conversation about IBM Smarter Cities please follow
@IBMSmartCities on Twitter as well as the hashtag
#SmarterCities
David Herrera
IBM External Relations
DAVIDH@es.ibm.com
34-91-397-70-06 x7006
Holli Haswell
IBM External Relations
hhaswell@us.ibm.com
720-396-5485
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SOURCE IBM