How does Miami solve big problems with big data?

Cities around the world are facing more and more challenges, which cause them headaches, but for a reason. Many cities are coping with the inevitable consequences of rapid growth and consequent demand. The 21st century cities are being activated by the seemingly never-ending demand for better roads and public transport, better use of resources, and the need to maintain and repair existing infrastructure while integrating new electronic infrastructures.

At the same time, people around the world are increasingly demanding on cities. On a personal level, they are seeking improvements in health, education and social services throughout their lives-from infancy to old age-to improve their quality of life. They are seeking public safety assurances, especially when confronted with threats of natural or man-made emergencies.

In this pattern of dramatic transformation, information has become a shine currency. The analysis of what is popularly known as "Big Data" enables professionals in urban areas to analyze data, interpret behavior, or use models to predict the future. The application of these technologies has led cities to discover that they can meet new challenges faster and more economically than ever before, and solve existing thorny problems. There are three basic technologies that are changing the world in real ways:

• Sensors are becoming ubiquitous (from low-cost digital instruments to everyday smartphones), making it easier to capture everything from blood pressure readings to pit openings.

• Wireless networks and intelligent transportation systems form the city's circulatory system, providing real-time information on the functioning of a city's transportation system.

• Intelligent software tools and advanced computing technology, the first time at unprecedented speed to organize these huge data flow, and provide operational results, and even predict when and where they need them most.

These solutions come at a time when we need more efficient city services. Just a few years ago, the urban population exceeded half the global population for the first time. According to the Brookings Institution (Brookings Cato), this proportion is expected to reach 75% by mid-century. As the population grows, cities need to provide better services more effectively. And with the continuous innovation of the city, the successful operation quickly spread in the urban institutions, and then spread between the city and the country. Here are some examples of progress in these embryonic beginnings:

Miami-Dade County (Miami-dade Shawnee), with more than 2.5 million inhabitants, is the most populous county in the southeastern United States and the seventh largest population county in the U.S. The county has more than 25,000 employees and nearly 6 billion U.S. dollars in the annual budget. The county leverages large data and analytics-managing large datasets from multiple sources-and cloud computing, helping leaders make better decisions and helping to share information among the 35 jurisdictions in the country.

The emphasis has been placed on providing better services to the population across the boundaries of organizational structures. IBM is helping Miami-Dade County modernize and improve predictive management capabilities related to law enforcement, transportation and water supply systems. They use a smart dashboard that provides a visual operation that allows for a clear and relevant operation. Through it, county leaders will soon be able to harvest a large amount of information from one department and share it with multiple departments immediately to better capture valuable and often time-sensitive information.

The use of large data and analysis has helped Miami-Dade County to detect unsolved cases, reduce waste of water resources and design better public transport systems. Urban dwellers can also see where their taxes are spent and more involved in government management.

Sun Life Stadium is like a "Ssaw", a stadium for the National Rugby League (NFL) team, the Miami Dolphin (Miami Dolphins), which has held 10 Super Bowl games so far. Each year, the total length of the NFL or other major tournaments held at the venue is about 65 hours. The Sun-Sun Stadium has millions of visitors, with more than 1.5 million square feet of space, 24,000 parking spaces and more than 75,000 seats.

In the past, the sun-Sun Stadium relied on complex systems to manage everything from car parks to franchise sales to weather forecasts. Then the Sun-Sun Stadium chose a cloud-based system to integrate its operations into a system for managing and viewing the workings of the city. Sun Sun Stadium now has a fully interconnected stadium activity monitoring system, from weather warning, public safety activities to access to the stadium traffic.

The system can also tell you that before a big game, visitors prefer a full meal, or buy some food at the franchise stalls. The stadium staff are now able to manage viewers ' passenger flow more effectively, monitor bad weather conditions and analyze the consumer habits of tourists at franchise points, goods and catering services to better deliver quality products and services to fans.

Fans can connect to the system via their mobile phones to get personalized advice on the best parking spots in the stadium or the expected temperature during the tournament. By increasing the number of sensors to make the course "smarter", Sun-Sun Stadium has been able to respond to the needs of visitors and transform the fan experience. The Sun-Sun Stadium demonstrated to us that by making venues "smarter", the internal organization of the building could dramatically change its operating mechanism.

But neither Miami-Dade County nor Sun-Sun stadium has stopped there. They are reinventing themselves, such as installing new air-conditioning systems in stadiums and saving energy from South Florida's sunshine. By constantly connecting the systems, organizations can offer better services to the population-or to the Miami Dolphin fans who have come to watch the game again and again.

While these examples are convincing enough, there are many more such projects around the world that present opportunities for cities. Growth underpins the need for great change, and technology such as big data and analytics will increasingly help cities solve the most pressing problems.

Michael· J. Dixon is the general manager of IBM Global Intelligent City operations. He leads IBM's vision, strategy and operations to help cities around the world achieve sustainable growth while addressing their most pressing problems.

Ding Xu Meiyin

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)