Article content
Following our attendance at the Geo Smart Conference in November 2022, the Geometa team returned to India for the Smart Cities India Expo. The expo was a significant event, providing us with an opportunity to meet with Indian city leaders and share our expertise on integrated city management using GIS. We showcased the Geometa platform and learned more about the successes and challenges in implementing the 100 Smart Cities Mission.
During the event, Geometa’s CEO and Founder, Alexey Dudarev, participated in a panel discussion titled “Catalysing Digital Urban Futures” with the National Institute of Urban Affairs. Alexey shared his insights and experiences in the digitalization of urban governance with other smart city experts. He highlighted that the key challenge lies in effectively leveraging insights gained from geodata collection and analysis to drive meaningful changes in the day-to-day operations and development of cities.
To achieve this, Alexey suggested that municipal workers need to change their standard procedures. He recommended that all datasets created for governmental needs (and funded by taxpayers’ money) should be shared with all state and municipal information systems. This information should be utilized for everyday document processing, such as building permits, property evaluation, and special zone establishment. All standard processes should be rebuilt and optimized for mandatory and automated generation of documents based on these datasets, eliminating the need for handwork and papers.
Alexey also emphasized the importance of updating the database immediately with the connection of formal documents if an object changes. All departments should have access to the same database of master data while enriching it with their industry-specific data (data duplication is prohibited). If some data is insufficient to make a decision, a process for local data actualization should be created (the process of updating data is more primary than having a complete dataset).
This approach provides city officials with a real digital twin. The high-quality updated data makes it possible to use AI and ML for automation, analysis, and decision-making support. We believe that Indian cities are ready for a new integrated approach to city management and are excited to participate in implementation.
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the organizers of the Smart Cities India Expo for providing us with the opportunity to participate and showcase the Geometa platform. Our experience at the event enabled us to gain a better understanding of the needs and requirements of Indian cities, which will help us further enhance our solutions to cater to the unique needs of the Indian market.
