Death Analytics and the Potential Role in Smart Cities

Introduction

The massive amounts of data available today have opened an unprecedented opportunity for data analysis and understanding trends for improving many aspects of our lives. Through the advancements of the Internet of Things (IoT) and as more and increasingly sophisticated devices are brought online, the ability to collect rich data points as well as the variation in the data collected, will continue to grow. Society as a whole can certainly benefit from knowing more about how people interact and use resources to further make improvements to these tools. As an example, consider the growing number of devices and internet-connected services incorporated into our homes; many can now be considered “smart” homes due to this added technology. Through IoT, more items in our personal spaces contain sensors and the ability to perform tasks, enhancing automation and our productivity. In addition, the proliferation of artificial intelligence and digital assistants in our homes coupled with IoT is likely to grow at a rapid pace. As these devices are scaled from homes to cars and offices, a clear progression can be seen at the macro level.

IoT technology embedded in everyday devices on a macro scale allows us to consider impacts at the city level. Smart cities, therefore, have the potential to record and analyze massive amounts of information at a societal level. When considering the concept of a smart city, there is the potential for widespread continued automation and technology integration. Many people will end up living in these areas as populations increase and as technology evolves. Some estimates suggest that over sixty percent of the world population will live in metropolitan areas by 2030 (United Nations, 2015). As more significant percentages of people live in burgeoning and densely packed smart cities, there are opportunities to utilize this data to help residents make their lives easier and improve their quality of life. However, what is meant by the term smart city? This concept can be interpreted in many ways including measuring the levels of technological use, innovation metrics, goals, and project implementations within a city. Many cities have different approaches to technology, including changing needs, varying budgets, and technology infrastructures.

There still is a need for a clear definition of what exactly constitutes or defines a smart city (Dameri, 2013). It can be said that a smart city is a city whose very infrastructure aims to use technology and its interconnectedness, along with the intentions of its residents, businesses, and governments to use data to automate, monitor, and utilize information sharing to improve the lives and wellbeing of its communities. At the same time, a smart city should be designed in such a way as to minimize the negative impacts of technology use and, given the potential for large population size, strive to be “green” through its use of resources. As both technology and people are the main components of a smart city, these spaces should enhance each other for the greater good. Smart cities should be able to address concerns associated with increasing urbanization to address the scarcity of resources, inadequate and deteriorating infrastructure, energy shortages and price instability, environmental changes, and various economic and social needs (Washburn & Sindhu, 2010). It can be said that the overall idea that describes a smart city is one that uses technology to solve urban problems (Dameri, 2013).