For the first time a majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Increased urbanization brings new demands for technology to make city life more pleasant, healthy, and efficient. New low-cost sensors and advanced data analytics, among other technologies, have given rise to smart cities across the United States. However, many cities are struggling with how to best select, deploy, and maintain smart city technologies. In its recent report, the Center for Data Innovation (CDI) said that national governments have an important role to play in accelerating and coordinating smart city development.
TJ Kennedy will leave his role as president of FirstNet at the end of the year. Kennedy has been with FirstNet, the Federal organization tasked with establishing a nationwide network for public safety and first responders, for more than four years.
The City of Baltimore hired former Intel executive Frank Johnson as its new CIO and chief digital officer. Along with the new hire, Baltimore has also expanded the CIO’s job description–and salary. Johnson will be now be tasked with modernizing the city’s computer systems across agencies, tackling the city’s reliance on paper, and ensuring data security, as well as working on mayoral initiatives.
A month after experiencing catastrophic devastation due to Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is still struggling to recover. With 48 percent of cell sites still out of service, residents and officials struggle to communicate across the island. To help get residents connected again AT&T deployed its Flying Cell on Wings (COW) for the first time.
The innovations of the Internet of Things can only improve health care in rural America once there is complete broadband access and adoption. “The benefits of telehealth are not available to patients without access to high-speed Internet across America. As technology and health care services expand to meet patients where they live, broadband coverage must improve to make this care accessible,” Michael Adcock, executive director of the Telehealth Center University of Mississippi Medical Center, told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
The state of Florida hired Nancy Sampson as its first chief data officer (CDO). Sampson, who will provide vision and strategy for all data management activities for the state, started in the new role on Oct. 27.
President Donald Trump signed the Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology to Eradicate Cyber Threats to (PROTECT) Our Children Act of 2017, which reauthorizes the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program through 2022.
Wildfires have ravaged Northern California this fall, leaving more than 100,000 residents temporarily or permanently displaced. To improve communication with residents, and lessen the workload for damage inspectors, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection partnered with GIS software developer Esri on a new interactive map that communicates the status of the homes and buildings across Napa and Sonoma counties.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities (WWC) initiative added five new partner cities: Athens, Ga.; Chula Vista, Calif.; Colorado Springs; Gainesville, Fla.; and Palmdale, Calif. With the new additions WWC is now partnering with 95 cities across the country. The WWC initiative is working to improve the effectiveness of local governments by enhancing their use of data […]
In a new report, the Brookings Institution examines how digital technology, mobile networks, and integrated solutions help officials in 17 global cities, including two U.S. cities, manage public safety and law enforcement.
