Data collection, analysis and visualization technology available to city administrators is now getting closer to the level that the average SimCity gamer takes for granted. Anyone that has played SimCity (with “No Disasters” checked) has probably thought running a city is pretty easy. Based on what I have learned from SimCity all you have to do to drop crime is build another police station. Need water? Click and build a pump. If your ambulances are slow, build another hospital. Come on IBM…is it really that hard? Just tear down those homes, rip up that road and raise taxes just a little. If it takes too long just speed time up
Real world police chiefs, city planners, engineers, mayors and countless other city workers are likely to disagree with that simulated opinion across the board.
IBM is marketing a new service to cities that seems remarkably like a real world version of game maker Maxis’s SimCity. By analyzing data collected by various city agencies they are creating predictive models that are showing promise in public safety, water usage, transportation and social programs. Some notable numbers being touted by IBM include a 25% drop in emergency response time in Madrid, 28% drop in crime in Memphis and the city of Dubuque, Iowa reduced water consumption by 6.6%.
IBM Smart Cities looks much like SimCity
Maybe if these data models get to be good enough and all the basic city problems are predicted and proactively fixed cities will only have to deal with being overrun by the “excessively cultured”.
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