Web-based 3D urban decision support through intelligent and interoperable services

Abstract

The application of information and communications technology to support urban operational decision makers has received vast interest from industry and academia. This has helped to mature several fields of research within the smart city domain, such as the internet of things, cybernetics, and informatics. However, these fields of research remain siloed, which leads to a clear gap in the literature. The paper recognizes the mentioned gap manifesting in a new smart urban area in Wales, UK, and presents a platform which intends to demonstrate the benefits of exploiting the synergies between these fields of research. Following consultation with various stakeholders at the pilot site, the platform utilizes advanced sensing, analytics, interoperability, and visualization components to provide valuable human-machine interactions to facility managers in the district. Delivering this high value knowledge in a timely, engaging, and accessible manner through advanced decision support interfaces. The paper presents the platform's software architecture, before discussing the decision support interface, intelligent web services, and interoperability components in more detail. The solution's key contributions beyond existing internet of things platforms are the use of a 3D game engine, machine learning and optimization web services, and the integration across the knowledge value chain. This knowledge integration is achieved through semantic modelling of the buildings, urban environment, socio-technical systems, and smart devices in the district.