SCitE

Initial situation

Within a smart city, there are usually a large number of systems that manage and provide urban data. This data comes from various sources such as environmental sensors, networked streetlights or smart devices. But it also includes data such as energy and water consumption. As these systems are usually not compatible with each other, the creation of data silos is increasingly being promoted. As a result, this data is not shared with other stakeholders or made available for joint use. In addition to the emergence of new valuable collaborations, the integrated use of this data offers a good basis for developing new innovative services. They can help to improve the quality of life of citizens and also offer added value to all other stakeholders in a city in various areas. In this way, the attractiveness of a city can be increased at the same time.

SCitE solution

The Smart City Ecosystem (SCitE) project addresses this challenge and develops technical solutions for securely networking the existing data silos within a technical ecosystem via an interface in compliance with data protection regulations. As a system of systems, SCitE harmonizes existing and future data silos without replacing established systems and data silos. This means that the silos can continue to be designed heterogeneously and operated by different players, such as the participating cities or companies. As data is managed and used jointly by the municipalities at the transitions between city boundaries and also with regard to certain key areas such as local public transport, SCitE also makes it possible to connect these cities in the context of data usage in order to create maximum added value for all parties involved.

To support the cities in building their smart city ecosystem, the project is divided into two sub-projects: SCitE.Data and SCitE.Reconstruction & Operations.

SCitE.Data focuses on data exchange: SCitE.Data connectors are used to ensure the secure and data protection-compliant exchange of data. Among other things, this includes checking previously defined guidelines for data use and exchange beforehand. The data is only used or exchanged if these guidelines are met. The connection of the data silos or systems is addressed by means of plugins, which act as an interface between the respective connector and the system.

SCitE.Reconstruction & Operations focuses on the simple and secure provisioning and operation process of the SCitE.Data connectors and plugins. Methods from the field of model-driven engineering are used to optimize these processes. In addition, the Reconstruction area addresses the automated derivation of SCitE.Data models from existing solutions so that companies can dynamically integrate the solutions developed in SCitE into their software system.

Based on the data obtained on site, the project team is developing application scenarios, so-called use cases, for the joint use of the data in order to enable new and innovative services for the smart city. In a follow-up project, the concepts developed will be further implemented and tested in practice.