Article source: IBM

Just as you can look at a newspaper photograph and see both the image and the tiny individual dots that give it its shapes and shadings, city leaders look at their municipalities in terms of both the big picture and the individual citizens that comprise it.

The majority of us live in cities, and the percentage is growing. Municipal leaders who run the complex network of diverse people, expected services and aging infrastructure are on a constant search for more efficient ways to analyze data, anticipate problems and coordinate resources in their cities.

As centers of business, culture and life, cities are logical places to integrate many of the Smarter Planet principles and innovations in public safety, transportation, water, building, social services and agencies. A new kind of solution, the IBM Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities, (also available for cloud), synchronizes and analyzes efforts among sectors and agencies as they happen, giving decision makers consolidated information that helps them anticipate—rather than just react to—problems. By using these tested approaches, cities can manage growth and development in a sustainable way that minimizes disruptions and helps increase prosperity for everyone.

Watch this video to learn how IBM and Esri are working together to make cities smarter: