Monitoring and managing cities will soon be more seamless with a new smart city solutions platform launched by Surbana Jurong yesterday.
The homegrown urbanisation consultancy, working with technology partners, has developed a new offering dubbed "Smart city in a box", which will enable city officials to better track, monitor and manage cities via a dashboard of integrated smart applications.
"Now we have a system that will allow mayors to see at a single glance the performance of key operating assets within any of the cities efficiently and in a timely manner," Surbana Jurong group chief executive Wong Heang Fine said yesterday.
The apps offered can help to track traffic conditions, monitor energy usage, check water quality, and even predict when certain assets - such as lifts and water pumps - are due for maintenance.
By using cameras and video analytics, it can help to detect people who may be drowning in a pool or track potentially dangerous vehicles or "blacklisted" people via licence plate and facial recognition.
Surbana Jurong said the "drowning early detection" feature is on trial at a Bishan public pool.
These are among the 14 apps now available. The firm said it had 30 other features in the pipeline.
Mr Wong said the platform, with an investment cost "in the millions of dollars", is the world's first integrated smart city solutions offering.
"Up till now, smart city technologies were deployed on a piecemeal basis... Our 'Smart city in a box' will enable city planners to plan with the end in mind, and collate and analyse big data over time," he said.
Many of the apps have been tried and tested here. Surbana Jurong said it is working with all 16 town councils to monitor the rate of lift breakdowns in HDB estates, and has also rolled out the iTown@SG app, allowing residents to share maintenance feedback to town councils via their mobile devices.
IE Singapore said Surbana Jurong is introducing "disruptive technology" to help cities operate and manage themselves using the innovative platform.
"Working with global and Singapore's leading solution providers, Surbana Jurong is now able to diagnose and prescribe smart solutions to tackle modern urbanisation issues such as security and efficiency," said IE Singapore group director for environment and infrastructure solutions Kow Juan Tiang.
Surbana Jurong said it is in talks with potential customers in Africa and China.
The company is also presenting the new product to delegates at the World Cities Summit at the Marina Bay Sands convention centre this week.
