September is National Preparedness Month, and given the September we have been having with back-to-back hurricanes and raging wildfires, this designation is especially timely. Although hurricane season begins in June and peak wildfire season is typically early July, September is often an apex in the disaster realm. While technology can’t prevent natural disasters, it builds powerful preparedness and response tools; in particular, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), commonly referred to as “mapping,” creates critical tools that provide a vital function for preparedness. Any community can increase their preparedness by following a few simple steps before a disaster comes calling.
Weiterlesen: US: How GIS Can Help Communities Prepare for Disaster (Industry Perspective)
City officials want to explore "smart cities" projects as a means of improving the overall quality of life, while trying to avoid technology for technology's sake.
Henderson, Nev., will use smart cities projects and concepts to help realize the city’s larger strategic vision in areas like transportation, education and overall quality of life.
Weiterlesen: US: Smart Cities Strategic Plan Begins to Take Shape in Henderson, Nev.
A government report put into play during the Obama administration is pushing Congress, against privacy objections, to repeal current bans that limit how federally collected education data is used while also putting in place privacy and security protections.
The report from the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking isn't about education specifically; it's broader than that. The commission was established by a joint act of Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2016. The act directed the commission to consider how to strengthen government's evidence-building and policymaking efforts. In particular, the feds wanted the commission to study how data collected by the government could be used to improve its programs and policies.
Weiterlesen: US: Bipartisan Report Advocates Use of Data to Improve Government, Including Education
The third iteration of Innovate Your State's Civic & Gov Tech Showcase highlighted the latest in nascent technology solutions with public-sector potential.
On Sept. 13, a flurry of civic-minded technology was on display in San Jose, Calif., where a host of technologists showed their wares in the hopes of attracting government attention. At the same time, the city announced its own innovation — a direct pathway for technologists' ideas to reach City Hall.
Tech companies stress the notion that the market today is strong at the mid-size and small city levels.
Smaller cities often possess the nimbleness to act quickly in areas of developing and deploying smart city technologies. But they also tend to lack the big budgets for the sort of large projects seen in a major metro.
Weiterlesen: US: Why Small and Mid-Size Municipalities Don't Fear Smart City Tech