Smart street furniture – powered and digitally networked furniture that collects and generates data – is arriving in Australia.
It comes in a variety of forms, including benches, kiosks, light poles and bus stops. Early examples in Australia include ChillOUT Hubs installed by Georges River Council in the Sydney suburbs of Kogarah, Hurstville and Mortdale, and information kiosks and smart light poles in the City of Newcastle as part of its Smart City Strategy.
Read more: AU: 'Smart' street furniture: public service or advertising and surveillance tool?
Fastly, a global edge cloud platform provider, today announced it has been appointed to the cloud marketplace (CMP) managed by the Australian Government's Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), reducing barriers to working with government departments and agencies.
The CMP is a digital sourcing arrangement for cloud services and cloud consulting. The CMP can be used by federal, state and territory governments in Australia, as well as Australian higher education providers and other organisations.
Consultation moves forward with position paper release.
The federal government has provided the most comprehensive look at planned legislation for the expansion of its federated digital identity scheme to state and territory governments and the private sector to date.
The Digital Transformation Agency on Thursday released a position paper [pdf] for consultation ahead of the planned introduction of the legislation, dubbed the ‘Trusted Digital Identity Bill’, to parliament in “late 2021”.
Read more: AU: Govt seeks input on digital ID expansion plans
The City of Greater Geelong’s Internet of Things (IoT) network is helping a clever technology trial take place in the paddocks at Marcus Oldham Farm Management College.
In-ground sensors are being used to monitor soil moisture and temperature in wheat trials, to assist with making decisions about crop nutrition, protection and yield.
Read more: AU: Victoria: Greater Geelong City supports smart farming technology trial
The Digital Identity Legislation is hoping to ensure privacy safeguards are in place, such as limiting access to biometric information, but it will include the ability for users to consent to their biometric information being accessed for fraud or security investigations.
Legislation will enter Parliament later this year that will allow non-government entities to provide digital identification services to Australians.