Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics for Smart and Connected Communities

TLDR

Smart and connected communities (SCC) extend the smart city concept by integrating preservation, livability, and future planning to enhance community resilience. The paper argues that IoT and big data analytics can enable ubiquitous device networks and real‑time control for SCC. The authors illustrate SCC support through mobile crowdsensing, cyber‑physical cloud computing, and the TreSight platform, which fuses IoT and big data analytics for smart tourism and cultural heritage in Trento, Italy.

Abstract

This paper promotes the concept of smart and connected communities SCC, which is evolving from the concept of smart cities. SCC are envisioned to address synergistically the needs of remembering the past (preservation and revitalization), the needs of living in the present (livability), and the needs of planning for the future (attainability). Therefore, the vision of SCC is to improve livability, preservation, revitalization, and attainability of a community. The goal of building SCC for a community is to live in the present, plan for the future, and remember the past. We argue that Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to provide a ubiquitous network of connected devices and smart sensors for SCC, and big data analytics has the potential to enable the move from IoT to real-time control desired for SCC. We highlight mobile crowdsensing and cyber-physical cloud computing as two most important IoT technologies in promoting SCC. As a case study, we present TreSight, which integrates IoT and big data analytics for smart tourism and sustainable cultural heritage in the city of Trento, Italy.