It would not be wrong to say that our smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. Today, living without a smartphone has become almost impossible due to the services these devices provide us. Considering that the concept of smart phones entered the world markets in the mid-90s, the fact that it has moved to the center of our lives so quickly in less than 30 years reveals the importance of this technology.
If we consider how quickly technologies such as smartphones became a part of our lives, we will better understand the importance we should give to the technologies of the future. One of these technologies, IoT, that is the internet of things, is a technology that does not require direct interaction of users, and facilitates people's lives by sharing data between smart devices via the internet. These collected data are analyzed and processed for the best possible experience of the user. Cities using this technology are called smart cities. It is inevitable for today's cities to give importance to digital transformation and to become smart cities in order to be more livable and contemporary.
What Digitization Offers
The transformation of today's cities into smart cities by digitizing is happening much faster than you think. You may not realize it, but many electronic devices you use in daily life are constantly storing data and all that remains is to analyze this data.
One of the problems that can be solved by integrating IoT technology in cities is transportation. If you live in a big city like Istanbul, it means that a substantial part of your life is spent in traffic. Smart transportation systems that come with digitalization is a technology that has the potential to significantly ease traffic. Smart transportation systems are the systems that enable vehicles to travel safely to their destination in an optimal way and while doing this, they use devices that can be accessed by IoT such as cameras and traffic lights. The tasks of these systems include regulating traffic, reducing the risk of accidents and accelerating the flow of traffic by reducing the time spent searching for parking.
The decrease in the time spent in traffic directly means a decrease in the stress level of people and the fuel consumed by the vehicles. Less gasoline burning also means less cost per vehicle and carbon footprint. Of course, in addition to all these, we should not forget the time that people can spare for themselves by going to the desired place faster. Considering that all these benefits come with smart transportation systems, which are only one pillar of the smart city concept, it is once again clearly seen how important the digitalization of our cities is. Users do not need to make an effort to take advantage of these systems. Smartphones act as a bridge by facilitating the transmission of processed data obtained from IoT to users through applications. Thanks to the mutual data flow over this bridge, the user can easily access the most suitable roads and parking spaces in the city, while providing a better service with the feedback they provide.
Digitalization Today
The digitization process can be carried out in a healthy way by gradually integrating the desired technology into the city. The regions suffering from the problem that the technology will solve are selected and the technology is tried in that area for a certain period of time. Changes are made in line with the data obtained and the regions selected as pilot are expanded. In this way, rapid changes and possible problems that may occur in the structure of the city are avoided. Technology gradually spreads to the city and after a while it covers the whole city. We can easily see examples of this type of spread in today's smart cities.
Smart cities may seem like the technology of a very distant future, but today many cities use the Internet of Things in a variety of projects in all aspects of life, from trash cans to street lights, from water grids to public transport to reduce their spending. These cities, which prefer to solve problems that are difficult to solve under normal conditions by digitizing their systems, have carried out projects that both increase the quality of life and relax their budgets. Turkey's solution to the transportation problem, which is one of the biggest problems in its highly populated cities is through the digitalisation of these cities.