Remember the last time you were so excited to travel to a new city, only to end up spending more time sitting inside your car rather than exploring the outside world?  there’s nothing in the universe quite so irritating as city traffic. An hour gone by can feel like an eternity when your car barely moves in an inch throughout all the congestion. What can sometimes feel even worse is the time and money that you waste by simply doing nothing. 

That’s where the smart cities come in to save the day. Smart cities are a combination of technologies, data, and information to improve quality of life in urban areas.  Some of the technologies used in smart cities include GPS navigation, geolocation, remote sensing, data mining and more. In bringing together the power of both technology and infrastructure, smart cities certainly live up to their name by uplifting the urban experience for residents and travelers alike. Key areas include public transportation, infrastructure, and energy production, among many other smart city initiatives that all require large amounts of data. 

These large troves of data almost act as a language that smart technology such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices are able to communicate with. In no time, IoT can form an invisible but powerful network of objects that work based on the data to cut costs, increase sustainability, and improve your smart city urban experience. 

Let’s say that you were out on the road again, but this time with ease and no traffic congestion. Thanks to the power of an IoT-embedded smart city, all the traffic lights were able to work together based on real-time traffic reports and data sensor readings that were coming in, thus increasing overall road speed. Finding a good parking spot certainly isn’t as much of a challenge as it used to be as well. Because your car is now equipped with IoT, it can communicate with all the electric vehicle charging docks and parking meters across the smart city to let you know where the next available spot is; all before you can even get there yourself. 

The optimizing effect of all these IoT devices working together is the essence of what makes up a smart city. It not only elevates infrastructure and mobility, but also develops new opportunities that are able to keep up with the exponential growth of the world’s biggest cities. 

So, the next time you’re picking a city to travel to, consider a smart city like Singapore or Amsterdam. There’s no doubt that you’ll spend far less time in the car and instead, spend more time doing what you love most; exploring a new destination, traffic congestion free.