South Korea, one of the most technologically advanced nations on the planet, plans to build a smart city model in Goyang to trial various Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives before implementing them in other cities.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning revealed that LG Uplus, the third largest carrier in the country, will be leading the project.
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“We will develop IoT-based converged services and work to solve pending issues in urban areas by tapping into our open smart city platform technologies,” said LG Uplus IoT director Ahn Sung-joon.
The program is expected to provide lots of data on the success (and failure) of different IoT platforms, which will be shared publicly with local governments and businesses. LG Uplus said that cooperating with local government contributes to the nation’s IoT ecosystem.
Can Smart city status put Goyang back on the map?
It may also provide a new vibrancy to Goyang, a city of more than one million people that is often overlooked since it is 20 minutes away from Seoul, South Korea’s capital and one of the most populated cities in the world.
The consortium of companies and government departments working on IoT have already proposed a smart parking system that reduces illegal parking. It plans to give trial the system in Guyong.
Another proposed project involves 200 bus stations that can detect dust, fumes, and noise pollution. All data will be sent back to a hub over LG Uplus’ mobile network, and analytics will be able to show where pollution (of all types) is too high.
South Korea is not alone in the smart city race, Tel Aviv, Dubai, San Francisco, London, and Barcelona have all implemented systems that rely on IoT, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and smart devices. But due to South Korea’s small size, it is easier to implement nationwide infrastructure projects.
