1. Why GIS is
indispensable
for Smart Cities
Athulya Govindan

2. What is the oldest language
in the world?

3. Maps! The Earliest
Language
(“A picture is worth a 1000 words”)

4. GIS is great tool to COMMUNICATE and visualize
the concept of a Smart City to all the stakeholders

5. 1.Determining
Rooftop Solar
Potential
With Geographic location (Lat, Long)
along with Digital Elevation Model
(DEM), we can determine how much
solar radiation reaches a given
rooftop.
Calculation uses sun’s path on the sky
& shadows cast by another rooftop or
trees over the course of the day
Bonus
Can calculate Carbon
Footprint reduction.
1 unit of clean energy
produced == 0.612g of
CO2 avoided

6. Requirements
● ArcGIS Desktop 10.3 (+ Spatial
Analyst extension)
● Need Python development
expertise to develop a
Geoprocessing Tool
● ArcGIS JavaScript API (freely
available) development required
to develop a web app

7. 2. Asset
Management
Map Assets → Track
maintenance → Plan &
Redline development → GO
paperless → Go Mobile!
Requirement:
Any Open Source GIS
software (QGIS)

8. Create Dashboards
Use Asset Mgmt to build dashboards
and perform spatial queries
E.g.
No. of residents in a block who are
affected by an power outage
Security camera coverage
requirement
Allow residents to map problems
(like location of stagnant water,
broken wall,..)

9. 3.
Rainwater
Mgmt
Use GIS site selection
models to plan and
identify locations where
stormwater/rainwater
can be collected

10. Central Idea
➔ Use the gradient
Use GIS elevation models to identify
the natural gradients to identify where
rainwater collects naturally with least
manual intervention
➔ Site selection
Prioritize site selection using existing
infrastructure, soil conditions,
elevations and volumetric calculations

11. 4. CALCULATE
DRIVE/WALK
TIMES TO
FACILITIES

12. Central Idea
Given a road network and speed of movement
(Walk/drive) on any particular road, we can create
polygons from a facility.
➔ Use Distance formula to convert Speed
into Drive/Walk Times
➔ Connect the break points and create a
polygon
➔ This represents a Service Area Polygon
➔ Find areas served within 5 mins, 10 mins,
15 mins… from different facilities
(hospitals, fire stations, public transport
stops, …)

13. Why should we embrace GIS
GIS Expertise not
required
A spatial mindframe is all
that is required
Open GIS
data/tools
available
And becoming better than
proprietary tools
Easily SCALABLE
Size of the township
doesn’t matter

14. thank you.