SiliconANGLE’s Smart World Round-up

This week’s Smart City roundup features a new version of a smart water platform’s infrastructure, a new trend for desktop computers, and a laboratory for smart city initiatives.

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Trimble Connect for Water v.1.9

Trimble Navigation Ltd. has released version 1.9 of its Trimble Connect for Water, the company’s smart water infrastructure mapping and work management cloud software. This new release includes a suite of applications that allow water, wastewater and stormwater utilities to accurately locate, inventory and visualize their infrastructure assets and increase operations and maintenance efficiency.

This new release leverages Trimble’s Global Navigation Satellite System rugged mobile devices and Esri’s Geographic Information System technologies to accurately map, locate and assess the condition of critical infrastructure assets, allowing utilities to keep their field infrastructure data up-to-date and accurate.

Other features of the Trimble Connect for Water v.1.9 includes support for the Trimble Geo 7 Centimeter edition with an integrated laser rangefinder; pre-configured Water, Wastewater and Stormwater mapping apps, allowing utilities to quickly start mapping network infrastructure and updating their asset data; and data export support for a variety of formats including Esri File Geodatabase, Shapefiles and MS Excel, which allows users to update the utility’s enterprise GIS or visualize and analyze the collected data using third-party systems.

Double-touchscreen PCs

Offices may soon want to upgrade their desktop computers for one that features a double-touchscreen, much like HP Co.’s Sprout or Dell Inc.’s Smart Desk. These computers both features large touchscreen monitors that are placed in front of the user and another touchscreen display is placed on the desk. This setup allows users to use the second screen like a sketchpad for creating artwork, writing formulas and code because it brings the user back to basics of writing things down on a piece of paper.

Dell describes this setup as a digital desktop that “allows for multiple desks to be clustered around specific projects,” noting that content can be searched and shared, and the devices themselves can be better organized with scaling and stacking of growing content. In fact, any smart desk workspace will allow users to pick up their work session wherever they left off—regardless of location. “This means that the creative cycle will never miss a beat,” a Dell spokesperson explained.

For now, Dell’s Smart Desk is just a concept but if you are interested in a dual-screen desktop tricked out with cameras and sensors to make your work easier, HP’s Sprout will start shipping on November 9 and the company will be setting up HP-staffed, in-store Sprout shops in 50 Best Buy stores and 30 Microsoft stores nationwide to help you decide if Sprout is the desktop for you.

The Bristol smart city lab

The city of Bristol in England, in partnership with the University of Bristol, will turn the old Rediffusion infrastructure, which was used to bring cable television to the city in the past, into a laboratory of sorts. The goal is to provide a space for interested telecommunications companies and Internet of Things startups to test their service on a city-wide scale.

The old infrastructure runs 100 miles under the city and will be fitted with superfast, high-capacity fibre funded by the government’s super-connected cities program. It will be linked to wireless infrastructure using clusters of lamp posts that harvest data from sensors embedded in other city infrastructures such as traffic lights, office buildings, and even cars, smartphones, wearable tech and tablets.

The University of Bristol and the city will be providing its supercomputers for use in this project. The Supercomputers will be able to keep up with crunching huge amounts of data to be able to provide what researchers need.

Initial investment for the project will include opening hundreds of council-owned data sets on traffic flows, energy  use, crime and health trends. The data sets are aimed at encouraging startups to come up with innovative ways to solve city problems.

photo credit: Miguel Pires da Rosa via photopin cc