Smart Communities Offer Happiness and Security
Yoga enthusiast Ma Yazhou lives in a smart community in the Lijia Area of Yubei District. Before starting her session inside the communal space, she links her phone to the PA system through Bluetooth and easily puts on some music in the pavilion.
Smart elements have become a part of regular everyday life for this wired member of the Lijia community.
‘Functions are not just limited to the PA system. We also use smart entrances with swift facial recognition, a reporting system for security issues, intelligent recreational facilities, and a management service app daily.’
In total, there are around a dozen examples of advanced technology put to use in this community, which are accessible through integrated applications that have intertwined modern technology with everyday life.
A property management worker demonstrates the latest functions of a touch screen smart access system (iChongqing file photo)
Elderly residents have not been left behind, either. The Lijia Neighborhood has entered into a trial service with Chongqing Cable, which now offers a special channel providing local news and information on favorable policies.
The channel also provides access to communal services and the local authorities so that residents can inquire about civil affairs, opportunities to join the ‘Elderly University,’ and learn more about cultural and social benefit activities in the community.
Local communities' government services and education have been integrated into a smart online network in sync with traditional face-to-face contact. The advantages of this new network are that citizens can first make inquiries and appointments 24 hours a day with ease and without setting foot outside their homes.
People will remain at the heart of smart community development while their needs and opinions are given careful attention. This way, residents of all ages will enjoy greater access and convenience to the services they require, making their lives happier as a result.
Quality Living Demands Smart Traffic Management
In recent years, car ownership has been on the constant increase as the pace of high-quality development attracts ever more new residents, a trend that has posed great challenges for traffic management in the city.
A smart transportation system has been identified as the key solution. The Liangjiang New Area has taken the lead in setting up numerous projects, including an inland open gateway, Chongqing Smart City, a High-Quality Development Pioneering, and a High-Quality Lifestyle Demonstration Zone.
Such developments will meet the practical needs of residents while satisfying their desire for a happy lifestyle, as the smart transportation system is being developed in harmony with urban construction.
A representative of the Liangjiang New Area explained that a modern smart transportation platform would combine personalized functions of guidance, duties, supervision, appraisals, announcements, and service, which is the special trait of this innovative system they have designed.
The Smart City Operations Management Center of Jiangbei District observes a local area for potential eventualities in real-time. (iChongqing file photo)
This system will focus on the main sources of pain and difficulty in the transportation system, thanks to innovation-driven strategies in big data that have achieved rapid progress, with residents' experience adopted as the core consideration.
The Traffic Patrol Detachment of Liangjiang New Area introduced how the smart transportation system integrates AI and big data, following the guiding concepts of maximized data collection, thorough analysis, practical results, and improved efficiency.
On the ground, this smart platform has produced seven major benefits for urban management and the public. These feature an AI early warning system powered by big data analysis, which allows for advanced deployments to be made to resolve potential eventualities.
Furthermore, this technology can be integrated across districts and jurisdictions so that authorities can perform coordinated action to ensure that traffic congestion is minimized on a city-wide scale.
Data analysis engines can provide intelligent AI solutions in real-time for patrols to implement on the ground, who use cameras to relay situations live to enhance decision-making further.
This technology will also drastically reduce bureaucracy by automatically inspecting vehicle and driver registries, and formalities can be completed independently through smart online platforms.
Finally, the level of safety, order, and courtesy on the roads can be improved by instructions and guidance transmitted in real-time, achieved through electronic signage linked to a smart central grid to strengthen abidance to traffic laws and regulations.
Skyshuttle Fills Void in Autonomous Infrastructure
The Chongqing SkyShuttle Demonstration Line project opened earlier this year in Bishan District following a total investment of 1.8 billion yuan.
SkyShuttle (Yunba) is the first driverless monorail system of its kind worldwide. It now operates between Bishan High-Speed Railway Station and Metro Line 1, with 15.4 km of track and 15 elevated stations en route.
BYD Group spent seven years and 10 billion yuan building a three-dimensional intelligent transportation system using 100% independent intellectual property rights and zero occupation of public roads.
This new addition to public transport in Bishan fills the local void in medium and small-volume rail transport and enjoys the qualities of intelligence, environmental friendliness, and economy.
The World's First Autonomous SkyShuttle Demonstration Line was unveiled in April 2021 and is an intelligent transportation system using 100% independent intellectual property rights. (iChongqing file photo)
It also provides an effective supplement to the urban public network in Chongqing. It expands capacity into the outer reaches of the urban area, provides solutions to traffic congestion, and further improves the quality of life.
Bishan SkyShuttle Demonstration Line is equipped with a fully automatic driverless system to achieve the highest level of autonomous operation worldwide. Facial recognition allows passengers to enter the station without traditional procedures, making for an intelligent, convenient, and efficient travel experience.
The success achieved by Skyshuttle will serve as a model for other cities worldwide to follow, as smart autonomous transit provides a seamless passenger experience throughout journeys from stations, information, boarding, and payment.
Intelligent Services Optimize Business Environment
Yukuaiban 3.0 is a mobile application that offers a whole range of government services through a single online platform and allows citizens to access them without attending a government department.
Chongqing's online government service platform was launched in November 2018, and version 3.0 is now more user-friendly with ever more functions available. The platform has optimized the business environment in Chongqing and provides more convenience for enterprises and residents to handle affairs and start up a business.
Yukuaiban 3.0 version contains an upgraded version of the online office hall and a new version of the APP, which realizes the combination of government affairs disclosure, government services, and interactive communication. The platform is now a ubiquitous application in Chongqing, as user numbers have exceeded 21 million, who now have access to 1875 online government services.
This accomplishment has allowed the government to offer a full range of services through a single online application. Users need only make a single trip to a government office should it be necessary.
The smart Yukuaiban application has over 21 million users who can access 1875 online government services. (iChongqing/Vivian Yan)
On a personal level, functions cover the whole life cycle of natural persons with 27 aspects that include registration for births, adoption, households, transportation, and retirement. As for businesses, there are 26 corporate functions such as business establishment, quarantine, inspection, and changes, including legal persons.
Six hundred high-frequency matters related to people and enterprises have been optimized through online declarations, e-certificates, and automatic data verification. These have greatly reduced the need to complete forms by hand and submit materials in person, further enhancing the user experience.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, big data, and other modern information technology, Yukuaiban 3.0 can provide more accurate and targeted services, strengthen data sharing capabilities, and achieve mutual recognition with counterpart platforms across jurisdictions nationwide.
Moreover, the latest version uses intelligent user analysis and error correction software to improve accuracy and response times for information retrieval, service guidance, and customer service, which has made the platform increasingly smart and accessible.
Innovation Drives Advent of Smart Cities
Yang Fan is deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Big Data Application and Development Administration and recently appeared in an interview with Chongqing Daily to describe how the application of big data brings practical benefits to people’s everyday lives and business.
The New Smart City Operations Management Center serves as the electronic brain for Chongqing, which provides centralized support for urban management, forecasts, and deployments.
The management center has already been integrated into 201 urban systems covering 25 application scenarios that span various departments, districts, and trades. For example, the big data platform responsible for the ecological environment can monitor air and water quality in real-time and issue deployments accordingly.
Big data is also being applied to benefit small to medium-sized enterprises, such as a financing platform that has used big data to provide over 260,000 companies with loans worth USD 5.73 billion.
We aim to develop big data platforms that serve a whole spectrum of services that incorporate residential needs like smart homes, medical treatment, elderly care, urban management, and fire response.
Management centers that cover multiple districts have been integrated into 201 urban systems covering 25 application scenarios. (iChongqing file photo)
Likewise, the same platform will serve professions, including education, employment opportunities, and entrepreneurship.
Travel applications will cover smart transport systems, scenic areas, and ecological parks. At the same time, recreation and shopping enthusiasts will experience greater convenience in cultural venues, sports arenas, commercial districts, online purchases, and delivery logistics.
The motivation behind big data applications is to bring substantial convenience and a sense of warmth to the public. More construction projects are being planned for smart communities, particularly for emergency management such as fire prevention and control.
While many associate big data with urban management, Chongqing is also working to provide rural communities with a similar range of services, as the applications of this technology generalize for all levels of society.