San Diego’s Smart Streetlights Yield a Firehose of Data

#News(General) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

San Diego’s network of smart streetlights, which has been rolling out since early 2018, continues to grow. To date, some 2,000 of the sensor-laden devices have begun gathering pictures, sounds, and other data.

So far, the city has focused on the image data, using it to count pedestrians and cars as they move around the city. This data is only just starting to feed into the way the city designs and manages traffic flows, and any consumer applications remain far in the future, says Erik Caldwell, the city of San Diego’s interim deputy chief operating officer for smart and sustainable communities. Officials are still talking through all other possible applications, such as using the streetlights to locate gunshots, track airport noise, or monitor air quality.

But the city is already fond enough of the sensor-laden lamps that it has placed an order with manufacturer Current by GE for an additional 1,000. Meanwhile, the initial 3,200 streetlights will finish being installed in the next month or two.

The rollout has fallen a bit behind schedule, admits Caldwell. As of last October, the city expected most of the network to be complete in May 2018. But Caldwell says that the original deadline was aspirational, and he isn’t too dismayed by the current pace of installation.

And the streetlights installed to date have given the city plenty of data to work with.

Says Caldwell of a recent test examining whether the streetlights could identify open parking spaces, “We just completed a pilot demonstration project benchmarking the system against parking meters with built-in sensors, against parking transaction data, and against an intern with a clipboard. We found that the streetlights provide the best information.”

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