Smart City Platform in Practice: Implementation and Operational Experience

In most cities, digital systems already exist. Cameras, sensors, utility systems, transport platforms, and citizen service tools are in place. However, they operate separately — across different departments, formats, and technologies.

The challenge is not the lack of technology. The challenge is fragmentation.

Without a unified platform, city management remains reactive: services learn about issues too late, decisions are made manually, and coordination between departments requires significant effort.

At OneDev, we have implemented city monitoring and management systems that operate 24/7 and are used daily by municipal services. These projects typically involve integrating dozens of data sources and departmental systems into a single operational infrastructure.

What a Smart City Platform Looks Like in Practice

In reality, a smart city is not a mobile app or a collection of sensors.

It is an infrastructure platform that:

• • collects data from multiple city systems
• • normalizes it into a unified format
• • detects events and anomalies
• • creates tasks for responsible services
• • tracks execution and response time

Platform Architecture

1. Data Collection Layer

City data sources are always heterogeneous:

• • departmental system APIs
• • IoT sensors and controllers
• • video streams
• • transport and utility systems
• • file-based data exchanges
• • legacy local applications

In practice, 60–70% of project time is spent on integrating data sources.

2. Processing and Normalization

• • data validation and cleansing
• • duplicate removal
• • format standardization
• • geolocation and mapping
• • aggregation by districts and assets
• • calculation of operational metrics

This layer forms a unified city data layer used by all higher-level services.

3. Event Management and Analytics

The system automatically detects operational events such as:

• • equipment failures
• • traffic congestion or overload
• • environmental threshold violations
• • increased citizen complaints in specific areas

Tasks are then assigned to responsible departments and monitored according to SLA.

4. Operational Dashboards

Interfaces are designed as working tools for dispatchers and managers:

• • city map with real-time asset status
• • active incident list
• • priorities and SLA tracking
• • department performance analytics
• • event history

In real operations, speed, clarity, and reliability are more important than visual effects.

5. Integrations

• • document management systems
• • citizen request platforms
• • dispatch and utility systems
• • regional and national platforms

Without bidirectional integration, the system becomes only a data showcase and does not support operational management.

Operational Value for the City

For city administration

• • execution control of tasks and directives
• • real-time monitoring of key indicators
• • operational analytics by districts and departments

For dispatch centers

• • a single window for incidents
• • faster response time
• • SLA and workload control

Practical outcomes

• • reduced incident response time
• • less manual coordination between departments
• • greater operational transparency
• • improved contractor performance control

Implementation Challenges

Heterogeneous and Legacy Systems

Many city systems lack modern APIs or operate unreliably. This is addressed through adapters, integration gateways, and asynchronous architecture.

Data Quality Issues

• • validation at the ingestion stage
• • automated quality checks
• • gradual improvement of data sources

Organizational Changes

• • pilot deployment in selected departments
• • phased rollout
• • establishing new operational procedures

Why a Smart City is Infrastructure

The OneDev Approach

• • audit of existing systems and data sources
• • phased implementation
• • modular and scalable architecture
• • integration without disrupting current operations
• post-launch support and continuous development