Belfast Climate Data Platform: City of Belfast
The Arizona State University Artificial Intelligence Cloud Innovation Center (AI CIC) have collaborated with the City of Belfast and Amazon Web Services to launch the Belfast Climate Data Platform, an open source tool to help the City of Belfast meet their goal of net-zero emissions by 2030 through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Problem
Belfast has a range of climate goals including being committed to reaching net zero emissions. Measuring and understanding progress towards these goals has challenges around accuracy, completeness and timelines of the data and analytics. The lack of one trusted source of data makes it hard for leaders and the public to make informed choices about their impacts on the climate. All of this leads to confusion and a lack of action.
Belfast Climate Data Platform solves this challenge by combining a data hub with a suite of customized designed data analytics and visualisations that align to city climate priority initiatives. Belfast Climate Data Platform makes it possible for users in and out of the city to share data through a collection tool. All climate data is included in a location to a single space and includes additional metadata such as location and date/time. Belfast Climate Data Platform also provides a simulation engine to allow users to model scenarios and see the impacts of changes over time. Belfast Climate Data Platform is supported by auto-update functionality for data sets.
Approach
Belfast Climate Data Platform is an open-source, cloud based, software application users can access from any connected computer or smart device. The application is accessible without a login and includes a dashboard showing current progress towards city objectives and tabs to maps, data, research papers and training.
Users can access raw data and build their own simulations using a variety of methods harnessing the power of artificial intelligence through a chat tool and machine learning. Users can also register and get access to upload and share data and content. Belfast Climate Data Platform has a facility to allow data producers to share data, but keep control.
Supporting Artifacts
The Amazon Working Backwards process produces three artifacts - a Press Release, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and a Visual depiction of the user experience. You can find the artifacts here:
| PRFAQ | The combined press release and FAQ. |
| Project Report | The project report for the built prototype. |
Next Steps
The ASU CIC has handed the project off to the Belfast City Council team, who is developing the prototype.
About the ASU CIC
The ASU Smart Cities Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) is a strategic relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and is supported by AWS on ASU’s Innovation campus - SkySong. The mission of the CIC is to drive Innovation Challenges that materially benefit the greater Phoenix metro area and beyond. The CIC will do this by solving pressing community and regional challenges, using shareable and repeatable technology solutions from ideation through prototype, as a service for the greater human good.
The CIC also provides real-world problem-solving experiences to students by immersing them in the application of proven innovation methods in combination with the latest technologies to solve important challenges in the public sector.
The challenges being addressed cover a wide variety of topics including homelessness, water conservation, vandalism, pedestrian safety, digital service delivery and many others. The CIC leverages the deep subject matter expertise of government, education and non-profit organizations to clearly understand the customers affected by public sector challenges and develops solutions that meet the customer needs.
For more information on the ASU CIC, to read about projects or to submit a challenge, please visit https://smartchallenges.asu.edu.