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Glasgow To Be UK's First 'Smart City'
CowboyRobot writes "Once the 'Second City' of the British Empire, scrappy Glasgow — whose now-demolished Gorbals was once known for urban grimness on a par with Chicago's South Side or New York's Hell's Kitchen — has the chance for a whole new lease on life as the UK's first 'smart city.' The UK's government has just announced a $38 million (£24 million) grant to fund pilot projects in the city that show how mass deployment of sensors and real-time information can help local government run more efficiently while also boosting the quality of life for its 600,000 citizens. Glasgow won the prize in a competition among 30 British towns and cities for state help in looking at the possible contribution of smart technology."
The west side of Chicago is worse than the south side.
They still believe electric lights are the devils work
"mass deployment of sensors and real-time information can help local government"
Sounds as much like Big Brother as Smart City.
Good news for "the grey place"
Yes, such a money sink that the loony right wing government in the UK is *desperate* to stop Scotland becoming independant, and keeping all the wealth up here.
Sorry Maggie^WTony^WDavid, we're keeping the oil, and we're keeping the tax revenue. You'll have to pay for your own moat-cleaning now.
but it's still scotland, so the cash will be heroine'd away..
You're a wee bit off.
The monies will disappear into the corruption that passes for local governance here in the West of Scotland. These wankers tend not to be smackheads, but, it's amusing that the comparison was made with Chicago, just like that august city, the crooks run Glasgow as well, so indirectly I suppose some of this money will end up as drugs, more probably the sort that ends up going up one's nose.. .
And this is where integration with existing projects should come first, lest we end up reinventing the wheel. http://www.fixmystreet.com/ http://www.opentraintimes.com/ http://www.openstreetmap.org/ http://www.flightradar24.com/ the 45MB/min MIDAS Gold DATEX traffic information service from http://www.tih.org.uk/ - and many more. And by far not just travel related either, but lets not allow Glasgow to 'create' new apps and datasources that just replicate ideas and services that are already out there.
I hope the administrators of this fund have a good long hard look through http://data.gov.uk/ for inspiration and partners to work with, and that we as users and techs can help push them to make the right choices.
I've already emailed a few relevant parties. Have you?
Yes, but mostly of Scottish money. The value of single malt whisky at storage in the country at any given time far exceeds the highest ever amount of gold held by the bank of England. Scotland will be rich in 21 oak matured years, and always has been.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
Sure, as long as nothing's voice-activated...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
For it's going roond and roond!
Step 1) Smart glasses for pubs with accelerometers and conductive bases. When a sudden movement is detected, a taser-like shock is immediately administered through the base. That should reduce the number of glassings each year.
They may however have to change the name of the city to Fistgow as the locals pick up on it.
This is yet another example of politicians throwing money at technology to try and solve problems of policy and administration. It's a bit like buying a new TV to cure a broken leg. Nothing but a distraction.
"You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead!" - Stan Laurel
...is that despite all the furious roars of "1984!" and "Big Brother!", the UK's idea of a Smart City is probably just following in the footsteps of things US cities have been implementing for the past decade.
We went on a short self-guided car tour of Scotland this summer and were blown away at the number of cameras on the roadway. Many of the main roads had one or more speed camera covering all lanes of traffic every mile for tens of miles. I had no intention of doing any wrong, but all the 'invasion of privacy' bells were going off in my head.
I never got feelings like the system was going to be abused in any type of near term scenario, but I couldn't help but think how easy it would be for a Stalin type leader to use that envoronment to make inconvenient people disappear. In many places it is technically legal (*not that it happens*) for a police officer to bring you to jail for speeding or neglecting a turn signal during a lane change. I frequently hear the average citizen of the US commits one felony a day by being normal.
Yes, such a money sink that the loony right wing government in the UK is *desperate* to stop Scotland becoming independant,
The UK government includes Scottish MPs. So are they desperate to stop Scotland from becoming independent too?
and keeping all the wealth up here.
The what?
Sorry Maggie^WTony^WDavid, we're keeping the oil, and we're keeping the tax revenue. You'll have to pay for your own moat-cleaning now.
OK, we'll keep your banks, then.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
You do know that the "Conservative" party is short for Conservative and Unionist right? It's nothing to do with the wealth scotland has.
when it gets the Frankie Boyle seal of approval.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014
Why is Snark Required?
I don't think it would take much to convince Scottish voters to stay in the UK. Latest polls show only 23% of Scots want independence.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
"Smart" is another overloaded buzz word that works well for marketing but is too vague to use to describe a city. Did you really mean to use more descriptive word such as efficient, effective, informative, or economical?
new letter/phrase: hex-u means "www"
If independent, would they use the Euro, the UK Pound, or float their own currency? Of the three options, they would be best integrated with the UK Pound right now, but why would England allow that? Not having an automomous economy defeats the point of being a nation. Joining the Euro Zone or having a native currency would require that they establish their own national credit basis. Doing that in the current ongoing world economic climate would be horrendously difficult. It is likely that a native currency would start with a very poor exchange rate and cause huge disruptions to Scottish economy. The future of the Euro is not secure, so that route also has a lot of risk.
They do have an option to remain in the UK but have more local political control. This is happening all across the UK. It's not as nationalistically sexy as independence, but it is a heck of a lot more practical.
Why is Snark Required?
The "latest poll" turns out to be 6 months old and from the people who failed to predict the last election correctly.
What, are the rest of the cities dumb?
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Glasgow ranks (and always has) somewhere below Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool at the very least in terms of UK cities (importance economically, culturally, politically). It may be Scotland's biggest, but it's probably not even in the UK's top 5.
A lot more recent than that:
http://m.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/23/support-scottish-independence-slumps-lowest
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Google Glasgow City council corruption and you will see that the cash won't be heorone'd off but siphoned off. Unless it is managed by an outside organisation with no links to GCC, I have my doubts that the vision of a 'Smart city' will be realised.
You're a wee bit off.
These wankers tend not to be smackheads,;
Steven Purcell, ex GCC leader liked the occasional 'nose powder' when attending parties.
Scottish independence is probably a bad move for the people in Scotland. It's not likely that the country would economically viable in either the short or long run..
Detailed statistics including taxes raised by individual Scots and Scottish companies to back this up.
Your "Stalin type leader" is pretty well in place already. And he's going to have to derive new revenue streams soon to bribe the electorate pending the Independence Referendum. I can see Glasgow sprouting a huge crop of Box Junction cameras, they provide a most useful "ker-ching" factor!
In one of Iain Banks novels (Scottish life, not Culture) a character was described as a "bumptious cunt"; its a prety good description for La Salmond, though words like "egregious" and "petty" are good too.
They could repay the whole $34 million (and then some) by making it controllable online. It would be like a reverse Westworld. Streetlights would never stop blinking, driving would be hazardous, and they could add other stuff like Yul Brynner to interact with citizens.
Year 1: IBM gives government small amount of money to make politicians look good. .....
Year 2: Jointly funded trial and lots of positive PR for everyone
Year 3: Government gives IBM huge amount of money and outsources government services to them.
10 years later in shock news it is revealed that this was a huge waste of money, and services are of poor quality but IBM cannot be replaced because the government has signed contracts which give IBM total ownership of the city
Are you implying the GNU Compiler Compiler (GCC) is a tool of corrupt governance? I better replace my GNU/Linux distribution with Linux from Scratch using Python. ;)
I'm sure the UK would let them continue to use the pound sterling, after all Scotland is hardly going to be considered an "enemy nation" and the remaining UK has much to gain by keeping an independent Scotland close, as the Scots do by keeping the UK close.
What would be interesting is if Scotland were to become independent, and an EU country, whilie the rest of the UK voted to leave the EU...
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
And whisky is much more valuable than gold.
- You can't drink gold, but you can drink whisky.
- Holding gold doesn't create wealth, whereas making whisky creates wealth.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
I'm sure the UK would let them continue to use the pound sterling, after all Scotland is hardly going to be considered an "enemy nation" and the remaining UK has much to gain by keeping an independent Scotland close, as the Scots do by keeping the UK close.
Sure. You can't stop someone from using a currency. The point is that then Scotland would actually have less independence. Currently, the UK controls the sterling which means Scotland gets a say in how the currency works. With independence, the currency stays the same, but Scotland looses all voting rights in it. How would that help?
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Perhaps this Smart City technology can shed light on the Glasgow Effect:
Source
-kgj
Last time I was in Glasgow I got stopped for drinking on the street (it was a fair cop), as the coppers were leaving one of them said to me, "Just remember, yea cannae drink in the street, yea cannae piss in the street, and yea cannae shit in the street". ;)
You stay classy Glasgow
You can also keep all your f*cking enormous debts from your crappy Scottish banks - that should burn thru a good few years of tax revenue...
You do know that the "Conservative" party is short for Conservative and Unionist right? It's nothing to do with the wealth scotland has.
The "Unionist" in the "Conservative and Unionist Party" refers to the fact they merged with the "Liberal Unionist Party" just over 100 years ago. The Liberal Unionists were formed in 1886 as a breakaway from the Liberal Party who were opposed to Irish home rule (which William Gladstone, the Liberal leader, came down in support of). That's essentially what it refers to.
Despite the fact that the modern-day Conservative Party is ostensibly unionist, the "Unionist" in the official party title is therefore a bit of a red herring.
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You can also keep all your f*cking enormous debts from your crappy Scottish banks - that should burn thru a good few years of tax revenue...
We're fine with that (*), provided that Westminster returns every penny of revenue relating to North Sea oil and gas from Scottish waters (i.e. most of it) received, adjusted for inflation, since the 1970s- all the time they've been bleating about Scotland being unfairly subsidised and scaremongering about how the oil was about to run out.
:-P
:-)
So on balance, it looks like.... you're in the red. Never mind! You can deposit those billions in our Royal Bank of Scotland account.
(*) So long as you're happy to deal with the problems caused by the English and English-derived parts of these "Scottish" banks
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It may have been published last week but it was carried out between July and November last year. According to the Sunday Times it stands at 34%, it can't have gone up 11% in the last week.
Won't you have to remove all the wedgies to make it so?
Yes, such a money sink that the loony right wing government in the UK is *desperate* to stop Scotland becoming independant,
The UK government includes Scottish MPs. So are they desperate to stop Scotland from becoming independent too?
They are MPs. They do whatever makes them the most money and lie about it.
At least they'll know if Wellington loses his hat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Statue,_Glasgow
(Sometimes he has a bottle of whiskey in his arms too, so presumably they could monitor his alcohol intake too, and make sure he's not drunk in charge of a statue horse).
I think you mean the newly independent Orkney Islands' oil.