Cities Wasting Millions of Taxpayer's Money In Failed IoT Pilots

dkatana writes: Two years ago at the Smart Cities Expo World Congress, Antoni Vives, then Barcelona's second deputy mayor, said he refused to have more technology pilots in the city: "I hate pilots, if anyone of you [technology companies] comes to me selling a pilot, just get away, I don't want to see you." He added, "I am fed up with the streets full of devices. It is a waste of time, a waste of money, and doesn't deliver anything; it is just for the sake of selling something to the press and it does not work."

Barcelona is already a leading city in the use of IoT and, according to Fortune, "The most wired city in the world". Over the past 10 years, the city has experienced a surge in the number of sensors, data collection devices and automation and has become "a showcase for the smart metropolis of the future". Over the past few years technology companies have sold pilot programs costing millions of dollars to cities all over the world, claiming it will enhance their "Smart City" rating. Unfortunately, after the initial buzz, many of those pilots never get beyond the evaluation stage and are abandoned because the cities cannot afford them in the first place.

Comments

This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[gstoddart]

Internet of Things isn't even a thing, it's wishful thinking, and a bunch of random crap "visionaries" with no business plan are all pushing as the Next Big Thing.

It's marketing hype by people trying to cash in, but who otherwise have no idea what it's good for.

It's snake oil, nothing more. Getting fast talked into spending money on pilot projects to help some company achieve their goal of "monetizing your synergies while holistically marketing the awesomeness of IoT to allow you to improve your "'Smart City Rating' means you've been hoodwinked.

If it's so awesome and revolutionary, you should be paying the city to promote your product.

Instead it's just a bunch of bullshit and lies about how unfinished tech with no actual value is going to revolutionize the world.

Every idiot who says "Yarg, teh internet of things" should get swiftly smacked in the head. Because other than they want a piece of the action, not a single one of them can tell you what it is and why you actually want it.

Getting suckered into spending public money to allow some idiot to let you help him figure out what this crap is for is a sure sign you're not doing enough due diligence.

I'm glad to see people like this starting to say "go away and leave us alone". Because there's nothing there yet, just some speculative crap.

It's a solution in search of a problem, and a bunch of people trying to get other people help them figure out the business plan and what this stuff is for.

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[savuporo]

By being connected to a global base of knowledge, many problems can escape local optima solutions.

Thats the gist of it. Details and implementations vary and matter, of course.

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[gstoddart]

Because there simply is no answer. It's literally people trying to get other people to pay for the development costs to find out what it is and what it's good for.

There is no consistent definition, no standards, not even any really good use cases.

It's something people have latched onto, and decided that, even if they have no idea what it means, they want to cash in on it.

People have come up with some things around it, but they've not addressed any real world issues like privacy, security, or what the hell to do with it. It's like in the late 90's, where the frenzy happened around "teh dot com" -- if you had a frickin' website, you had VCs throwing you enough money to make some people rich, and ensure there would be a healthy resale market for Herman Miller Aeron chairs.

You didn't need a business plan, a product, or any actual skills in running a business. It was simply a feeding frenzy of stupidity.

IoT is a bunch of people trying to capitalize on a buzzword nobody can define, with technology nobody has yet built, and trying to find other people to help pay for it. It's a though experiment by people who have read far too much science fiction.

Nobody can answer any of these questions because they're still making it up. It's a gold rush to build vapor ware.

It's breathless futurists telling us this is the future without being able to tell us why or how or what we'd do with it. As I said, it's snake oil, nothing more.

It's literally years away from anybody even being able to give plausible use cases, and several years further away from anybody giving a damn about it.

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[grimmjeeper]

Because there simply is no answer. It's literally people trying to get other people to pay for the development costs to find out what it is and what it's good for.

That's really what I thought it is.

There is no consistent definition, no standards, not even any really good use cases.

It's something people have latched onto, and decided that, even if they have no idea what it means, they want to cash in on it.

People have come up with some things around it, but they've not addressed any real world issues like privacy, security, or what the hell to do with it. It's like in the late 90's, where the frenzy happened around "teh dot com" -- if you had a frickin' website, you had VCs throwing you enough money to make some people rich, and ensure there would be a healthy resale market for Herman Miller Aeron chairs.

You didn't need a business plan, a product, or any actual skills in running a business. It was simply a feeding frenzy of stupidity.

IoT is a bunch of people trying to capitalize on a buzzword nobody can define, with technology nobody has yet built, and trying to find other people to help pay for it. It's a though experiment by people who have read far too much science fiction.

Nobody can answer any of these questions because they're still making it up. It's a gold rush to build vapor ware.

It's breathless futurists telling us this is the future without being able to tell us why or how or what we'd do with it. As I said, it's snake oil, nothing more.

It's literally years away from anybody even being able to give plausible use cases, and several years further away from anybody giving a damn about it.

So really, what you're saying is that this is the next big empty bubble that some people will get rich off of. And really, the best way to capitalize on it is to do exactly what they did in the 90's and hire a double-talking marketer to sell vapor ware long enough to get bought out by someone else and walk away with millions.

I think I now have a rough plan to fund my retirement...

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[gstoddart]

Yes, to put a fine point on it: IoT is bullshit, lies, marketing, and empty promises, hawking solutions nobody really gives a crap about, using technology which doesn't really yet exist.

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[savuporo]

No, i wasn't saying its going to help you or anyone else. What i was saying is that at the abstract level, its simply a local optimization vs global optimization issue.
Whether this optimization is feasible or can work for any given problem with any given implementation is a different matter altogether.

An unconnected device/thing can at best perform local optimization because it simply does not have larger context and information, global optimization cannot be performed.

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[clovis]

While you are living in a world of info-darkness, having nothing better to do than drinking beer and having sex, the world of IoT is monitoring all those things that really matter.
Don't you know that all those people walking and driving with their face in the phone aren't talking or playing games. They're keeping on top of the status of all the devices in their home, and then texting the report to their friends. LOL! I'm at 29 degrees!

This is the future, right here and now, and the future got here yesterday except for those troglodytes who have already been left behind.

It's almost a fact that I'm working on an app right now to keep my Facebook page updated with my house's IoT reports so my FB friends can check all these devices in my house whenever they want to as well!

And what are you going to do when the dude in the office next to you calls out
"I'm dropping my house's thermostat to 60 degrees to see how long it takes to get there! Who wants to race?"
Not you, because you don't even know the temperature in your home right now, much less be able to remotely thermostat race.

Re:This pretty much sums up IoT ...

[grimmjeeper]

No. I'm saying that the people pushing IoT are pushing connecting all of your appliances to the internet, not things like traffic management.

Yeah, I hate pilots too

[NotDrWho]

Always throwing me off planes. I'M NOT DRUNK, I'M FINE!

Everything in your life will be a governance gizmo

[FreeUser]

I've been trying to keep my job skills fresh so I can keep up with the "next big thing". But I'll be damned if I can figure out what the hell IoT really is and why it's taking off. Yes, I know it's connecting things to the internet. But to what end?

It will allow Apple, Microsoft, Google, the US Government, and others to turn every device in your home into a governance/surveillance device. It won't just be your TV watching you a la 1984, it will be your thermostat, your keyboard, your couch, your bedside lamp, hell, not just your bed but your baby's crib and the baby's rattle.

That is why they are so keen on the "Internet of Things." What? You thought it was to benefit you? Really? Then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

Why is the city paying?

[jbmartin6]

I think he should say, if you want the city to do a pilot that is great. You will cover all the costs. No? Well, I guess you have little confidence in your product then.

Cheap pilot

[nospam007]

I'd propose a cheap pilot for cities:

A cheap plastic label with a 3d barcode on every streetlamp that I can scan with my cellphone and click:

Light broken
Lamp damaged (accident etc)
Lamp is a danger (hanging over street etc)

Ditto for trash-cans, bus-stops, etc

Ditto for street name signs:

pothole
Lots and lots of potholes
crack-house

The point of a pilot

[madsenj37]

The point of a pilot is to see if an idea is worth implementing, cost scaling, etc. More money could have been wasted if there were not any pilots, but just implementation.

Re:The point of a pilot

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Of course you are correct, but the purpose of this thread was to continue bitching about IoT so ads can be served and mod-points can be spent.