By Steve Adler

Our innovation exchange trip with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx just took us through Amsterdam where we met with Dutch Mayors, non-profits (NGOs), and companies all in pursuit of the “Smart City” vision. What Diane Land, my wife, Rob Spillar, the director of our city’s transportation department, have seen is interesting and has potentially interesting applications to our mobility challenges in Austin.

First off, a Smart City is a city in which data is captured from all aspects of urban life and then that data is employed to improve its residents’ quality of life. This could take a thousand different forms, such as traffic lights that monitor traffic levels and patterns, time of day, weather, events in the area, and then which adjust synching and timing to minimize traffic delay. In other words, the kind of thing we’re working on with the Smart City Challenge.

And of course I need to explain this picture, but more on that below. Continue reading →