- 6/28/2025
Category
đ
LearningTranscript
00:00Let's now look at the second bit of training that we're reviewing now and that's about
00:09the value of open architectures and minimal interoperability mechanisms and that's much
00:14more looking at within a city council how can you unlock that data overall, how can
00:20you set up the right sort of structures and frameworks to do that and how can minimal
00:24interoperability mechanisms help with that whole process.
00:27So we're going to be looking very briefly at the need of an open data architecture, we're
00:32going to be looking at how minimal interoperability mechanisms can help and then we're looking
00:36at how the procurement help desk will be able to provide support to our cities and our communities.
00:43Let's think first then about the open architecture.
00:46So when we're wanting to build a data sharing ecosystem we need to make sure that it's open.
00:55That's not open data that's about an open architecture and what we're talking about there is an architecture
01:01that allows new components to be added or changed very easily which may be coming from many different
01:08other organisations, companies, agencies to be able to adjust that ecosystem to deliver all
01:14the different kinds of things that it might need to deliver as things change and grow.
01:18Now when we say open we don't mean non-proprietary because we know for instance Windows and Android
01:25are proprietary operating systems but they're open in the sense that they're designed to
01:30allow many other agencies to develop applications that can be built on top of Windows and Android
01:38and can therefore make those operating systems even more flexible and effective and provide
01:44even more options for the users and make the whole thing more valuable and that's what
01:49we're talking about here.
01:50It may be that you've outsourced your data ecosystem to a provider that uses proprietary solutions.
02:00That's fine but make sure that whatever solutions they put in place make it easy for you to add
02:05in new applications and services to meet the changing needs of your different ecosystems.
02:11And so the thing to do in all of this is to make sure that you step back and you look at your
02:20the way data needs to move through to through and around the whole city ecosystem to be able to provide
02:29the right data to the right places in the right way. And so it's a very important exercise to spend time
02:36in thinking what data do we need to make sure the city can work well? Who owns that data? How can I access
02:43it? How can it be accessed? What kind of data is that data? Is it geospatial? IoT? Is it databases?
02:51What kind of data is it? And is it open data or is it sensitive data that needs to be managed in a careful
02:58way? So these sorts of questions you need to be asking yourself. And then when you've done that to
03:04think about how we can we use that data within our own city administration and how can we provide
03:10that data more easily to all the many other agencies and the citizens who could use it to help their lives
03:16run better within the city. So that's the important thing. Really try and take this comprehensive
03:22view as you can of all the data that needs to be moving throughout the city, where it needs to be moving
03:31to, where it needs to be coming from. And, you know, here's a very simple way of looking at that.
03:38But it's just there to give kind of a start so that you can look at who are my partners? What are the different
03:44sector data spaces that are there or need to be there? What data am I getting from central and regional government
03:49and so on? What data am I getting from IoT? What data am I getting from social media? How am I drawing that data
03:57in to within my own city administration, IT functions and so on and making it available to the different
04:05departments within the city council? And then how can I be providing what's relevant to others in the best possible
04:12way to help make sure that that data is really free and is really doing all the kinds of things that could be done?
04:18And it is important to do that because once you've mapped where the data needs to be coming from
04:26and where it needs to be going to, then it becomes easy to identify what the barriers are. And that's
04:31not a theoretical exercise. This is about going to all the different departments in the city council
04:36and to all your partners and so on and asking what are the challenges about getting the data you need?
04:42Is the data that you're wanting in the wrong format or are there other restrictions that make it
04:49difficult for you to use it? And then once you've done that, of course, then you can start to say,
04:56ah, here are all the barriers. Here are where the barriers are and what they are. Let's think about the
05:01solutions that can help get rid of those barriers to make sure the data can be properly used. And in that
05:09whole discussion, the minimal interoperability mechanisms have a key role in opening up and
05:14dealing with the different barriers that you may well identify. So you may say this is a lot of work,
05:19and it is a lot of work, but it's well worthwhile spending the time needed to do a thorough,
05:26if you like, a collection of information about all of these things. Because having done that,
05:33then you can be much clearer about what you need to be doing to build on a solid foundation and really
05:40get a very active and helpful ecosystem going. And in doing that also, it becomes much, much clearer
05:47about how minimal interoperability mechanisms can help you achieve your objectives. Let's think a bit
05:52about interoperability. What is it? Why is it important? Well, interoperability is about where you've got
05:59different systems, different partnerships, different agencies, different IT systems that need to be
06:07able to share information and work together and collaborate together. And interoperability is about
06:12making that happen, making it possible for that information to be shared and operated together
06:19effectively in a way that's completely predictable. And you can be sure we'll provide what you want it to
06:24provide. Of course, that's not a simple matter. There are many issues you need to tackle. Here's
06:31a list of some of them. How to manage personal data, data security, geospatial data, how to make sure that
06:41any AI algorithms that are being used, use the right data to enable them to make fair and transparent
06:48decisions. What about common ways of describing things in data models, data analytics, lots of
06:54different issues need to be looked at when you're thinking about ensuring proper interoperability.
07:00And even though standards organisations are doing a great job and are solving individual issues,
07:09the different issues are being dealt with by different committees. And therefore, very often,
07:14there's problems when you're trying to bridge across between different types of data and so on,
07:19in that while each one of them may be standards compliant, there's no obvious and easy way for
07:24you to take data that's been built using one set of standards and use it with data that's been built
07:29using another set of standards. And so, while they're really important and long term, that's the way forward,
07:38we still need other mechanisms to help us be able to make full use of standards based data.
07:45So, that's what we're talking about here, that interoperability isn't an either or issue.
07:51Plug and play is great when everything just works. Most often, we find when you do your analysis of
07:58your existing data ecosystem, you'll find many, in many instances, a lot of the work of integrating
08:04different data is being done manually, spending lots of time of key officers, making sure that the
08:10different data sets are properly aligned to work well together. And what we're looking for here is
08:16what are different tools that we can use to help make that manual work a bit less, to make it just
08:23that bit easier to be able to align these different kinds of data. And so, that's what we're really
08:28talking about here. It's about interoperability that can be put in place with minimal user intervention,
08:35taking away as much of the manual work as we can, and making as much as possible to be able to
08:41done automatically. So, that's what the MIMS really developed for. They started out when cities were
08:48beginning the process of using IoT data in particular, to develop smart applications. And the idea there was
08:55simply to provide some basic tools to help cities gather and use data in consistent ways, so that
09:02any useful application developed in one city could be easily ported without too much work into another
09:08city. But of course, over the years, cities are using data in more and more sophisticated ways,
09:14the challenges are changing, there's much more big data cities are using, for instance, traffic
09:18management systems that are collecting huge amounts of data from every aspect of the city traffic lights,
09:25level crossings, all kinds of things like that. In order to get that really good picture of what's
09:31happening, huge amounts of data of different types need to be brought together. And so, the MIMS
09:37are continuing to evolve to be able to address the new challenges that cities are facing. We've got 10
09:42MIMS that we've been working on over the last few years. As we're, you know, we've been revising them
09:48recently, we see effectively, there are two kinds of MIMS. There are foundational MIMS, which cover
09:55kind of generic issues, if you like, data security, data access, data representation, and so on,
10:00that are basic ways of dealing with interoperability between any kind of data. But then we also need to
10:07look at particular application areas like personal data management, or geospatial data, to look at any
10:13particular challenge about integrating and aligning data in those areas that needs to be dealt with by
10:19more specialist MIMS. And so, we're working hard to make sure that there's sets of tools that will
10:25enable you and city administrations to be able to more quickly be able to tackle the challenges and
10:31the barriers you find in building and developing your local data ecosystem. The MIMS are built in a
10:38very consistent way. This has been standardised through the ITU, the UN Agency for Telecoms, who
10:46one of the three main international standards bodies in the world. And so, this has been standardised as a
10:52process where you start with a clear objective, you divide that into capabilities, you see what the
10:56requirements that are needed are in order to deliver on those capabilities, what are the different
11:01optional mechanisms that cities might use to deliver those requirements, and then once we've
11:06identified what are the different ways that cities are using to meet a common set of requirements,
11:13how can we start to bring interoperability between those different mechanisms, and how can we check
11:19that the requirements are indeed being met. So, the aim of the MIMS is to, by identifying the key
11:26capabilities needed for data sharing and translating those capabilities into requirements, then you
11:31can start, then it enables cities to see here are the different alternatives that we could use,
11:36what are the right ones for us? We can see much more easily the pros and cons of the different
11:41mechanisms into how well that address the particular needs that we have. But it also, once we've been
11:49able to describe these different mechanisms in a common way, we can much more easily find out what
11:55commonalities there are, whether, for instance, these different approaches still use some basic
12:01standards that are in common, as an example, or whether there are some common interfaces that we
12:06can identify across which open APIs, application program interfaces, can be used to help bring data
12:13from different kinds of sources into being able to be used for particular purposes. So, this is a really
12:21important thing that we need to be doing in developing the MIMS, and with your help,
12:27we can make sure these tools are precisely the kind of tools that you need. So, the value they provide
12:33is it enables you to much more easily share and reuse the data that comes from partners that may use
12:38different approaches. It makes it much easier for you to compare and contrast the value of different
12:43approaches offered by vendors in procurements, and it makes it easier to develop a path to change
12:48technical approaches because you've got a clear sense of what you need to achieve. So, if that
12:53technical approach is no longer the best way of doing that, because you're clear about what you're
12:57doing to achieve, it's much easier to work out how to change that with another different way of
13:02delivering that to that same objective. And the procurement helpdesk can have a key role here in
13:09helping you put all of these many different complicated things into practice. They're developing
13:15procurement templates that will, first of all, provide you with the opportunity to systematically
13:20capture the functional and technical requirements that you need to address when you're procuring a
13:25product or service related to data spaces or local digital twins. And in each of those procurement
13:30templates, there's a section which addresses how the MIMS can help with that whole process. So that
13:36that will also help you be able to much more easily use and get the gain value for the minimal
13:41interoperability mechanisms. And as part of all of this process, we are developing a set of
13:48self-assessment and technical tools to help also to be able to check that the products and services
13:56offered by vendors comply with these requirements and so that you can confidently procure them and
14:01bring them into your data ecosystem and be sure that they'll work properly. And these are going to be
14:07incorporated as well into the procurement templates to enable vendors to be able to demonstrate to you
14:13that their products and services are indeed the kind of things that you need within your local data
14:18ecosystem. So hopefully this has given you a really good sense of the importance of that open architecture
14:27for your data sharing ecosystem and how the MIMS can help you address the key issues, the key barriers
14:33that may be getting in the way of sharing that data properly. And the fact that these MIMS are based
14:39on existing standards and so by implementing them you're, if you like, putting in place a great
14:44foundation that you can continue to build on in the months and years to come. So I hope this has been
14:51useful. If you want to find out more about the MIMS, the MIMS Plus are what the MIMS, if you like,
14:59focused on the European context and you can look on the Living in the EU website and find out the
15:04latest version of the MIMS so that you can get the detail of what's needed. But of course you can also
15:09come to us in Open and Agile Smart Cities and we'll be delighted to help you see how MIMS can be part of
15:16your key strategies in delivering, using data to deliver what your citizens and what your business is
15:22and what your organisations need in your city and in your community. Thank you very much indeed.
Recommended
0:51
|
Up next
0:46
2:11
6:44
5:00