Consolidating discovery information

Plan for all elements of a smart place

To successfully deliver a smart place, you need to plan for all elements of a smart place. This includes:

• bringing together data you need to support the problem and outcome statements
• digital connectivity to support your devices
• digital infrastructure and tools to support the movement of data and insights
• devices that can operate on different platforms (interoperable devices)
• a data platform to host and/or share the data being generated
• strong cyber security measures
• a way of using and sharing insights with the community and your organisation.

Data discovery

An important first step of a successful smart places project is confirming the need to invest in smart technologies.

To do this, find and bring together existing data and information to help you address the identified problems. You will have identified problem and outcome statements during the discovery stage.

You should consider:

• available data within your organisation
• open data
• closed public data
• private sector data.

This will help you identify any data gaps and confirm the need to invest in smart technologies to gather new primary data.

Designing for digital equity

When you are designing your solutions and smart place, you should include programs and policies that grow digital inclusion. These should address any inequities identified in the discovery phase.

You could consider:

• providing free internet in public places, such as libraries. You should make sure there are places with privacy for people to access online services confidentially.
• working in partnership with the telecommunications sector to ensure strong and reliable mobile and fixed internet coverage.
• programs to help people in your community use digital services.

For more information, read about advancing digital inclusivity.

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