The ratio of rural and urban population reached equilibrium state in the year 2010. This was an important stage as it signified that mankind is moving towards one that is primarily dependent on secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors. Projections show that people living in urban areas will constitute 70% of total population in the next 35 -40 years.

The rise in number of urban population within a relatively small period of four decades is going to be a significant challenge for government and city planners in terms of greater congestion, extra burden on resources, pollution, etc. At the same time, it also presented opportunities to business entities for providing effective and sustainable solutions to these challenges. In fact, the future of many of these entities will be determined by the kind of solutions being offered by them to the problems that will originate mostly in urban spaces. And the solutions will have to be sufficiently innovative to take that into account.

The concept of a 'Smart City' – the systematic integration of ICT and technology into cities – has emerged in recent years as a route to providing citizens with better quality services and a more sustainable environment in which to live. Smart Cities are a part of the broader Digital Economy. They are are not an isolated phenomenon but are part of a broader transition towards a digital economy.

Geography is central to most smart cities solutions. Geospatial has become an enabler across the smart city sub system right from the way energy efficiency is monitored to transportation planning, public safety measures, educational establishments, etc. Since most of the city services have a geographic component, they are inherently defined by 'where' things are, whether it is a pipe, a property or a permit. Geospatial technology is inevitably central to these activities. Asset monitoring, sustainable urban planning, intelligent routing and transportation services in real-time location data. A centralized information system based on GIS provides an IT framework, which integrates every aspect of smart city processes – starting from conceptualization, planning and development to maintenance.

ICT allow city officials to monitor ongoing activities in the city, understand its evolution, and plan its further development with accurate information. Network of sensors, cameras and wireless devices, connected through Internet of Things, helps bridge the gap between city authorities and the community. Data collected from these devices and from the citizens will be processed and analyzed to create real-time knowledge, which becomes key to tackling inefficiency.

Geospatial technology allows planners to start from existing conditions and design from there, rather than starting from a blank canvas since there is no blank canvas in reality. It also helps build their conceptual design on the reality models – this ensures that all the stakeholders and citizens are aware about the developments.

At first, the challenge of building a smart city may seem unsurmountable. But the solution is to take a step at a time. If one starts with the right core technologies, new services can be built one at a time.

For the past two decades, every city has generated huge amounts of valuable data from every operational department, whether it be Municipality, Urban, Land, Police, Traffic Control, etc. However, this data can provide spatial insights or spatial connectivity. Geospatial technologies connect these with real world space and make us understand what belongs where and how cities can measure and monitor every aspect of the data providing better decision-making. It is central to providing a technology platform that forms the backbone of a city - enabling better city governance through greater automation, better asset monitoring, sustainable urban planning and intelligent routing and transportation services. It is enabling government authorities to provide a new level of service to both business and public. If there is one ingredient that make a city smart, it is data. The combination of various sources of fine grain data allows a city to develop real insight into societal challenges like sustainability.

With the theme 'Geospatial & ICT enabling smart cities', the two-day program will feature experts from urban/city planning, engineers/consultants, mobility and transportation experts, technology providers and research/academic institutes to brainstorm on the opportunities, challenges and scope for developing a truly smart city through integration of ICT and geospatial technologies.