Smart Cities Council launches apps gallery for smart cities

WASHINGTON, USA: The Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition to advance smart city development and innovation, announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind Smart Cities Apps Gallery showcasing smartphone apps created by, and for, cities around the world. This gallery adds to its growing list of hands-on resources for the world's city leaders and planners.

Featuring nearly 200 apps, the gallery demonstrates how cities, both large and small, are using them to connect with citizens around the clock. In total, the gallery includes 10 separate app collections: Citizen Reporting, Economic Development, Environment, Health and Human Services, Inside City Hall, Local Government Services, Property and Neighborhoods, Public Safety, Recreation and Entertainment, and Transportation.

For example, the citizen reporting apps enable citizens to report things such as potholes or graffiti and other public nuisances. The public safety and emergency services collection features apps such as tsunami evacuation notices and crime bulletins from the local police department.

One of the largest collections contains a variety of transportation-related apps ranging from road condition reports to public transit schedules to bike routes, parking apps and more. There is even a special collection for city hall employees, which features planning tools, meeting apps and the like.

"The role of the Smart Cities Council is to support and educate cities on their path to better livability, workability and sustainability. The new Apps Gallery allows decision makers to see what is possible for their communities," noted Smart Council chairman Jesse Berst.

"It demonstrates the many ways cities can repurpose their data to improve transparency while also improving quality of life. The Apps Gallery joins our many other tools and resources, including case studies, financial calculators and our Smart Cities Readiness Guide."

The gallery features apps on a variety of platforms, including Windows Phone, Android, iPhone and BlackBerry. Many of the apps have been created by cities in-house; others have been created by third-party developers using publicly available data from cities and other government agencies.

The gallery also features a number of apps from Smart Cities Council Partners including IBM, Cisco, Itron, MasterCard, Microsoft and Zipcar.

Part of the Council's premium resource library that helps cities navigate emerging smart city opportunities, the Apps Gallery will be updated regularly and expanded to include iPad and Web apps.