- The "DigiPal" initiative, promoted by the local government and awarded by public tender to Indra, was the beneficiary of Red.es’ II Call for Smart Cities whose objective is to improve the quality of life and public services and boost transparency
- The project includes the start-up of pilots to save energy and irrigation costs and reduce pollution contributing to positioning Palencia as a tourist destination through tools that facilitate access to information by visitors and data collection to improve their experience
- According to Minsait's data obtained in similar initiatives, it is possible to reduce irrigation water consumption by 35%, reduce lighting and public buildings energy bill by at least 45% and increase tourism revenues by 5%
- "DigiPal" will help improve urban planning thanks to a system with updated and geo-referenced map information on planning records and municipal assets
Minsait, an Indra company, will develop Red.es and Palencia City Council’s "DigiPal" project, which will promote the city digital transformation in order to improve public services efficiency and urban planning, positioning the city as a tourist destination and speeding up citizens' access to information. Indra was awarded the contract in the public tender of the initiative presented by the City of Palencia to the "II Call for Smart Cities" of Red.es
To carry out this project, Minsait will rely on the Advanced Technologies Hub of Valladolid, which currently has more than 70 highly specialized professionals in areas such as Big Data and the Internet of Things.
Energy and water bill reduction, decrease of CO2 emissions and the improvement of the sustainability of public transport services are the objectives of the four pilot programmes that will be developed within the framework of the project. According to data obtained from similar projects, irrigation water consumption could be reduced by more than 35% and lighting and public buildings' energy bills reduced by at least 45% thanks to energy efficiency policies.
To achieve this, energy and water consumption monitoring tools will be installed in three public buildings, as well as temperature, humidity and CO2 sensors, which will serve as a basis for designing an energy optimization plan.
In addition, a smart water meter system will be set up, which will facilitate the telematic reading of home counters at any time, in an agile and simple way, to resolve queries, detect errors, rationalize consumption and find out the cost before issuing invoices, reducing the need to call out council technical staff.
In addition, the smart irrigation system will be installed in four parks and will provide important economic and environmental benefits, contributing to creating a more sustainable city thanks to the incorporation of humidity sensors and other devices that will start irrigation only when necessary.
The DigiPal project will also promote smart urban mobility through the establishment of a bicycle-sharing system based on use by the community and an ecodriving system for five buses of the City Council fleet, which will make it possible to monitor driving quality and optimize fuel consumption. In addition, a demand-based transport service is included, which will allow the public to request a bus through an app to the routes that do not have fixed bus stops.
More transparent and accessible information
The initiative will also centralize information on municipal actions and services and make it available to the public through the Onesait Platform (formerly Minsait IoT Sofia2), the IoT solution with Minsait Big Data capabilities that enables easy integration and sharing information from different systems, mobile devices and social networks.
The "DigiPal" project will improve urban development planning by facilitating the collection of up-to-date and geo-referenced map information from the files and various city assets. This increases transparency and saves citizens' time for consultation, while speeding up the data exchange with other public agencies, which will result in better operations and reduce the workload of public employees.
Another important contribution in this area is the construction of a three-dimensional model of the city based on LIDAR technology (combination of laser light and 360º images), which will enable precise measurements of GPS positioning to generate a real inventory of information that enables the exact planning of new technological spaces in mobility, street cleaning optimization and accessibility improvement.
The project will also make it possible to develop a smart tourism center that will improve tourists' experience and offer them all the practical information of the city (cultural agenda, meteorology, environment, traffic, etc.) as well as offers and promotions. In addition, state-of-the-art applications will be developed to disseminate information and capture data from municipal centers in order to adjust marketing actions and services.
All these improvements in tourism management can have a significant impact on the influx and spending of tourists in Palencia. In fact, results obtained in similar initiatives have resulted in increases of around 3% in the number of visits and more than 5% in tourism revenues.
Finally, a citizen participation platform will be launched, allowing Palencians to collaborate with local government agencies by making suggestions, filing claims and reporting incidents, as well as performing direct surveys among citizens and consulting the street map generated from the municipal GIS.
About Minsait
Minsait, an Indra company (www.minsait.com), is the leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America. Minsait possesses a high degree of specialization and knowledge of the sector, which it backs up with its high capability to integrate the core world with the digital world, its leadership in innovation and digital transformation, and its flexibility. Thus, it focuses its offering on high-impact value propositions, based on end-to-end solutions, with a remarkable degree of segmentation, which enables it to achieve tangible impacts for its customers in each industry with a transformational focus. Its capabilities and leadership are demonstrated in its product range, under the brand Onesait, and its across-the-board range of services.
About Indra
Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the leading global technology and consulting companies and the technological partner for core business operations of its customers world-wide. It is a world-leader in providing proprietary solutions in specific segments in Transport and Defense markets, and the leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America through its affiliate Minsait Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products, with a high-value focus and with a high innovation component. In the 2017 financial year, Indra achieved revenue of €3.011 billion, with 40,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries and business operations in over 140 countries.
About the 2nd Red.es Smart Cities Awards
Red.es launched the 2nd Smart Cities Awards initiative with the aim of working with city councils in the development of projects to promote the expansion and competitiveness of business in those cities and to provide efficient high-quality services for residents. The City Council of Palencia submitted its application for participation in the call and was selected along with thirteen other projects for which a joint investment of €63 million is planned.
That competition has been followed by others such as the first Smart Islands and the Smart Tourist Destinations and Smart Buildings awards, for which Red.es has amassed a total budget of more than €200 million and made awards to 52 projects to date.