During the past few years Burgas Municipality has been actively implementing an approach for smart technological growth. The municipality is the national pioneer in introducing great number of smart projects – systems for mobility and waste management, environmental monitoring system, disaster and risks management system, CCTV in urban areas, public and transport sites, integrated public transport system, etc.
Joining the efforts of two municipal companies – Innovative Systems-Burgas EOOD and OP Transport and with the support of administration experts, Burgas Municipality managed to upscale its achievements by incorporating the existing intelligent systems of the city into one smart city platform. The main goal was to make the new platform easily accessible and useful to all residents and guests of the city, and helpful for the city experts.
This is the way Burgas to make its next major step towards the Smart City concept following the good practices of a number of successful European cities. The city authorities are quite aware of all the difficulties and negatives they will experience in the process of developing and implementing such an intelligent platform. But Burgas has proven it can succeed and is not afraid to the try.
In this initial version of Smart Burgas you can watch real-time video streaming, get useful information about road conditions, city traffic, streets in repair, sports and health facilities. The platform provides data on available parking spaces and bike-rental options. You can check if the weather condition is suitable for sunbathing in the summer or strolling along the beach in the winter. In the dashboard you will find even more data – the water basins level, air pollution conditions and waste-disposal sites for separated collection. A set of interactive maps visualizes the numerous points of interest in the city. The web application allows you to create your own single screen by combining your favorite set of themes.
What else can be found in the platform – information about cultural and historical landmarks, current public events in Burgas, as well as a list of useful mobile applications to help you through the city. In the Public survey module residents are able to share their active position, give recommendations and make heavy assessments. Investors can access data on properties available for sale in Burgas industrial zones and statistics about the location, number of employees and type of activity of the business companies in the area.
The platform will be a project in constant development. It is neither perfect nor fully developed yet. The system will undergo a number of improvements and it is yet to be upgraded with new modules and functionalities. But the people from the development and supporting teams are optimistic. They are convinced that with lots of effort, some hard work and mostly trough feedback and constructive criticism from its users, very soon Smart Burgas will start playing a key role in the city by improving the citizens quality of life and provoke their active involvement in urban planning and development.
The platform can be accessed at the following address: https://smartburgas.eu/en
