What is Smart Cities Tracker?
Smart Cities Tracker is the first themed data product from How India Lives, a Delhi-based startup that runs a search engine on all kinds of public data on India. Smart Cities Tracker, as the name indicates, is a repository of data on ‘Smart Cities’, which is the term used by the government of India for an ambitious economic programme to lift the quality of life in 97 chosen Indian cities by improving basics while drawing from technology.
The government’s Smart Cities Mission has earmarked Rs 500 crore (about $70 million) for each of the 97 cities. For every city, states and urban local bodies will match this amount. In all, that’s about Rs 97,000 crore ($15 billion) to be invested over the next five years. Further, investments are also expected to flow in through public-private partnerships.
For whom is Smart Cities Tracker useful for?
Anyone interested in specific domains of the Smart City programme, especially because of business opportunities. These would include Indian and foreign companies, small and medium enterprises, consulates, consultancies, industry associations, non-profits, etc.
The idea behind Smart Cities Tracker is to help companies make investment decisions that are backed by data. Thus, for example, a company that makes water meters can use Smart Cities Tracker to gauge the latent demand for water meters in each of these 97 cities, as well as compare the position across cities. Or, as another example, providers of urban mobility solutions can use Smart Cities Tracker for an assessment of how the residents of a city currently commute, and use it to shape interventions.
What kind of data does it have?
The data contained in Smart Cities Tracker outlines the state of these 97 cities on various aspects that constitute city life. The metrics chosen are intended to service the description of the “core infrastructure elements” outlined by the government on what constitutes a smart city and the proposals filed by individual cities, namely:
How much data will it have?
We launched Smart Cities Tracker in June with about 250 metrics, covering most of the areas outlined above. By August, we will triple this count, with a robust data capture of the domains outlined above. Even beyond that, we will constantly track the data space for these 97 cities, and keep adding to it.
Where is this data sourced from?
It is sourced entirely from public sources like Census, District Census Handbook and respective ministries, to name a handful.
Is the data priced?
Part of the data is free. Full access to the data is available only through a subscription.
What more beyond the data?
How India Lives also takes up consulting assignments around data, and we are interested to do the same in the domain of cities. Our capabilities include:
Reach us at johnraja@howindialives.com