Rio Operations Center: integrating data and monitoring utilities in a truly intelligent system

Comments from the Technical Committee 

Rio de Janeiro has been hit hard by repeated Atlantic storms imperiling the city. This especially affects the mostly low income settlements that are located on the high slopes surrounding the metropolis which are prone to devastating landslides.

Following a vicious storm in 2010, Rio de Janeiro decided to create a center that operates 24 hours a day, staffed by officials from 30 city departments. This center has become a global model showing the benefits that can be derived from collaboration, alignment and data sharing across city divisions. Since the facility went online, employing some of the latest information communication technology and weather forecasting systems, there have been no deaths caused by landslides.

The model has had many other benefits for the day-to-day management of the city. Traffic emergency time response has been reduced significantly with citizens alerted about traffic snarl ups and accidents and redirected to the best routes. Data gathered for the center also enables the identification of neighborhoods with higher dengue fever infection rates. In planning the facility, Rio officials visited alert centers in Madrid, Seoul and New York, and have since forged cooperation with Johannesburg as it plans a similar system.

Background Information

The Rio Operations Center (COR) was officially created by Municipal Decree of December 23, 2010, which determined its responsibility to control the city´s daily operations, integrating several departments involved in Rio´s routine; and to manage crisis and emergency situations. The Decree also established that COR should interact with the media in disseminating and receiving information related to crises and process information from the 1746 hotline.

Goals of the Initiative

The promotion of greater integration - internal and external - of the municipal administration has been established as one of the city’s guidelines in its strategic plan.

COR was designed to improve the cooperation and the communication between government entities, and to deliver relevant information for public departments and the population. It increased the capillarity of municipal departments and their reach. Its goal is to monitor and optimize the city´s operations, as well as anticipate solutions and minimize occurrences.

COR has three areas of operation: risk prevention and management, city´s operations, and large scale events.

Aiming to improve the city´s traffic, Rio City Hall is currently investing in new monitoring cameras, smart traffic lights, electronic panels and traffic meters. As to information technology, the goal is to acquire equipment, create a new data center and implement structuring systems by 2016.

Outcomes and Assessments

The emergency response time was reduced by 30%. When any traffic incident is identified, traffic teams are rapidly sent to the location to solve it. The city´s map, with over 80 digital layers, shows data such as the present location of all municipal vehicles and equipment.

In the case of street maintenance, the center coordinates the municipal or concessionaries’ teams responsible for the repair and traffic control.

Another example was the work developed on dengue fever, a mosquito-transmitted disease with a high incidence level in summer. The geographical analysis of cases enabled the identification of the neighborhoods with the highest infection rates. City Hall used the information to implement preventive actions.

The center improved the city´s management efficiency in many different areas - public transportation is one of them. Transportation is a major challenge in megacities like Rio de Janeiro and increased efficiency and use of public transportation are key to a sustainable urban development. Representatives of bus, rapid transport, train, ferry and subway companies are present at COR.

The communication strategy is key to alerting the population about these incidents and redirecting them to the best alternative. Waze is one of the tools used, as well as three daily bulletins reporting the main occurrences are released on COR’s website, by SMS, Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as radio and TV stations which are present 24/7 in the COR.

Strengths of the Initiative and Innovation

COR has three areas of operation: risk prevention and management, city´s operations and major public events.

Risk prevention and management aims to save lives. This area includes the weather forecast, rainfall volume monitoring, and general security measures. This integration of data and teams made the Operations Center the focal point for crisis situations management in a city historically suffering from heavy rains and flooding.

In routine operations, through tools of intelligent monitoring and direct contact with the field teams, the Operations Center becomes aware on any occurrence of which could impact on the city's routine, responds with the necessary steps and guides the public about how to proceed to circumvent possible problems. Information about what happens in Rio and response actions to unexpected events is provided by all agencies and concessionaires of public services integrated in COR.

The communication with all media outlets is a two-way exchange of information that amplifies the communication of the municipal authorities´ messages, thus increasing its capillarity, and recommendations to the population. The media also warns the COR whenever there is an atypical event notified by their audiences.

COR facilities include a control room where the operators work facing a video wall. The crisis room is used for emergency meetings with different departments, connected to two other small crisis rooms, one at the mayor's official residence, and the other at the civil defense service. The press room is where media representatives are constantly releasing alerts to the population.

The creation of a channel of communication improves the public policy quality, and guarantees transparency, accountability and public trust. As part of the municipal administration innovation for a high performance management, these projects are necessary tools for the future of Rio de Janeiro as a smart city.

In an increasingly urbanized world, with local governments facing several challenges such as traffic, hampering more and more citizen´s lives and the consequences of climate change, with the proliferation of severe weather related events, an operations center is a strategic tool for smart megacities.