2018 Challenge Problem

The Opportunity

Earlier this year, the City of San Diego announced the world’s largest Internet of Things (IoT) platform deployment. By placing 3,200 CityIQ™ intelligent nodes on streetlights across the City, San Diego is putting powerful real-time data into the hands of the community and benefiting from a new app economy.  Deployment began and is expected to be completed in early 2018. As part of the initiative, San Diego launched an open data platform for residents to see data about city operations, public safety, street repairs, public facilities, code enforcement and business licensing. The platform features open APIs for accessing and using the data. The City is building a new business and cross-departmental collaboration model to leverage the multi-application, horizontal digital infrastructure enabled by CityIQ and the developer community to solve city challenges in parking/traffic optimization, urban planning, pedestrian safety, gunshot detection and more.  In conjunction with the city, the Port of San Diego also deployed 23 CityIQ intelligent nodes to provide a comprehensive coverage and streamline the residents and visitors experience. Cal State students are the first group invited to get their fingers on the pulse of San Diego and unleash your innovation with ubiquitous real-time live data. 

The Challenge

The City of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan is one of the most ambitious in the country and the City sees a need to incorporate smart city solutions if it is to reach its goals. The City is getting feedback from app developers who say they are excited by the opportunity to work on efforts that also allow them to be civically engaged. Develop an app to tackle urban challenges like climate change, traffic optimization, mobility, and more by bringing together a variety of information sources using Predix services, CityIQ live data, real-time natural and man-made environment data APIs, historical datasets that may provide insights, and information extracted from related activity datasets. The app should have a web-accessible front-end. Finally, develop a business plan to ensure long-term sustainability of the solution. The teams will present to city and port leaders of San Diego. 

Current by GE logo

The app needs to be built on Predix, GE’s application platform for the Industrial Internet. Predix is a development and runtime platform optimized for industrial IoT solutions. Predix makes environments intelligent, by converting

physical sensor data into actionable analytics.

(Note: Since live data will be available from San Diego, usage of Predix Machine (Edge) and sensor interfacing is optional for this challenge. However, students who wish to pass the Predix certification exam will need to learn Predix Machine concepts.)