San Mateo County Harnesses IoE Capabilities to Reduce Traffic and Emissions, Boost Revenue

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1 San Mateo County Harnesses IoE Capabilities to Reduce Traffic and Emissions, Boost Revenue EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Objective Bring technology and connectivity to all areas of San Mateo County, California Strategy Partner with state and city organizations, as well as with private companies Rely on small pilot projects to test technologies and determine which would be successful at scale Keep public informed about impacts and costs Solutions Free public Wi-Fi in city of San Carlos Countywide Smart Corridor transportation project to address traffic-flow issues Smart parking in cities of San Mateo and San Carlos Wi-Fi routers on streetlights in rural Pescadero to provide Wi-Fi Internet Impact Improved wired and wireless Internet access throughout county, benefiting government, cities, citizens, and businesses Smart parking cuts traffic congestion and emissions; benefits local businesses by allowing consumers to easily find parking spots; adds potential revenue to city and county sales tax bases Links roads overseen by Department of Transportation with local municipalities to create improved commutes and enable more efficient updating and management of signs and traffic signals Background In January 2014, Cisco released the results of an in-depth analysis of the economic benefits of the Internet of Everything (IoE) for the public sector. Cisco s model revealed that some $4.6 trillion in Value at Stake would result from the adoption of IoE capabilities across 40 key public sector use cases over the next 10 years, including smart water, smart buildings, smart energy, smart parking, and more ( As a next phase of its analysis, Cisco engaged Cicero Group, a leading datadriven strategy consulting and research firm, to undertake a global study of IoE capabilities across these 40 use cases how the best public sector organizations are connecting the unconnected, as Cisco terms it. To that end, Cicero Group conducted interviews with dozens of leading public sector jurisdictions federal, state, and local governments; healthcare organizations; educational institutions; and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to explore how these global leaders are leveraging IoE today. The research examined real-world projects that are operational today, are being delivered at scale (or through pilots with obvious potential to scale), and that represent the cutting edge of public sector IoE readiness and maturity. The aim of the research was to understand what has changed in terms of the jurisdictions people, processes, data, and things, and how other public sector organizations can learn from (and replicate) the trail blazed by these global IoE leaders. In many cases, these jurisdictions are Cisco customers; in others, they are not. The focus of these jurisdictional profiles, therefore, is not to tout Cisco s role in these organizations success, but rather to document IoE excellence, how public sector entities are putting IoE into practice today, and to inform a roadmap for change that will enable the public sector to address pressing challenges on multiple fronts by drawing on best practices from around the globe. Page Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

2 About San Mateo County Smart Government San Mateo County, California, is located between San Francisco to the north and Silicon Valley to the south. Its population of more than 700,000 is spread across 20 cities, as well as suburbs and rural areas. San Mateo County has attracted industry, especially in the technology and scientific fields; companies headquartered in the county include Facebook, Oracle, Virgin America, and YouTube. We want to take advantage of some of the trends that are going on right now with open governments, Big Data, and broadband connectivity. Jon Walton, CIO, San Mateo County The Smart Government initiative is designed to bring technology and connectivity to all areas of San Mateo County. Projects include integrating parking sensors with an application to give motorists real-time parking options; a Smart Corridor highway project that monitors traffic through signs and transponders; and, eventually, Wi- Fi connectivity to all cities in the county, creating seamless connectivity between cities and transportation systems. In addition, San Mateo County is exploring ways to connect its rural towns through innovations such as wireless access points in streetlights. In each of these projects, county officials play an important coordination role, bringing together the efforts of both city governments and regional entities to provide cohesive services to county residents and visitors. San Mateo County CIO Jon Walton oversees all IT-related infrastructure, budget, and employees for San Mateo County. He has 20 years of experience in the IT field, and previously worked in IT for the City of San Jose, California, Unisys Corporation, and as deputy CIO for the City of San Francisco. He has a bachelor s degree from Humboldt State University. Objectives San Mateo County is highly diverse, encompassing both urban, high-tech areas and rural areas with very little technology infrastructure. San Mateo County is pretty interesting, Mr. Walton explained. You have what I call the East of 280 Corridor the high-tech area from South San Francisco down to Palo Alto, which is very dense, very economically affluent, and very high-tech-focused. Then you have what I call the West of 280 region, which is mainly agricultural, sparsely populated, and with not much technology at all. According to Mr. Walton, the county manager saw potential in partnering with agencies and cities that are independent but closely related to the county in terms of the services they provide. The vision was for San Mateo County to be a facilitator and organizer of shared services to bridge the gaps between adjacent cities and townships. We see San Mateo County as being a great test-bed for a lot of these ideas around what the new vision of government is, said Mr. Walton. We want to take advantage of some of the trends that are going on right now with open governments, Big Data, and broadband connectivity. San Mateo County s smart solution pilot and project portfolio include: Free public Wi-Fi in the city of San Carlos A countywide Smart Corridor transportation project to address traffic-flow issues along Highway 101 and El Camino Real Page Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

3 Smart parking in the cities of San Mateo and San Carlos Wi-Fi routers on streetlights in rural Pescadero to provide Wi-Fi Internet Strategy San Mateo County has partnered with state and city organizations, as well as with private companies, to initiate the San Mateo County Smart Government project. Participants include cities within the county, the California Department of Transportation, technology firms, and Internet service providers. The county has also relied on small pilot projects, such as Wi-Fi in the city of San Carlos, to test technologies and determine which would be successful at scale. Now we re trying to see how we can apply lessons learned from that pilot project to the entire corridor, said Mr. Walton. The companies that are in our county, and even adjacent to our county, are great test sites for ideas we d like to apply countywide. Now we re trying to see how we can apply lessons learned from that pilot project to the entire corridor. The companies that are in our county, and even adjacent to our county, are great test sites for ideas we d like to apply countywide. Jon Walton, CIO, San Mateo County The county has issued press releases and posted information about ongoing and forthcoming projects so the public can be informed about impacts and costs. The San Mateo County Smart Corridor was funded with $35 million $30 million of which was paid for with state grants. In the other projects, San Mateo County works with different municipalities and companies in public-private partnerships not only to build new connectivity solutions, but also to fill previously unconnected gaps. In this model, each shareholder retains ownership over the system or hardware, but provides access and cooperation with the county to ensure a more connected community. Solution San Mateo County s Smart Corridor project includes directional signs, changeable message signs, microwave-enabled vehicle detection systems, and closedcircuit television cameras to provide traffic monitoring and emergency response assistance. Information is transmitted via both fiber and wireless networks. A fiberoptic communications system connects the Caltrans Transportation Management Center in Oakland to 10 San Mateo County cities. Sensors and CCTVs detect traffic volume and speed at various locations, allowing electronic message signs to display messages and offer alternative routes during incident or congestion times. The project also links 250 state and local traffic signals that can be remotely adjusted depending on traffic flow and congestion. San Mateo County s smart parking pilot program uses wireless routers working in conjunction with a parking sensor network to provide parking availability data online. The routers communicate with sensors in parking spaces, aggregating collected data and communicating it to a cloud center. Consumers then access the relevant data, such as parking availability, through an app that is available for public download. In Pescadero, a rural town west of Highway 280 with limited Internet service, the County of San Mateo is working with local telecommunications firms to provide Wi- Page Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

4 Fi installation approvals to help bring greater connectivity to the area. Wi-Fi routers are being placed on streetlights to allow residents and visitors to access Internet services. Similar Wi-Fi locations have already been deployed in San Carlos. Mr. Walton commented on how the knowledge gained from the Wi-Fi pilot in San Carlos transferred to the project in Pescadero: You can take some of those things now that we ve done in the high-tech corridor, in a very dense urban setting, and start seeing how we can apply them in very rural settings. One of the things [Pescadero] has is streetlights. We proposed to augment their existing light standards by placing a wired access point on every second or third streetlight. The entire town is going to be wired in the future. Smart parking in the cities of San Mateo and San Carlos cuts traffic congestion and related emissions, and allows consumers to easily find parking spots, which benefits local businesses. It also adds potential revenue to city and county tax bases. In payment technologies, the county is collaborating with different integration vendors such as Software AG and SalesForce.com to find the best approach to create high-level software integration throughout the county. According to Mr. Walton, with this approach, it doesn t matter where you are geographically, or what type of system you re trying to interface with. It still has that same application interface, same payment engine, same sort of streamlined experience. Figure 1. San Mateo County: New and Better Connections. Source: Cisco Consulting Services, 2014 Impact San Mateo County s Smart Corridor project links the roads overseen by the Department of Transportation with local municipalities to create a more efficient commute. By connecting the communication centers and having remote-access capabilities to see real-time traffic information, message signs can be quickly updated from the centers; the county, cities, and Department of Transportation no longer have to travel to the message signs to update them. Traffic signals can also be operated remotely to accommodate traffic flow. Page Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

5 Smart parking in the cities of San Mateo and San Carlos cuts traffic congestion and related emissions, and allows consumers to easily find parking spots, which benefits local businesses. It also adds potential revenue to city and county sales tax bases. As for rural Wi-Fi, Mr. Walton commented, It s going to change, fundamentally, the connectivity of that town (Pescadero). More people are going to want to go and stay there because they re going to have connectivity. The people who live there or visit are going to be able to tap into government services or commercial services more easily. It s going to change, fundamentally, the connectivity of that town (Pescadero). More people are going to want to go and stay there because they re going to have connectivity. The people who live there or visit are going to be able to tap into government services or commercial services more easily. Jon Walton, CIO, San Mateo County Lessons Learned / Next Steps Ensuring seamless integration throughout the county is a challenge. The technology is the same, said Mr. Walton, but when you move to a different organizational model where you have a variety of geographic or political entities that all own a piece of it different school districts, townships, towns, public agencies how do you encourage individual creativity and innovation to test things out, but then help leverage successes so that everyone can take advantage of it? Working for San Francisco s IT department gave Mr. Walton insight into how a city that encompasses an entire county could own and easily manage integration of projects. By acting as the coordinator, Mr. Walton says the county can create positive experiences for consumers frequenting businesses. Mr. Walton pointed to the smart parking project as one example: Every one of those towns owns its own parking meters... If you re a citizen, what you don t want to hear is, You need a different app, or, That it is a different type of sensor every time you go to a different city. That s why the county can help working with the cities and the other jurisdictions and transportation agencies. The cities can own their back ends and have their own preferred technology, but the county can create higher-level integration to give residents the same seamless customer experience no matter where they go in the county. San Mateo County will take the successes from pilot programs and integrate them into other cities both urban and rural as well as into public transit systems to create an entirely wireless, seamless connectivity experience for residents and visitors. Each of the individual agencies has its own initiatives around creating a primarily wired, but sometimes wireless connectivity solution, primarily for their own use, said Mr. Walton. We re trying to negotiate with each of these entities about adding a layer of connectivity to their infrastructure to fill in the gaps between where the systems don t overlap, so that on any of these systems, a portion of the bandwidth and the connectivity protocols and access points would be the same no matter where you are. According to Mr. Walton, the key to making the seamless integration work between cities and agencies is to reiterate that ownership of the systems will not change hands. We think we can negotiate a joint agreement among all the agencies, so that the people who are driving down El Camino Real, the people who are driving on Highway 101, the people who are riding on the trains or taking the bus would all benefit from the same connectivity experience. Page Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

6 San Mateo County recognized that improving Internet access in rural areas is a winwin for the connectivity provider and the government. As a result, it worked to ease the burden of technology companies looking to install connectivity in rural areas by helping with the permit process. One of the challenges for telecommunications companies is the permit process; it s been difficult for some telecommunications firms to get connectivity out there. So, we re essentially going to help them get through that process to get the permits needed to build their communication connection points. Looking forward, San Mateo County is evaluating connecting the drop zones and all municipalities in San Mateo County into an integrated, seamless wireless system that brings benefits to residents and visitors who can easily access information about local businesses, and will connect rural municipalities that have never before had reliable connectivity. More Information For more information, visit