Australia’ s first digital city – Parramatta

Parramatta, an Australian city, 23 km west of Sydney, is on the way to becoming a showcase city for the integration of digital services into community life in that country. The ParraConnect initiative will help businesses, community groups, government stakeholders and residents capitalise on the growth of emerging connective technologies.

EnergyAustralia is putting in a $100 million smart grid to handle the electricity. Other elements of the plan include:

• Free WiFi hotspots covering most of the city. These will be situated on street lights around government, education, and shopping districts in order to create “smart corridors’ around areas of importance.
• Wi-fi kiosk terminals throughout the Parramatta CBD, which will provide access to Council, visitor and event information, details of local businesses and also allow users to submit service requests.
• A “parking availability application” to give real-time parking data to motorists via their phones.
• A “planning alert application” which will inform residents about where new developments are planned.
• An SMS service that would allow ratepayers and visitors to Parramatta to submit a service request to Council via a text message.
• On-line health care applications.
• Security camera footage streamed online in order to catch criminals.

Parramatta City Council will drive the program over the next year, working with universities, Google, Telstra, Microsoft, business owners and community leaders.

Creating a ‘˜connected’ city is a vital piece of our future infrastructure puzzle and while we’ ve made some small steps through the set-up of wireless connectivity at our libraries, through ParraConnect, we are well on our way to becoming a smarter city

said outgoing Lord Mayor Paul Garrard, who launched the initiative.

More info

• Parramatta on its way to becoming a smarter city | Parramatta City Council
• Parramatta to be Australia’s first digital city | News.com.au
• Australia’ s first digital city – Parramatta, NSW | FREE ACCESS: Technology news
• Parramatta switches on to total wireless | The Daily Telegraph

Via the ReadWriteWeb