Smart City Data Science: Towards data-driven smart cities with open research issues

Cities are undergoing huge shifts in technology and operations in recent days, and 'data science' is driving the change in the current age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0 or 4IR). Extracting useful knowledge or actionable insights from city data and building a corresponding data-driven model is the key to making a city system automated and intelligent. Data science is typically the scientific study and analysis of actual happenings with historical data using a variety of scientific methodologies, machine learning techniques, processes, and systems. In this paper, we concentrate on and explore Smart City Data Science, where city data collected from various sources such as sensors, Internet-connected devices, or other external sources, is being mined for insights and hidden correlations to enhance decision-making processes and deliver better and more intelligent services to citizens. To achieve this goal, artificial intelligence, particularly, machine learning analytical modeling can be employed to provide deeper knowledge about city data, which makes the computing process more actionable and intelligent in various real-world city services. Finally, we identify and highlight ten open research issues for future development and research in the context of data-driven smart cities. Overall, we aim to provide an insight into smart city data science conceptualization on a broad scale, which can be used as a reference guide for the researchers, industry professionals, as well as policy-makers of a country, particularly, from the technological point of view.

Automated summary

Cities are going through significant technological and operational changes, with data science driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Extracting valuable knowledge and insights from city data and building data-driven models are crucial for automating and enhancing city systems. Artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning, plays a vital role in providing deeper understanding of city data and enabling intelligent city services.