Business Case: Countering Particulate Matter with Analytics

A "Smart City" includes much more than just connected cars. Today, even complex environmental problems can be solved "smartly". In order to illustrate what is already possible with Smart Analytics, KYBEIDOS has created the showcase "Forecast of fine dust pollution". Based on the latest Hadoop and SAS technologies, we created an exemplary Smart Data environment.

The goal is a consistent scenario: from measurement/capture of data to analysis and control processes in the city. At the end of this process, the decision is made as to which concrete measures are to be derived from problematic measured values. In the case of an acutely increased load, this could mean, for example, that power plants are shut down. For our demo case, we use publicly available data (from the Stuttgart region) and investigate how certain factors affect the development of particulate matter. So far, so good. But what is exciting is that we can make a forecast for the development of the next two weeks.

This is not only highly interesting from an environmental policy point of view, but also a real economic factor: After all, exceeding threshold values can result in EU fines running into millions!

But the proof that it is technologically possible was not enough for us. To make sure that this showcase does not remain in a vacuum, we went looking for support for this project. Because such an ambitious analysis project requires a strong network.

Partnerships with SAS and the various Hadoop distributors formed the foundation for the technological basis. But also the research side and the Open Data community showed a clear interest in supporting the project. Especially the cooperation with universities ensures the innovative power at all points of the predictive evaluation.