Auckland Council's Safeswim receives Asia Pacific gong in IDC's 2018 Smart Cities Awards

Auckland, New Zealand, 5th July 2018 – IDC today announced Auckland Council’s Safeswim program as the winner of the Smart Water Category, in the Smart Cities Asia Pacific Awards. Auckland Council beat out competition from South Korea, Australia and Hong Kong to take the top honours in its catergory.

From February to November 2017, Auckland Council and Watercare worked in partnership with Surf Life Saving Northern Region and the Auckland Regional Public Health Service to upgrade the ‘Safeswim’ program, to better provide accurate information about swimming conditions in the region.

Safeswim now provides a fully-integrated web and digital signage platform to provide advice for beach users, allowing them to ‘check before they swim’ and make informed decisions about when and where to swim. The system combines real-time data on the performance of the wastewater and stormwater networks with predictive models, to generate forecasts of water quality at 92 swimming sites around the Auckland region. The water quality predictions include a range of factors such as rain intensity, duration and location, as well as tide, sunlight, wind speed and wind direction. The water quality information is complemented with advice from Surf Life Saving Northern Region and the Auckland Regional Public Health Service on other safety hazards, such as dangerous wind and wave conditions, rip currents and the presence of hazardous marine life.

The safeswim.org.nz website is the primary communication channel for Safeswim, supplemented with on-location signage Safeswim predictions now have a 67-86% accuracy when identifying swimming conditions — a major improvement over earlier programmes.

Matt Montgomery, Head of Innovation, Auckland Council says, “Safe Swim is an excellent example of how Auckland Council, along with its partners, has innovated to deliver a world-class data analytics platform that has been able to engage and inform Aucklanders as to the condition of water quality across our beautiful beaches. Our Smart City Programme, which we are launching in September, will aim to deliver outcomes like these across a wide range of topics to ensure we can make Auckland the world’s most liveable city.”

IDC Market Analyst Jefferson King says, "In recent years New Zealand has been experiencing tremendous population growth in its urban centres, putting strain on infrastructure such as roading and housing. To help cope with these growing pains, cities need to use resources more efficiently and that’s what Smart Cities are all about. Auckland Council is doing just that, with a range of innovative projects that leverage technology to provide positive social outcomes."

"What stood out about the Safeswim project was the high level of collaboration between the different organisations and the increased accuracy it delivers. The positive outcomes of the project itself are clear, helping locals make better informed decisions regarding swimming safety."
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