January 18, 2010

Smarter Planet Smarter Information Processing

IBM has put up a great commercial on smarter planet.


We also mentioned about this last week when we talked about information processing helped by information technology, using an example on traffic management. The following video nicely demonstrate this.

For us IS/IT people, smarter planet means smarter information processing, with the help of computer technology. You can try identifing the three (or five) components in any of these smarter planet systems.

View more IBM's ideas here http://www.youtube.com/user/IBMAdvertising and http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/. Do you have more good ideas on where we can use a smarter system?

7 comments:

Paloma Velez said...

I think that the whole bus idea would be such a good idea because I ride MARTA everyday and I never know when a bus is going to arrive and it is so frustrating! I also think the bus stops in the video would make the roadways look a lot prettier.

violetvera2 said...

It's sometimes a job in itself just to keep up with the bus schedule. I know because I tried it for 3 weeks and I was late to work twice in one week. The second week I finally decided that it was a good idea to leave my place an hour and a half earlier than my scheduled work time and the marta stop was only 0.8 miles from my place. My ride to work was only 15 minutes long. But I had to leave that early because the buses were so unpredictable. So I definately believe that what they are trying to do with the bus system would be a wonderful thing. Just imagine, some people have to spend an extra 3 hrs of travel time to their 8/9 hr work days. They could use that time towards more constructive thing. Which would eventually make us more efficient as a people.

maritza barron said...

I believe the bus idea is great. I have rode the bus a couple of times and have waited more than usual since i was not aware of the route schedule. One good thing about riding Marta is that it shows the time it will take for the next train to arrive. If buses started to show the time like in the video. I would definitely consider riding them more often. Plus the paying method is way more convenient.

Jason Wilson said...

Transportation now a days is one of the biggest things in the United States. So many people rely on other types of transportation rather than their own personal car. Buses and trains are the two biggest public transportation and these two alone help our economy function properly. The only problem that buses and trains have been having lately is over crowding and unpredictable arrival times. If buses and trains were to start posting specific times for the public i think it would speed up the process of transportation, help our economy run more smoothly, and not only help the people using the transportation but it would make the jobs of the drivers of the buses and train drives a lot more easier, since they had a planed schedule to stick to. Overall I think the istop is a wonderful invention and I believe devices like this should be placed all throughout the country. A recent upgrade (adding a time board for arrivals) in the marta station has really increased the functionality of marta and has made the whole process of traveling more user friendly.

Qun Zhu said...

this world is full of technology, and people have never give up to create more advance way to make this world a better living place. However, problem with transition is one of the biggest problem for everyday life now. Bus riders have to wait on line to buy ticket, it may cause they to miss the bus. As IBM commercial show us that in future if we can buy ticket online and never have to be late to get to our destination. And showing the time on the station will also help us to make better decision for whether riding this bus would be the fastest way to make to our destination.

Jenaye said...

I believe that the istop is a great idea. In this world today technology has no limits. People are creating new inventions day after day,that are helpful to individuals. I remember when I was a freshmen in college amd riding the bus aggravated me because I never would be able to actually tell my boss what time exactly I would get to work when I woud leave school, but with the invention of istop this would no longer be an isssue.I also hate how people would write all over the bus stops causing it to look trashy over a period of time but thanks to the type of glass they make on the screens graffiti will automatically disappear. I believe more people would begin to ride marta with the new invention of istop. As for myself although I have a car now I would definitely save my gas and ride marta if istop was to come to an area nearby.

Loan Le said...

I have another idea for using information technology to regulate traffic control. Sometimes it just seems ridiculous to be the only car waiting at a traffic light that may take forever to change when there’s no cars around. Now, we don’t think pollution within our own context, but if we think of millions of cars in the U.S. alone at the same time or other times during the same day waiting for nothing like that too, pollution levels can get pretty high. A possible solution is an installment of a highly modified sensory system able to detect which side of the intersection has more cars and which have less, or even whether there are cars or not, to accommodate the time span for passage according to which side needs more. Kind of like a pull of attraction but not exactly. What if one side dominates over the others? The system should also be able to allow a little time for those waiting against the heavier flow. That way, road congestion may be treated somewhat.