The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), in its capacity as the national reference for all matters related to data and artificial intelligence (AI) in the Kingdom, contributes to meeting the requirements of the Kingdom’s economic and demographic growth by achieving sustainable urban development in cities to enhance the prosperity and quality of life of citizens and residents. This initiative includes improving the urban landscape in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing and the Riyadh Municipality by preparing public spaces in cities to improve their level of services to meet the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030.
SDAIA managed to enhance this national role by establishing the National Smart Cities Platform (smart C), which aims to support several vital sectors, including the municipal sector, to play a key role in supporting the ministry’s work in improving the urban landscape from any distortion that may occur in various cities of the Kingdom, as well as its role in supporting planning work and raising the quality of life to promote the objectives of the Quality of Life Program, which is one of the programs of the Saudi Vision 2030.
SDAIA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry last year aimed at maximizing the use of technologies, data analyses, and AI and activating the concept of smart cities in a bid to enhance the Kingdom’s entrepreneurship in the field to reach the joint strategic objectives of raising the level of municipal and housing services and achieving urban sustainability in all regions of the Kingdom, especially in Riyadh.
Through this memorandum, SDAIA has sought to employ its smart solutions, data analytics, and AI systems to support the ministry’s targets in developing and providing smart-city platforms to enhance operational activities related to city cleaning, addressing visual distortion, and public health, while providing analyses for population and urban expansion, to support in its endeavor to upgrade the level of planning, distribution of services, improving the quality of life, and improving smart city services through sharing technical expertise and proof-of-concept experiences for smart city products for the municipal and residential sectors.
SDAIA has worked on finding technical solutions to monitor aspects of visual distortion in Riyadh City in a bid to improve the urban landscape through covering the entire capital city and in a periodical manner with a fleet of vehicles equipped with high-resolution cameras (Dashcams) to build a digital representation of the city.
SDAIA has also worked on developing AI solutions and models to automate control processes in detecting forms of visual distortion by sending the monitored data to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing to support its field work in monitoring and addressing places of visual distortion.
In support of this cooperation, SADAIA has put in place the urban landscape improvement service, through the “Tawakkalna” application, to file and follow up on reports of visual distortion through the application through which it seeks to adopt a new approach in the process of preserving cities and urban planning in order to achieve positive interaction between residents and their cities and increase cooperation to maintain their cleanliness.
Meanwhile, SDAIA signed an MoU with the Riyadh Municipality this year to establish the “Amana” laboratory for data analysis and support the municipality’s decisions. The MoU seeks to improve the quality of life and contribute to developing the municipality’s work, services, and various activities.
The MoU aims to use SDAIA’s capabilities in employing the latest technologies and tools to help advance the quality of municipal services. It also aims to create technological solutions based on AI and data to develop the city’s management sustainably.
The “Amana” laboratory focuses on boosting analysis and foresight capabilities and employing smart-city solutions, data analytics, and AI models. It plans to achieve this goal by sharing technological expertise and proof of concept for the products of smart cities in the municipality.
SDAIA has been keen to promote the concept of societal partnership in preserving the urban landscape of the Kingdom’s cities, especially the capital, Riyadh.
During the 2nd Global AI Summit held in September, SDAIA launched the Smartathon-the Smart Cities Challenge to develop modern solutions to improve the urban landscape in the Kingdom’s cities.
Smartathon launched through a strategic partnership between the Ministry of Municipal Rural Affairs and Housing, the Royal Commission for Riyadh City and Riyadh Municipality, aims to develop technical solutions that help detect and reduce visual distortions using data and AI.
Source: Saudi Press Agency