Although I loved maps since I was a child, I had never thought about working in this field until I was introduced to the geographic information world by the internationally renowned geographer, Professor Chor-Pang Lo, who was born and educated in Hong Kong. Following his teaching 30 years ago, I continued in his path of passing on my knowledge and experience in the geographic information system (GIS) to the next generations. It is really amazing!
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In the Spanish IESE Business School’s global smart city ranking, Hong Kong was ranked the 10th among 174 cities in the world, and the 3rd in the Asia-Pacific region. The top five in the Asia-Pacific region included Tokyo (4th in the world), Singapore (9th), Seoul (19th) and Taipei (27th).
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Over the past year, Hong Kong has experienced social turmoil and the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and stores closing down and rising unemployment rate, the society is filled with pessimism. However, judging from the latest international rankings, the international society does not share the same pessimistic view on Hong Kong, rather they think that Hong Kong’s performance keeps improving.
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A few years ago, “smart city" was a new concept in Hong Kong. However, in recent years, it has become widely known as more people join in the discussions and practices. There are many good examples: the Common Operational Picture developed by the Civil Engineering and Development Department facilitates government departments to formulate emergency plans with maps on various aspects integrated with the latest information to monitor the situation when a typhoon hits Hong Kong. The interactive map dashboard which tracks local COVID-19 epidemic and presents the latest information in a one-stop manner is also a good illustration. It enables the citizens to get the information at a glance. Since its launch in early February this year, the number of visits by the public has exceeded 30 million, showing a wide acceptance.
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Smart city schooling
In the Liberal Studies Paper 2 of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) this year, it excited me that out of the three questions, there was one about smart city development. Why? Being selected as an examination question means that “smart city" has become a topic of significance and great interest in Hong Kong.
The first global COVID-19 dashboard by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) of the United States has received enthusiastic response around the world. The dashboard attracts an average of 1.2 billion views per day. It is an exemplar of the benefits of open data – and how quickly it can be deployed to good effect when the will is there. Hong Kong cannot use the COVID-19 crisis or other pettier considerations stand in its way to securing the obvious benefits of open data. 繼續閱讀
Almost all of Hong Kong’s foods are imported. More than half of rice is from Thailand, while Vietnam supplies 25%. As for pork, since the outbreak of African Swine Fever last year, Hong Kong has reduced the import of live pigs from the Mainland and has imported more frozen meat from Brazil, Thailand, Spain, the Netherlands, the United States, and France, etc.
As early as 2016, the Smart City Consortium (SCC) that I founded has submitted an advisory paper to the government, pointing out that one of the requirements for a smart city was that all information of the government and authorities be available in “digital by default". It enhances governance transparency and respects the public’s right to know. In early January, the SAR Government announced more than 650 new datasets will be released this year via the Public Sector Information Portal (data.gov.hk) for free viewing and use by the public. The move comes after more than 80 government bureaus and departments published their first annual open data plans last year. Such a move fulfills the commitment made by the chief executive in her Policy Address last year. It can also be seen as an important step toward “digital by default". 繼續閱讀
