With the right data, councils can manage already stretched resources more efficiently, helping to avoid wastage as well as ensuring services reach the people and areas that really need them.

In Birmingham, data from temperature sensors helps the council target its gritting vans to roads covered in snow or ice in winter, while avoiding those that are unaffected.

What is it?

Birmingham City Council, in partnership with Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory (BUCL), is using air temperature sensors on roads to manage responses to wintery weather, such as ice and snow.

Each of the hand-sized sensors costs around £200, compared with the £10,000 or so needed to maintain a weather forecasting station, which most councils use to monitor weather conditions. The data provided is much more accurate: decisions on where to grit can now be based on actual conditions in precise locations, rather than on forecasts for wider areas.

How does it work?

The sensors, developed in partnership with Oxford-based engineering consultancy Amey, can be fitted to lampposts and other fixtures. Here, they collect and transmit a non-stop stream of data on road-surface temperatures which local authorities, highways agencies and other organisations can use to target precisely where gritting is needed (and where it isn’t).

A wireless mesh network connects the temperature sensors and other roadside equipment such as air traffic signals, CCTV and street lights to the internet. Data from temperature sensors, as well as from a gritter fitted with a sensor, is analysed to ensure that ice, snow or flooding can be geographically pinpointed and responded to.

What are the benefits?

While too early to evaluate the full impact of this initiative, the project offers many benefits for both the council and its residents. As well as significant financial savings on petrol and grit, over time, the project could also reduce the size of the fleet required to safely manage Birmingham’s roads.

And crucially, by better coordinating the council’s response to snow and ice, the project could also reduce road accidents and congestion in the city.

This project is an example of a ‘smart city’ or ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) initiative (where everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data).

It’s estimated that by 2020, somewhere between six and 20 billion devices will be connected to one another via the internet. The data created by these devices has huge potential to improve the way cities and towns are run.