At the end of September, we managed to launch an exceptional novelty. It’s a so-called DataHub – an innovative solution for data management and digitization of Prešov. Its first “live” testing took place at the Hackathon event: Digital Twin of the City of Prešov. It was even used by the nolimit winning team, who designed a system for measuring the instantaneous electricity consumption of objects in the city. And that’s just the beginning.
Why was the solution created?
Before the introduction of DataHub, the city faced problems related to ownership and availability of data. Each software vendor had their own databases and the city had almost no control over them. In addition, the operation of “city” applications (parking payment services, etc.) by third parties poses a risk of unavailability of these services after the termination of the contract with the supplier.
That’s why the idea of creating DataHub came up – a local solution that will ensure centralized data storage and make it available to future software suppliers, websites or applications for the city. All data is now stored on servers in the office in Prešov and thanks to DataHub, third parties can safely access and work with it.
What does DataHub bring to the city of Prešov?
Centralized data management
DataHub Prešov allows the city to centrally manage all data. New software solutions should draw data exclusively from this source, ensuring data consistency and availability.
Open source code
Developers who will be creating new software solutions for the city should publish their documentation and source code on DataHub. Thus, the project will be able to be further expanded and managed even after the end of cooperation with a supplier.
IoT and asynchronous communication
DataHub Prešov solution contains the MQTT broker, which enables asynchronous data communication. Thus, it ensures a constant flow of data and allows for IoT devices to be used for their collection and processing. Currently, for example, GPS data on public transport vehicles is sent to DataHub every 15 seconds via the MQTT broker. This can be used, for example, when developing an application that monitors public transport and its delay or outage.
Documentation
Each project that uses DataHub Prešov has space to publish its own documentation and source code in GitLab. Its publication on datahub.presov.sk is automated and programmed according to proven CI/CD processes. This facilitates the monitoring and management of projects and ensures the transparency of development. The Nextra generator was used to display the documentation, which also includes a search engine, so it’ll be possible to easily navigate in projects even in the case of a large amount of data.
Use of existing data
Today, only some existing open data is available in DataHub, such as the aforementioned location of public transport vehicles or information about the coordinates of all streets. However, many more should be added soon. This data can then be used for various purposes, such as monitoring the status of winter maintenance, emptying bins or treating greenery. There are a lot of possibilities, they just need to be thought up 🙂
Is it secure? Yes!
We can set different levels of rights for individual applications and clients that are connected to the MQTT broker. This is managed from the backend. Some data may be public, others limited to a certain group or available only for other applications. To maintain the security of the projects themselves, recommendations have been created that should be met by each development team so that their application or website can safely communicate with DataHub.
So what happens next?
DataHub Prešov is an important step towards the digital future of the city. Data centralization and open access to source code give the city more control and the ability to innovate. At the same time, the project promotes transparency and cooperation with development teams and citizens, which can have a positive impact on the development of the city of Prešov. We believe that thanks to our DataHub, we’ll soon see new useful applications for all Prešov residents. And who knows, maybe other cities will be added after some time 🙂
