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Brazil’s First ‘Smart’ City is a Tiny Tech Marvel

The small Brazilian city of Águas de São Pedro is equipped with sensors and a constant incoming supply of data.

Introducing Águas de São Pedro, Brazil’s first “smart” city. Robert Prescott reports for RCR Wireless News that this tiny municipality of 3,000 is being transformed into a digital hub. Sensors and biometrics are among the technologies being deployed to improve everything from education and health to security and tourism, the article says.

Águas de São Pedro is located 187 kilometers (116 miles) from São Paulo. The city government has partnered with Brazil’s Telefónica Vivo, the Chinese telecom giant Huawei and other companies on the project. The companies are footing the bill in the hopes that Águas de São Pedro will serve as a showroom to generate business elsewhere, RCR says.

The upgrades began in 2013. Today, mobile apps allow citizens to communicate with local officials and indicate whether parking spaces are vacant. High-tech street lights dim automatically to save energy.

Surveillance cameras that store footage for three months keep watch over traffic violations and crime. Digital medical records are replacing paper versions, with residents using a fingerprint to confirm their identity. The technology extends to public classrooms, where students are outfitted with tablets.

Read the full story here.
This article originally appeared on Citiscope. Citiscope is a nonprofit news outlet that covers innovations in cities around the world. More at Citiscope.org.