For the more than 40 million people who travel to Las Vegas each year, the city is synonymous with entertainment, from shopping and gambling to sports, nightlife and world-renowned restaurants. But for the 650,000 people who live in Las Vegas, the reality is more routine than glamorous. For these people, this is where they live, work, go to school, walk their dog and shop. According to the city’s CIO Michael Sherwood, The challenge is to serve visitors while continuing to provide services to residents, ensuring the city operates as efficiently as possible.
As part of these efforts, he and his team are focusing on improving things like traffic management with the right data and digital technologies. „Although new technologies always appear every year, we shouldn’t pay too much attention to them,” he explains. CIOs need to analyze their goals and problems, then figure out how connectivity, data and technology can help them.
No dangerous turns
For example, when city officials received complaints about accidents and wrong-way driving at an intersection near Las Vegas City Hall, they knew they had to improve the situation. As many as 40 incidents were recorded in some days. At first, the city sent crews to monitor the intersection during the day, but couldn’t predict when an incident would occur.