In late August, Prof. Charles Wong and Prof. John Shi from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics (LSGI) were honoured with the 2021 Smart 50 Awards for their smart city projects. It is the first time that LSGI research team has seized the prestigious awards. The Smart 50 Awards recognize 50 of the most innovative and influential smart cities’ projects around the world, in partnership with Smart Cities Connect, Smart Cities Connect Foundation and US Ignite. The award presentation ceremony will be held in the Untied States in late 2021.
Developed by Prof. Charles Wong Man-sing and his fellow researchers from the LSGI, the the first ever smart tree monitoring project wins the Smart 50 Awards this year. This smart management system makes use of wireless sensors and geographic information systems to predict and inspect titled trees with potential danger. The project also won a Gold Medal at the Special Edition 2021 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days organised by the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva.
Another winner of the award, Prof. John Shi, led his team to develop a comprehensive spatial analysis and onset risk prediction platform which could trace the community spread of COVID-19. By analysing Hong Kong’s urban structure, transportation network, population environment and other socio-economic data using spatial big data technologies, an algorithm was developed to accurately predict the trend of the epidemic in a well-timed manner, supporting the Public Health Department to formulate more precise preventions and control strategies.
Congratulations to Prof. Charles Wong, Prof. John Shi and all their fellow researchers!