Conceptual modelling of sensor-based geographic data: interoperable approach with real-time air quality index (AQI) dashboard

The rapid and uncontrolled development in the urban environment leads to significant problems, negatively affecting the quality of life in many areas. Smart Sustainable City concept has emerged to solve these problems and enhance the quality of life for its citizens. A smart city integrates the physical, digital and social system in order to provide a sustainable and comfortable future by the help of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). However, the integrated management of urban data requires the inclusion of ICT enabled SDI that can be applied as a decision support element in different urban problems by giving a comprehensive understanding of city dynamics; an interoperable and integrative conceptual data modelling, essential for smart sustainable cities and successful management of big urban data. The main purpose of this study is to propose an integrated data management approach in accordance with international standards for sustainable management of smart cities. Thematic data model designed within the scope of quality of life, which is one of the main purposes of smart cities, offers an exemplary approach to overcome the problems arising from the inability to manage and analyse big and complex urban data for sustainability. In this aspect, it is aimed to provide a conceptual methodology for successful implementation of smart sustainable city applications within the international and national SDIs with environmental quality of life theme. With this object, firstly, the literature on smart sustainable cities was examined together with the scope of quality and sustainability of urban environment along with all related components. Secondly, the big data and its management was examined within the concept of the urban SDI. In this perspective, new trends and standards related to sensors, internet of things (IoT), real-time data, online services and application programming interfaces (API) were investigated. After, thematic conceptual models for the integrated management of sensor-based data were proposed and a real time Air Quality Index (AQI) dashboard was designed in Istanbul, Türkiye as the thematic case application of proposed models.