SynchroniCity is built around a simple idea: What is the minimal common technical ground needed in a global market for IoT-enabled services for cities and communities?
This page gives you a brief overview of the SynchroniCity architectural framework model, which is a realisation of the Open & Agile Smart Cities āMinimal Interoperability Mechanismsā, also known as MIMs (see below).
If you just want toĀ get started, hit the link to explore theĀ reference implementation and API documentation and follow the easy steps to create your own local runtime instance. You can alsoĀ dive straight into theĀ Live SynchroniCity Cloud SandboxĀ or ourĀ Atomic Services.
Technically, SynchroniCity is a mix of a very pragmatic approach (just make sure it works) and an ambition to build on consensus fora, best practice and existing standards, applicable for all stages of the IoT-enabled service life-cycle, also long-term.
Since cities and communities are quite different, but with many structural commonalities and common needs, SynchroniCity builds on a broad and inclusive baseline of inputs and requirements. This has led to the concept of minimal interoperability, meaning that the implementation can be different, as long as some pivotal points in any given architecture use the same interoperability mechanisms.
Interoperability points are independent from the specifications and software components, the mechanisms,Ā that realise them and can be implemented by cities and communities in different steps to reach different levels of compliance.
The mechanisms are vendor-neutral and technology-agnostic, meaning that anybody can use them and integrate them in existing systems and offerings.
During the first phase of SynchroniCity, the principles and guidelines have been developed into a full-fledged architectural framework model and a reference architecture, which is documented in detail in the reportĀ Reference Architecture for IoT-Enabled Smart Cities.
The second phase is a large-scale market validation of the OASC MIM approach, withĀ 49 pilot deploymentsĀ in 18 cities in Europe and beyond.
Below, you can see an overview of the OASC MIMS, with a short description and links to the SynchroniCity specifications. There are currently three MIMs that are adopted by the more than 100 members in the OASC Council of Cities.
Finally, this overview includes a snapshot of theĀ data and servicesĀ that were available in the SynchroniCity core cities to the pilots when they were planned. While available live to the pilots and partners already, this catalogue will over the course of the pilots evolve into a marketplace accessible beyond the project partners, including data, services, hardware and training.
More detailed information is already offered on the SynchroniCity Framework concept ofĀ Atomic Services, which are a way to encapsulate functionality so that it works in any OASC/SynchroniCity-compliant environment.
OASC MINIMAL INTEROPERABILITY MECHANISMS (MIMS)
| MIM | MIM Name | Interoperability Point | Description |
| 1 | OASC Context Information Management MIM | Context Information Management API | This API allows to access to real-time context information from different cities. |
| 2 | OASC Data Models MIM | Shared Data Models | Guidelines and catalogue of common data models in different verticals to enable interoperability for applications and systems among different cities |
| 3 | OASC Ecosystem Transaction Management MIM (āMarketplaceā) | Marketplace API | The API exposes functionalities such as a catalogue management, ordering management, revenue management, Service Level Agreements (SLA), license management, etc. Complemented by marketplaces for services, hardware and training. |
| 4 | Security | Security API | API to register and authenticate users and applications in order to access services. |
| 5 | Storage | Data Storage API | This API allows to access to historical data and open data of cities. |
MIMs 1-3 (indicated in the blue box above) were adopted by the OASC Council of Cities on January 16, 2019.
The SynchroniCity reference implementation of the MIMs is offered to all cities, but it is not the only way to implement the OASC MIMs ā some cities simply use their existing services, including data marketplaces, and other implementations will be created as part of the pilot phase.
Below is a list of the SynchroniCity implementations with links to the documentation.
| MIM | MIM Name | SynchroniCity Implementation |
| 1 | OASC Context Information Management MIM | SynchroniCity Context Management API |
| 2 | OASC Data Models MIM | SynchroniCity Data Models |
| 3 | OASC Ecosystem Transaction Management MIM (āMarketplaceā) | SynchroniCity Marketplace API |
| 4 | Security | SynchroniCity Security API |
| 5 | Storage | SynchroniCity Data Storage API Historical |