Sharing

The projects mentioned in this chapter are examples of platform and services sharing. For many years the BRIC has encouraged as many parties as possible to get involved in shared IT projects rather than starting them individually. This helps save public funds while creating effective service solutions.

  1. Regional Data Centre

  2. Regional CCTV platform

  3. IRISnet broadband network

  4. BOS platform

  5. Integrator of regional services

  6. UrbIS cartography tools

  7. Fix My Street

  8. E-catalogue

1. Regional Data Centre

Digital technology enables the virtualisation of servers at remote locations. Such resource sharing has several advantages:

  • Economic benefits
  • Provision of secure, reliable, high-performance infrastructure that is also easier to manage as it rationalises technologies
  • Response to the increasing need for data storage and transmission capacity

The Regional Data Centre already hosts the servers of Brussels administrations (BRIC, Brussels Regional Public Service, Bruxelles Environnement, Evere commune) and integrated platforms (BOS, NOVA, IRISbox).

The BRIC has a primary site on its premises and a secondary site at the ULB (redundant for key applications). A third room was set up at SIAMU between September and December 2014, dedicated to storing images generated by the CCTV platform.

The general project of the Regional Data Centre will be reviewed in light of the legal problems that may be generated by the recommendations of the Institut des Comptes Nationaux (National Accounts Office) in response to a request by the BRIC.

2. Regional CCTV platform

Through the BRIC, the Brussels-Capital Region runs a project for sharing of CCTV images.

A study on the appropriatness and (technical, legal and budgetary) feasibility of such a platform was submitted to the Brussels-Capital Region Government, which on 27 March 2014 commissioned the BRIC to implement the project, giving IRISnet scrl responsibility for running the platform. An annual budget of € 2 million has been set aside to cover this.

  • A technical solution was selected following a market study in October 2014.
  • This solution was implemented at two Regional Data Centre sites. The IRISnet network connects thse two sites and the various participants in the project. Technical tests were conducted between October 2014 and April 2015.
  • The West police zone was the first to integrate the platform, with 140 cameras in the second quarter of 2015.

3. IRISnet broadband network

IRISnet is the regional broadband network operated by a limited-liability cooperative whose shareholders are Mobistar, which secured the public contract i, 2012, the Brussels-Capital Region and the BRIC.

The BRIC has a control function on behalf of the contract parties. It monitors performance, efficiency and the price of the services provided.

  • As future operator of the CCTV platform IRISnet scrl has conducted a market study on the choice of a technical solution for this service.
  • The migration to a new Voice over IP platform, Unified Communication, which began in 2014 and was completed in early 2015, updated the telephony systems of the 30 contract parties (including the BRIC). 7,000 licences have been activated and 1,500 telephone terminals have been installed.
  • 26 new optic fibre connections to IRISnet have been registered, including Bruxelles Formation, Innoviris, Molière Longchamps Hospital, the new premises of Bruxelles Environnement, SIAMU's station on Avenue de l'Héliport and the Agence Régionale de Propreté.
  • 34 schools have been connected to the Fiber to the School project.
  • Following the Memorandum of Understanding (between the BRIC, the supervising public office, the Post of Brussels and Bruxelles Mobilité), regular meetings have been held to coordinate optic fibre placement to enable the sharing of the network and regional investments.
  • In July IRISnet scrl took on the management of the free Urbizone Wi-Fi network created by the BRIC in 2005. Access points have been opened at Schaerbeek town hall and Place Colignon, at the Evere branch of CPAS, Place communale in Molenbeek and around Anderlecht town hall.

4. BOS platform

BOS enables the electronic management of the secretarial aspects of all meetings and assemblies, including governments, local councils, CPAS and police zones.

  • This shared solution has already been used for 5,300 meetings. 224.470 files have been processed, saving an estimated million sheets of paper.

A new version of BOS was finalised and taken into production in 2014, providing about fifty improvements, including:

  • More intuitive interface
  • Improved browser compatibility (Firefox, Chrome, Explorer)
  • Optimal display on tablets
  • More email notification options
  • Attachment of more than one document at once
  • Access to the various bodies with various roles (such as processing agent in one commune and advisor at a CPAS)

In total BOS has been deployed at 20 institutions for almost 3,000 users:

  • CPAS branches in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe and Saint-Gilles
  • Communes of Auderghem, Anderlecht, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Etterbeek, Evere, Forest, Ganshoren, Ixelles, Jette, Molenbeek, Saint-Gilles, Saint-Josse and Watermael-Boitsfort
  • Brussels government
  • COCOF and COCOM administrations
  • Police zone 5342 (Uccle / Watermael / Auderghem)
  • IRISteam asbl

5. Integrator of regional services

An integrator of services is a critical link in the smart city chain. It is responsible for collecting and exchanging electronic data with legal value (authentic sources) between administrations and so reducing the administrative workload for citizens and businesses. In due course the administrations will no longer ba able to request data that has been made readable by the integrator of services.

The order to create a regional integrator of services was passed into law by the Brussels Parliament on 8 May 2014. The BRIC is responsible for setting up this service integration platform between regional services, with the federal level and the other federated entities.

  • The first digital data flows will be operational at the end of 2015, between the SLRB (Brussels-Capital Region's Social Housing Association), the Banque Carrefour de Sécurité Sociale (Social Security Crossroad Bank) and the Registre national (National Register). Other flows will be operated by IRISbox, including parking cards, to avoid citizens having to furnish certificates issued by federal (DIV) or communal (National Register) administrations.
  • The creation of an authentic source for addresses (BeSt Addres) has already been planned. Brussels UrbIS benefits from official recognition for reference data for the Brussels-Capital Region.

6. UrbIS cartography tools

UrbIS celebreates its 30th anniversary in 2015. It is the benchmark for cartography in the Brussels-Capital Region. There have been plenty of improvements in recent decades, including the switch from paper to digital and from 2D to 3D!

  • Checkt out Bruciel to see how far technology has come. This application can display old and new critical aerial photographs alogside each other from the years 1930 to 2012.
  • All updated cartographic data can be accessed and downloaded free of charge under an Open Data Licence developed by the BRIC and Bruxelles Mobilité.
  • Major adaptations implemented by the BRIC's UrbIS team in 2014 includes:
    • Improvements of the road data set by checking almost 2,500 hectares, 90,000 addresses, 4,500 traffic directions, 540 parking areas, 120 traffic loghts, 21 advertising hoardings
    • Incorporation of such "objects" as public transport websites, central reservations, tunnels, bridges and viaducts
    • Incorporation of 1,500 buildings in 3D and 2,100 buildings in 2D
  • Overflights of the Region were made in the spring of 2014 (by the Aerodata-Avineon consortium) to create the orthophoto plans and update the photogrammetric data of 2D and 3D buildings.

The Brussels-Capital region's geo-portal

The geo-portal is covered by the EU INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the Europea community) directive, the aim of which is to map the entire territory of the EuropeanUnion. This entails the interoperability of mapping databases in all member states.

For the Brussels-Capital Region the data of several institutions (Bruxelles Environnement, Bruxelles Mobilité, Bruxelles Développement urbain, Institut bruxellois de statistiques et d'analyse, STIB, BRIC) has been harmonised to render them compatible and enable them to be consolidated in the geo-portal (February 2014). Seventy-seven data sets can currently be used in the map creation interface and 24 thematic maps can be accessed.

7. Fix My Street

Launched jointly by the BRIC and Bruxelles Mobilité in 2013, the Fix My Street app now covers all 19 Brussels communes.

Citizens can use the app to report any problems in the public space through a single point of contact, including potholes, broken pavements, defaced walls, faded road markings and, with the latest update published in November 2014, problems with public lighting and road signs.

  • Each incident is geotagged and a photo may be added.
  • Citizens do not have to waste time finding out which body to contact. They simply send a message and the back office forwards it to the competent authority. STIB, Vivaqua, Belgacom and Sibelga also already use the platform and are notified of incidents that concern them.
  • The app can be used to monitor an incident and receive email notifications of work that is carried out.
  • Fix My Street has almost 400 'corporate' users, including the communal urban development ans public hygiene services, applicants and road managers.
  • A little over 3,300 citizens have used Fix My Street to report a problem since launch.
  • In total, almost 26,000 incidents have been reported. 6 out of 10 have been resolved. Sometimes, extensive work has to be properly planned and in some cases it is up to a private owner to handle the problem.

8. E-catalogue

As part of its activities, the BRIC works on joint contracts for IT equipment among other things. THe 125 representative institutions can access an online version of the procurement catalogue.

  • The high order volumes ensure that the public authorities are able to make savings by accessing atractive prices.
  • Managed on the basis of public contracts entered into by the BRIC in the name and at the expese of the representative administrations, this e-catalogue saves them the trouble of conducting their own procedure and allows them to shop online.

In 2014 the BRIC and its clients ordered almost €14 million worth of IT equipment and services through the e-catalogue.

In 2015 the BRIC will function as a central contracting office with power to award contracts in its own name and for third parties. The e-catalogue will be adapted to reflect this.