The organizing committee of the 9th China Smart City Construction Technology Seminar and Equipment Expo announced at a press conference held on August 26 that, in order to meet the requirements of China's new urbanization development in the new era, further promote research on smart city-related technologies, and facilitate the application of relevant achievements in urban informatization construction, the "9th China Smart City Construction Technology Seminar and Equipment Expo" (hereinafter referred to as the "9th China Smart City Conference") will be held at the Beijing International Convention Center on November 3-4, 2014.

      The conference is co-hosted by the Information Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Department of Land Surveying and Mapping of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, the National Remote Sensing Center, the China Satellite Navigation Application Management Center, and the China Electronics Standardization Institute. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Central Committee of the Jiusan Society, and Xinhua News Agency are supporting units for this conference.

      The press conference was chaired by Wang Yi, Deputy Director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Tang Kai, Chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee and Chief Planner of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; Cui Junzhi, Chairman of the Academic Steering Committee of the Conference and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Kong Jinhui, Deputy Director of the Department of Land Surveying and Mapping of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation; Jing Guifei, Deputy Director of the National Remote Sensing Center; Liu Qixu, Director of the China Satellite Navigation Application Management Center; Wang Bao'ai, Deputy Chief Engineer of the China Electronics Standardization Institute; and Ni Jiangbo, Deputy Director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, attended the press conference.

      Tang Kai, Chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee and Chief Planner of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, first summarized the organization of the previous Smart City Conference, introduced the current preparations for the 9th China Smart City Conference and the concept of its theme "Innovation • Integration • Service", and sincerely invited pioneers dedicated to the construction and development of smart cities to participate in the 9th China Smart City Conference. Tang Kai stated that in March this year, the State Council issued the "National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)", which explicitly requires promoting smart city construction, driving innovative applications of new-generation information technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and big data, and strengthening information infrastructure such as information networks and data centers. In February last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Top-Level Design Guide for Cloud Computing-Based E-Government Public Platforms", which also required local governments to actively carry out top-level design for cloud computing-based e-government public platforms, avoid redundant construction and investment waste in e-government infrastructure, and further improve the quality of e-government development. Many cities in China have formulated and issued development plans and goals for smart city construction.

      Up to now, more than 400 cities in China have announced smart city construction, covering the eastern, central, and western regions. In addition to megacities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, some economically developed coastal cities in the east such as Hangzhou, Xiamen, and Zhuhai have also begun smart city construction. Provinces such as Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, Liaoning, Sichuan, Henan, and Anhui have proposed building "smart city clusters". After years of exploration and practice, smart city construction has moved from concept to implementation and from pilot to popularization. Tang Kai stated that the China Smart City Conference has developed into a high-level, influential, and authoritative industry event in the field of urban informatization construction in China. After multiple exchanges with experts of the Academic Steering Committee, the organizing committee supplemented the forum content of this conference, adding forums such as "Smart City Public Service Applications", "Information Network Security", "Smart City Operations and Investment & Financing", and "Housing Provident Fund and Housing Finance Informatization Development". Currently, leaders and relevant responsible personnel from smart city construction authorities in more than 20 provinces and over 100 cities nationwide, including housing and urban-rural development, economy and informatization, science and technology, and surveying and mapping departments, have confirmed their attendance.

      Subsequently, Cui Junzhi, Chairman of the Academic Steering Committee of the Conference and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the forum setup of this conference. The conference has one main forum and ten sub-forums, including the Smart City Summit Forum & Mayor Summit Forum (main forum), the Forum on Application of BeiDou Satellite Navigation System in Smart Cities, the Big Data and Smart City Forum, the Smart City Operations and Investment & Financing Forum, the Information Network Security High-Level Forum, the Smart City Public Service Applications Forum, the Housing Provident Fund and Housing Finance Informatization Development Forum, the Smart City Common Support Technologies and Applications Forum, the Smart "Digital Urban Management" & Comprehensive Social Management and Services Forum, the BIM Technology Application in Engineering Construction Forum, and the Smart Real Estate and Housing Ownership Lifecycle Management Forum.

      Academician Cui Junzhi elaborated on his understanding of the conference theme. He said that the "9th China Smart City Construction Technology Seminar" will take "Innovation • Integration • Service" and "Big Data" as its theme, closely combine with the current status of China's urbanization development, innovatively apply integrated information technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, mobile Internet, intelligent terminals, and 3S, integrate them into urban planning, construction, social management and services, explore and solve scientific and technological problems and management decision-making problems arising from digital city and smart city construction and the resulting "big data", and exchange practical experiences. This is another major academic exchange event in this comprehensive interdisciplinary field. Cui Junzhi stated that we highlight "Innovation • Integration • Service" and "Big Data" because these words are the core of current digital city and smart city construction. "Innovation" means that each city must identify the key issues in its own urban planning, construction, social management and services, do a good job in the top-level design of digital and smart cities, and determine the current construction and implementation priorities in accordance with local conditions and the times.

      "Integration" means that moderately advanced and reliable information technologies must be creatively integrated into the overall framework of each city's informatization. "Service" means that the goal must be to enhance government management and service levels, improve service efficiency, and build a harmonious society. "Big Data" means that intelligent methods and technologies should be adopted as much as possible to process the big data generated in the implementation of digital cities, improve the utilization efficiency of big data, promptly discover problems in urban operations, improve the scientific nature and emergency response of managers' decisions, and at the same time provide tangible benefits to the people, fully reflecting the "smart" characteristics of modern cities. Whether it was "digital cities" 10 years ago or "smart cities" now, the goal is to improve government management and service levels through urban informatization, enhance management and control efficiency, enable citizens to fully enjoy the tangible and intangible social wealth in modern cities, and promote social harmony and sustainable development.

      At the meeting, relevant leaders of the host units answered reporters' questions on conference-related issues. Ni Jiangbo, Deputy Director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, answered reporters' questions on how the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development guides local governments to transform from digital cities to smart cities in the process of guiding informatization of urban planning, construction, operation, and services. Ni Jiangbo introduced that informatization is of great significance for improving scientific urban management and improving people's quality of life.   Regarding the development of local governments transitioning from digital cities to smart cities, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has guided through five aspects: First, policy guidance in accordance with the requirements of relevant national documents, such as establishing smart city pilots and issuing "Accelerating Urban Infrastructure Construction to Promote Healthy Urbanization Development". Second, strengthening planning and application, guiding the application and promotion of scientific research achievements from projects such as water special projects, high-resolution special projects, and science and technology support programs in smart city creation. Third, strengthening training and seminars. Fourth, screening and promoting new-generation information technologies. Fifth, exploring solutions for institutional innovation and mechanism integration, promoting the integration of advantageous resources of the government, financial institutions, and enterprises, and helping economically underdeveloped areas build smart cities well.

      Kong Jinhui, Deputy Director of the Department of Land Surveying and Mapping of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, stated that the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation has issued the "Technical Guide for the Construction of Smart City Spatiotemporal Information Cloud Platform" and selected 12 cities nationwide, including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Taiyuan, Changsha, Ningbo, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, Linyi, Wuxi, Zibo, and Xinyu, as smart city construction pilots. The smart city spatiotemporal information cloud platform construction carried out by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation provides four types of services: DaaS (Data as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), SaaS (Software as a Service), and PaaS (Platform as a Service), providing spatiotemporal information support with time attributes for smart thematic applications carried out by other departments such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, effectively playing the foundational role of surveying, mapping and geoinformation in smart city construction and informatization promotion. Jing Guifei, Deputy Director of the National Remote Sensing Center, answered reporters' questions about the development and application of China's remote sensing satellite data. He said that with the increase in the number of domestic remote sensing satellites and Earth observation data, China's Earth observation data sharing work is continuously advancing. At present, the National Comprehensive Earth Observation Data Sharing Platform, led by the National Remote Sensing Center and jointly constructed by domestic remote sensing satellite data centers and other units, has been opened and provides sharing services to the whole society.

      Data sharing in the remote sensing field has become an industry consensus and a global trend. Reducing costs and expanding applications have become the pursuit of every field. Next, we will continue to increase sharing efforts, improve service quality and service levels as soon as possible, deepen and refine this field to support downstream development, comprehensively support basic research and talent training, and vigorously support remote sensing units in strengthening cooperation. Liu Qixu, Director of the China Satellite Navigation Application Management Center, stated in response to reporters that at present, the positioning accuracy of the BeiDou navigation system has been improved from 10 meters to within 8 meters, and the timing accuracy has been improved from 50 nanoseconds to within 30 nanoseconds. Monitoring and evaluation of service signals covering the Asia-Pacific region show that the service performance of the BeiDou system meets the indicator requirements, and service performance in some areas is better than 10 meters.

      At present, in areas such as Beijing, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, and Urumqi, positioning accuracy can reach 7 meters, and in low-latitude areas such as ASEAN countries, positioning accuracy can reach about 5 meters. The service guarantee system has adopted a three-level service qualification management system of system level, branch level, and terminal level, with a total of 12 official branch-level, 32 experimental branch-level, 44 terminal service units, 1 national BeiDou product testing institution, and 4 regional BeiDou product testing institutions. At present, in terms of smart city technological innovation and construction applications, the BeiDou system can provide precise spatiotemporal benchmarks and effective location service means, providing strong support for important aspects such as urban traffic navigation, position monitoring and dynamic scheduling of buses and special vehicles, safety monitoring of displacement, settlement, and deformation of urban buildings, large municipal facilities, and urban underground pipe networks, as well as urban emergency command and dispatch.

      It is understood that the conference will also hold the "9th China Smart City Construction Technology and Equipment Expo" concurrently at the Beijing International Convention Center, inviting research institutions and well-known enterprises in the smart city construction field to exhibit the latest technologies and application achievements in smart city construction at home and abroad. Top enterprises and institutions in the smart city field such as China Telecom, China Unicom, H3C, Capital Information Development, Datang Telecom, Samsung, Tongfang Technology, Taiji Computer, ESRI, Citibank, Bohai Bank, Fucheng Fund, Glodon, SuperMap Software, Zondy Cyber, Leador Spatial Information, and Boyang Shitong are all in negotiations and communication with the organizing committee, and most enterprises have confirmed their participation in this conference in various ways.