General
The City of Casey has undertaken a strategic smart city program to improve the liveability, inclusiveness, and sustainability of the city by using data, innovation, and technology. By capturing a variety of data points and developing insights, Council can better plan and deliver, new infrastructure, council programs, revitalisation of spaces, and decisions relating to the quality of life of the Casey Community.
The long-term community vision at the City of Casey is built on the pillars of driving stronger connections and places, developing platforms for community empowerment, and becoming a future-ready organisation. These 3 strategies, along with the Smart Casey Launchpad, guide how the City of Casey uses smart technology, how we use data collected from these systems, and how they drive innovation within our community.
This statement has been prepared in the interests of transparency for our community. The goal of the statement is to share our views on smart city projects and how they affect our community members' lives. This includes aspects such as liveability, privacy, functionality, and the methodologies behind data collection and use.
What constitutes a "Smart City deployment"?
A smart city deployment refers specifically to actions related to the deployment of technology to collect data, overseen by the Smart City, Innovation, and Improvement team (SCII) within the City of Casey. These projects will be driven by the Smart Casey Launchpad which was developed in line with community consultation and research conducted in 2021. It is important to acknowledge that not all technology deployments in the City of Casey are overseen by the SCII team. The purpose, scope, and governance of an individual piece of equipment will differ based on which branch of the council has requisitioned that technology.
Anonymity
Our position on data and privacy promotes an open and transparent approach to data collection, use, storage, and sharing. Our privacy policy provides full details on handling personally identifiable information; however, best practice and our first choice for any data collection activity are to use anonymous data collection.
What is anonymous data collection?
Anonymous data collection is the practice of collecting data that cannot be linked or tied to an individual in the community. Anonymous data collection doesn't retain images, video, audio, biometrics, identifying vehicle details, or any other data type that could reasonably link a person to the sample of data they have contributed to our broader dataset.
Signposting of data collection sites
Where data relating to people occupying public spaces is collected, we will signpost these activities to inform the community. Information about data collection activities will be available through the Casey Conversations page. Casey conversations pages will be linked from signposted material.
Data sharing
Data collected by sensors will be made available through the Casey Open Data Platform or project-specific public dashboards such as Backing Business In Casey. Where data might be considered sensitive, the City of Casey will store all data securely per our privacy policy.
Identifiable data
Some smart city projects may require identifiable data to understand how an asset or community facility is used. Where smart city technology is used to collect data that identifies a person or vehicle, signage will be posted to explain the technology and its use. Personally identifiable datasets will be stored and used in accordance with our privacy policy and will not be made available to the public.
Data collection technology
The City of Casey captures data streams through a wide array of sensors. The types of sensors we use are varied, but below are some examples of the technologies used and the kinds of data they typically collect.
- Microclimate sensors detect local climate data, including noise, temperature, moisture, and air pressure.
- Device Counters count the presence of Wi-Fi-enabled devices (e.g., smartphones) to estimate patronage near their deployment.
- 4K Object detection sensors can sense people, vehicles, and objects. They can identify various attributes of the subject matter they're sensing, such as the relative size of an object, the use of a mobility aid, the presence of a pet, the subjects' dwell time at a specific location, and how a person or vehicle navigates a space.
- Directional sensors detect people moving through a particular threshold.
- Noise Sensors measure decibel levels at a location in real time.
- Occupancy sensors can detect how often a council asset is utilised.
- Distance sensors (also called bin or pit sensors) help us detect how full a bin or drainage pit is.
Law enforcement and compliance
The Casey Smart City team has consulted on law enforcement, community safety, and compliance matters, including parking compliance, identification of illegal dumping or vandalism, and other purposes.
Where Smart City deployments are used for compliance purposes, we rely on intelligent image processing technology to capture activities only when a compliance enforcement matter occurs, and to capture only the data of the person or vehicle involved in that matter.
Where compliance activities occur, the Smart City program is committed to signposting the type of equipment and explaining its function. We maintain that the presence of the equipment is to improve compliance, not to raise revenue.
Smart City does not use data-gathering sites as a form of CCTV to protect the privacy of people who are not of interest to compliance matters.
Social compliance
We acknowledge a concern within the community following COVID about restrictions on movement, lockdowns, and social activities, such as mask mandates. The City of Casey is committed to not using Smart City technology deployments to restrict residents' movement or enforce social obligations within the community.
Right to privacy
The City of Casey is committed to protecting your privacy. Our approach to deploying smart city assets, infrastructure, and technology puts community privacy at the forefront to ensure you enjoy the city and its facilities.
The City of Casey will take all necessary measures to prevent unauthorised access to or disclosure of your personal information and will strictly comply with all laws and policies relating to cybersecurity and data governance, ensuring best practices are followed. We also review the data collection and storage solutions of the technology companies we partner with to ensure they are held to our rigorous standards.
Wherever data is published about the use of a community asset or space, it will undergo deidentification to ensure that no individual who contributed to that dataset can be identified as a contributor.
Not all data we collect will be suitable for public release. Where this is the case, it will be collected and stored as per our Privacy policy. It may be used for planning and research purposes to improve services to the community and only disclosed to a third party if required or authorised by law.