The smart town of Hafnarfjörður is being created

„Smart City“ or smart city is a concept that has been prominent in the discussion in recent quarters and although Hafnarfjörður is not a city, the town is taking certain steps to become smart. The projects are about utilising information technology to improve the quality and efficiency of the service and to establish even better communication with residents.

^{The Smart Group – staff and representatives from the City of Hafnarfjörður and Lýsir.}  

In recent days, the company Lýsir has launched a new service in Hafnarfjörður which aims to improve access to important and practical information, increase data security and save money in the long term. The new service includes a weather station, air quality monitors and smart rubbish bins, as well as the potential installation of „hot spots“ within Hafnarfjörður. Lýsir, a progressive telecommunications company, handles the installation of equipment, relevant systems and connections.  „We are experimenting with new and smart solutions. We are taking this in small steps and allowing these steps to assist us with further decisions on implementation,“ says Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir, Mayor of Hafnarfjörður.

Live measurements of weather and air quality

The City of Hafnarfjörður has purchased a new weather station, which has been securely installed in a good location in the town centre. The station, which connects to Lýsir's LoRaWAN system, opens the way for the municipality to publish live measurements on the city's website. LoRaWAN is a wireless communication system that has a long range but uses little energy and is considered ideal for securely transmitting relatively simple information. This way, residents and other interested parties can get real-time information about, for example, precipitation, wind direction, wind speed, particulate pollution, evaporation, solar radiation and air pressure, as well as weather forecast information which should assist people with everyday decisions such as their daily attire and any outdoor activities. In parallel, the City of Hafnarfjörður has purchased three portable air quality monitors for indoor use. This allows for a swift and reliable response to situations that may affect air quality.

View information about weather and air quality on the town's website.

^{This is what a weather station looks like, and one has been set up in the centre of Hafnarfjörður.}  

Smart bins and hotspots

A sensor has been installed in rubbish bins on Strandgatan as part of a one-year pilot project. The sensor detects the level of waste in the bins and thus helps to optimise waste collection, which is intended to reduce pollution, save fuel and staff time. The City of Hafnarfjörður is initially leasing the equipment from Lýsi and will, in time, assess whether it is cost-effective to install such sensors in all of the municipality's anchored rubbish bins. The aim of this project is to lower collection costs and reduce the likelihood of overflowing bins, as these smart bins can, for example, indicate when they need to be emptied.

^{Sensors have been installed in several rubbish bins in Hafnarfjörður as part of a one-year pilot project.} 

It is being considered to install „hot spots“ in busy locations within the municipality, thereby providing public wireless internet access, especially for the domestic and international tourists who visit the town. And will visit the town in the near future. Such hotspots are well-suited for providing information, and both Thorsplan and Víðistaðatún have been mentioned in this context. Hafnarfjörður received a 2 million króna grant from the European WiFI4EU project to set up hotspots within the municipality.

„We are looking to the future with smart solutions, and smart city projects like this have great potential to increase efficiency, optimisation and improve services for the town's residents. We are very much looking forward to seeing how these initial smart city projects in Hafnarfjörður turn out, and then we can start looking at other exciting projects such as lighting designed to reduce energy consumption and light pollution, and sensors in car parks that could increase their utilisation and aufacilitated access“ says Rósa.