[URBAN PLANNING NEWS] New form of GIS, Alibaba's ET Brain (and my thoughts on it)

Two days left until the Winter Olympics finished in my home country!

During my spare time, I read an article on the Olympics' official sponsors, and there was an interesting system that may greatly affect the usage of GIS in fields of urban planning and urban management.

It was Alibaba's ET brain!

<Image referenced from here>

As Alibaba named it as a 'brain', it literally works like a human brain.

The human brain first gathers information received by sensory devices and delivers the gathers to the hippocampus. 

It refers to the ET's <Data aggregation>.

Secondly, the hippocampus will rehearse the received information in order to construct a stronger memory.

Well just think of 'Stronger and more sophisticated hippocampus' for the step of 'Data convergence!

Lastly, when the data are accumulated enough to calculate the fashion, like constructing a solid long-term memory, the 'Intelligent development' occurs!

Sometimes, I hear that AI's algorithms are normally working as same as what our brain does, but this Alibaba's cutting edge is impressive enough to change my thoughts!

Currently, it is mainly being utilized for the sake to investigate urban traffic issues and suggest humans the finest way to solve the issues. Some cities in China and Malaysia already have has adopted it to their traffic management system, and it shows a tangible result.

I believe that Alibaba's ET brain will not only remain its usage just as a 'big database', but it will also be used as an enhanced GIS for urban planners.

Mankind is still more sophisticated than machines, with a perspective that we can emphasize, but maths can observe what we missed every time. Even the dilemma can be easily in a way that minimizes loss for the majority. 

As long as the 'data' is ensured to be secured in the data cloud, this would renovate the whole world's urban management paradigm! Perhaps, data collected from citizens may violate the privacy of individuals. Therefore, it seems like it needs an intervention on the abuse of monopoly power above the system.

So! I would like to say huge thanks to Jack Ma and his corporation creating such cutting-edge material to the world. But also I hope the security to be secured enough so that data can make better changes to society!

Please leave comments below if u have any opinions on it!!!