Overview
ISO/IEC 30146:2019 - Information technology - Smart city ICT indicators defines a comprehensive framework of evaluation indicators specifically focused on the adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in smart cities. The standard establishes an overall taxonomy (three hierarchical levels: L1, L1.1, L1.1.1), specifies indicator names, descriptions and measurement methods, and adopts a hundred‑point scoring system for evaluation. It is intended for use by city administrations, evaluation agencies and research institutions to guide ICT‑driven smart city planning, monitoring and comparison.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Indicator architecture and taxonomy
- Two principal dimensions: performance indicators (citizen service, efficient governance, liveable environment) and capability indicators (smart facility, information resource, cyber security).
- Three levels of granularity: first‑level (L1), second‑level (L1.1) and third‑level (L1.1.1) indicators.
- Indicator definition and measurement
- Each indicator must include a clear name, description, classification and a quantifiable measurement method.
- Measurement methods are required to be simple, objective and based on clear data sources (collectable and quantifiable).
- Example measurement formulas provided in the standard (percentages), e.g.:
- Physical convenience: (number of one‑stop government services / total number of government services) × 100
- Online convenience: (number of government services accessible via a single web portal / total number of government services) × 100
- The standard requires the use of a hundred‑mark scoring approach for indicator aggregation.
- Design principles
- Indicators must be clear, scientific, representative, consistent with related international standards, and continuously updatable.
- Scope of indicator areas
- Citizen services (e‑government, transport, health, education, social services, e‑commerce)
- Efficient governance (city management, public safety)
- Liveable environment (environmental protection, energy efficiency)
- Smart facility (network infrastructure, city model)
- Information resource (open data, data sharing, exploitation)
- Cyber security (network, system and data security)
Applications and target users
- Who uses it:
- City and municipal governments (self‑evaluation, ICT strategy development)
- Smart city program managers and planners
- Independent evaluation agencies and auditors
- Research institutions comparing city ICT performance
- Practical uses:
- Baseline assessment of city ICT readiness before smart city projects
- Monitoring ICT performance during and after implementation
- Benchmarking and comparative analysis between cities to promote best practices
- Informing ICT investment, open‑data policies and cyber‑security priorities
Related standards
- Aligned with work of ISO/TC 268/WG 2 on smart city indicators.
- Uses definitions from ISO family standards cited in the document (for example ISO 15746‑1:2015 and ISO 19101‑1:2014 as referenced for terminology).
Keywords: ISO/IEC 30146, smart city ICT indicators, smart city evaluation, e‑government indicators, cyber security indicators, open data, city model, performance indicators.