ACED-Io T (Safe cities through Cloud and the Internet of Things) project of the Alta Scuola Politecnica, an excellent course created by the Polytechnic of Milan and Turin, promises to enhance the exchange of information between emergency coordinators, operators on the field and citizens in case of floods in the urban environment. The problem of urban floods affects Italy due to the peculiar morphology of the territory. The implementation of the project showed that the main problems are to be found in the communication with the Rescue Coordination Centre, in the integration of information – heterogeneous and often redundant – in possession of different organizations, and in the possibility to receive geo-synched contents by rescuers on the field.

The solution proposed by ACED-Io T consists of a web platform based on cloud technologies that gather and integrate data that comes from different sources such as “open data”, geographic informative systems, semi-structured information in possession of different organizations, putting them together with monitoring data that derives from “Internet of Things” detectors placed in risk areas.

The platform is thought as a support instrument for decision-makers in the comprehension of general evolution of events. In addition to the contribution during emergencies, ACED-Io T allows the collection of data that can be analyzed after the event and that is precious for future planning.