--- title: "Cities: open | Nexus Observatory" description: "Open data, open source and methods for cities and urban systems: Street flooding, Air quality and urban heat, Structural condition of public assets…" url: https://observatory.global/industries/cities/open/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-11-02 --- [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) / [Cities](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/) / **Open** # Open for cities. Open projects, open methods and open templates this community builds on, with the licence of every source carried through. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) [Use cases](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/use-cases/) [Open the explainer](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/explainer/) Reference design, drawn to scale · drag to turn 1. Cities · Open The city, measured block by block Street-level flood depth, air quality and heat, mobility and noise, carried on a municipal sensing and connectivity layer, with twins of the streets they sit in and open data residents can read. Needs: street flooding, air quality and urban heat, structural condition of public assets, connectivity for municipal sensors and open data for residents. 2. Open · Connectivity Open with Connectivity Band tables and sources, Country guides and Coverage methods: free to use and build on. The enterprise layer adds private Wireless as a Service, AI-RAN deployment and Spectrum route support, delivered under contract by Nexus Observatory Inc. Open methods let anyone check how a product was made. 3. Open · Sensors & instruments Open with Sensors & instruments Metadata and quality rules and Open networks on the grid: free to use and build on. The enterprise layer adds sensing as a Service, Calibration programmes and Qualification, delivered under contract by Nexus Observatory Inc. Open methods let anyone check how a product was made. 4. Open · Data & licensing Open with Data & licensing Open tier and Dataset cards: free to use and build on. The enterprise layer adds paid tiers and Residency by contract, delivered under contract by Nexus Observatory Inc. Open methods let anyone check how a product was made. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure. 5. Open · Earth observation & GeoAI Open with Earth observation & GeoAI Observatories atlas, World grid and Map sources with licences: free to use and build on. The enterprise layer adds capture campaigns and Site twins, delivered under contract by Nexus Observatory Inc. Open methods let anyone check how a product was made. 6. Open · Field services Open with Field services Guides, Templates and Lifecycle: free to use and build on. The enterprise layer adds eight services and Government buyers, delivered under contract by Nexus Observatory Inc. Open methods let anyone check how a product was made. Every reading and every change leaves a record that can be checked later. 7. Trust Every node proves what it is A node joins only after its hardware root of trust answers an attestation challenge. Keys stay in secure hardware, software arrives signed, and every reading carries a signature, so its origin can be checked by anyone downstream without asking us. 8. Time and place Every reading carries when and where Readings are stamped against a disciplined clock, from satellite time or a PTP grandmaster, together with the station position and its siting record. When time or position is degraded, the record says so instead of hiding it, and every analyst downstream sees the same warning. 9. How it scales One base unit, repeated A programme starts with one base node and the instruments it reads. A station adds power and radio, a site adds a relay, a fleet repeats the proven site across many places, and a network federates fleets through edge and core. Capacity grows by adding units, never by replacing what works. 10. Updates Updates in rings, with rollback Software and configuration reach the fleet in rings: a canary site first, then a few, then all, each ring gated on health and data completeness. A failed gate stops the wave and returns each node to its last good release, without a site visit. 11. Operations Every node watched, every incident closed The operations console shows every node with its state, its plan and its evidence. Alerts arrive with their data and a runbook; acknowledging one opens a work order, and an incident closes only when the cause is recorded and the fix verified. 12. What you get Municipal sensing and connectivity layers City-wide LPWAN or private 5G as a shared layer for public sensors and services. Delivered as managed service, for cities, regional governments. Scale: City-wide. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard. Changes are versioned, tested and reversible. [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) 13. Next step Plan a cities deployment Tell us the sites, the measurements and the people who will use them. We reply with a design and a scope for cities. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) [Open the Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) [Read the stories](https://observatory.global/stories/) **01** Open projects ## What this community builds on. Open hardware, software and data projects, named as references. Each keeps its own licence and its own governance. - Sensor.Community - OpenAQ - FloodNet - Smart Citizen Kit - Telraam - openSenseMap **02** Open methods and templates ## Every calculation, with a worked example. Observatory templates for this industry, each a starting design you can read, run and adapt on the open protocol. [Template Hybrid air-quality observatoryA few reference analysers and many low-cost nodes, with co-location calibration and an open-data feed.](https://observatory.global/use-cases/hybrid-air-quality/) [Template Street flood observatoryUltrasonic depth sensors on poles report street-level water depth as open data and alerts.](https://observatory.global/use-cases/street-flood/) [Template School connectivity observatoryA connected school as an observatory node: backhaul, Wi-Fi, a connectivity probe and an optional weather and air-quality station.](https://observatory.global/use-cases/school-observatory/) [Template Stadium operations private 5G sliceA private 5G slice for venue operations beside the neutral-host network, with crowd, heat and air sensing.](https://observatory.global/use-cases/stadium-5g/) **03** Open data ## Networks on the grid, with their licences. The open observing networks on the grid, each shown with its source and licence, and the protocol that lets new ones join. **01** ### Open networks Instruments from open networks, on real relief.[Earth and maps →](https://observatory.global/earth/) **02** ### Sources and licences Every dataset with its source and the terms it is used under.[Data credits →](https://observatory.global/credits/) **03** ### The protocol The open specification any instrument or network can implement.[Read the protocol →](https://observatory.global/protocol/) ## Bring us the site. Survey, design, deployment and operation for cities. The form names who receives your details. [Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/contact/deployment/) [Home](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/) [Use cases](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/use-cases/) [Specialized fields](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/fields/) [Solutions](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/solutions/) [Platforms](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/platforms/) [Systems and technologies](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/systems/) [Frontier](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/frontier/) [Open](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/open/) [Community](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/community/) [Countries](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/countries/) [Resources](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/resources/) [Contact](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/contact/) [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/)**Cities** . The city, measured block by block.[Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) Cities - [Overview](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/) - [Explainer](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/explainer/) - [Specialized fields](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/fields/) - [Use cases](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/use-cases/) - [Solutions](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/solutions/) - [Platforms](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/platforms/) - [Resources](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/resources/) - [Contact](https://observatory.global/industries/cities/contact/) Platforms - [Observatory Protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/) - [Protocol & Grid](https://observatory.global/grid-services/) - [Software](https://observatory.global/software/) - [Hardware & power](https://observatory.global/hardware/) - [Sensors & instruments](https://observatory.global/sensors/) - [Connectivity](https://observatory.global/connectivity/) - 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