As cities continue to grow and the problems of urbanization begin to challenge city systems and services, more and more cities will climb onto the Smart City agenda. Underpinning any Smart City strategy is the use of data, captured namely in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Models (BIM). A geographic information system captures, stores, manipulates, analyzes, manages, and presents spatial or geographic data.

Cities are constantly evolving and have an increasing demand on central services and systems. The promise of the Smart City addressing these demands through IoT, building automation, artificial intelligence, advanced energy and communication technologies all rely upon the efficient use and access to large amounts of data. It is imperative that cities adopt intelligent strategies for GIS and BIM to lay the proper foundations for the smart city.