The central government has recently issued a master plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development to spur growth in Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong province including Guangzhou and Shenzhen - China's Silicon Valley. The Bay Area is home to some 70 million people and has a combined GDP of about 10 trillion yuan ($1.49 trillion) in 2017, roughly equivalent to that of South Korea.

The development plan is important as it outlines the role of each partner city, covering the period from now until 2022 in the immediate term and extending to 2035 in the long term. This means it is our development framework for the next 16 years.

Hong Kong is clearly a key focus of the plan. In the original Chinese version, Hong Kong is mentioned 97 times, while Macao 89, Guangzhou and the Shenzhen 39 and 38, respectively.

What are the advantages for Hong Kong? The official document cites Hong Kong's status as an international financial, transportation and trade center as well as an international aviation hub. Hong Kong's anti-corruption mechanism and efficient government are also highlighted. Actually, we have other advantages that can enhance our leadership in the Bay Area though they may not be as obvious.

The development plan mentions two information platforms: A spatial information service platform and a coordination platform for responding to major contingencies.

A "spatial information service platform" or CSDI as we used to say in Hong Kong is for facilitating the development of smart city, "exploring the establishment of common standards, opening up data ports, developing interconnected public application platforms and information infrastructure facilities" so we can "develop smart transport, smart energy, smart municipal management and smart communities". At the same time, in the face of accidents, disasters, and a public health crisis, we have to "improve the mechanism for contingency management". A coordination platform for contingency responses is therefore needed.

CSDI, one of the key information infrastructure facilities mentioned in the plan, is a one-stop data supermarket based on geographic information. A CSDI with open data is the core of a smart city; it can facilitate urban management and stimulate civic innovation. This is because a single dataset (such as highway traffic flow) alone has limited usage. However, if you integrate information from different sources - such as weather, major events, emergencies, passenger flow and traffic condition of MTR and bus, etc., all of them together can form a complete picture so people commuting to work, the authorities responsible for traffic coordination and emergency services, and government officials can assess the road conditions comprehensively. At the same time, startups and private organizations can also make use of the open data to develop different applications to benefit citizens, and encourage innovations and boost the development of the new economy.

The most comprehensible way to link these groups of data is to relate them by geographic location. It is estimated that 80 percent of data is related to geographic location, so it is logical for data to be referenced with respect to their location. Unlike private companies which often use mobile phones or ID numbers to link different data of customers for internal analysis, the government cannot open these data to the public due to personal privacy issue.

With CSDI as an infrastructure, we can further develop other applications, such as an emergency response platform or as we call common operational picture (COP). The data platform enables assembling all relevant information on the electronic maps in association of major events or disaster relief.

Just recently, because of the breakdown of a driver assignment system of KMB, some 1,000 people had to queue up at Tuen Mun Road interchange during morning peak hours. Some passengers had to wait for an hour before catching their bus. If we have a COP, the authority and the passengers could grasp the whole picture in real time, so everyone can make their own provisions in advance.

Last month, the SAR government announced its plan to establish a city dashboard which is another application made possible with a CSDI. As no details are available for the time being, an example established by Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles in 2013, is a good reference. The mayor's dashboard is important in updating the public constantly on topics of public concern - such as family rental burdens, the proportion of elderly living in poverty, bus punctuality, hotline response times, etc. Through this, it is easy to discern which area has improved and which has not yet met the standard.

In fact, the Hong Kong government started to use a geographic information system for analysis and decision-making some 20 years ago. This is much more advanced than our Bay Area neighbors. Last year, the Lands Department integrated data sets from other government departments and displayed on maps for the convenience of the public. This is indeed a mini CSDI. As the central government has indicated the importance of these information platforms, we should step up our measures in developing our own. Then we can share our experience with our Bay Area counterparts, and lead the way to build a CSDI for the whole area. However, we have to act fast as Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been catching up really fast with increasing international exposure and linking in the last decade. To maintain Hong Kong's leadership, it's time for us to work harder so that we can move forward in leaps and bounds.