IoT Technology Applications-Based Smart Cities: Research Analysis

The development of technologies enables the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in urban environments, creating smart cities. Hence, the optimal management of data generated in the interconnection of electronic sensors in real time improves the quality of life. The objective of this study is to analyze global research on smart cities based on IoT technology applications. For this, bibliometric techniques were applied to 1232 documents on this topic, corresponding to the period 2011&ndash
2019, to obtain findings on scientific activity and the main thematic areas. Scientific production has increased annually, so that the last triennium has accumulated 83.23% of the publications. The most outstanding thematic areas were Computer Science and Engineering. Seven lines have been identified in the development of research on smart cities based on IoT applications. In addition, the study has detected seven new future research directions. The growing trend at the global level of scientific production shows the interest in developing aspects of smart cities based on IoT applications. This study contributes to the academic, scientific, and institutional discussion to improve decision making based on the available information.