Bits shifting atoms

Despite the penetration of computers and the internet into our lives, we still live in a material world of atoms, not a digital one of bits. And yet information technologies are transforming the things around us, from mapping to buildings. Jason Walsh looks at the role of smart infrastructure

Infrastructure is quite literally the stuff that surrounds us. It also allows us to live. From water and sewage services to bridges and roads and, more recently, fibre optic cables, our lives depend on a series of networks that connect us to everyone else.

In the internet age this poses an obvious question: why not connect it all together and make it smart into the bargain?

Smart cities are perhaps the most talked about example ...