More Chinese cities have completed work on digital systems and are set for an upgrade toward becoming "smart cities," according to the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation.

Smart cities use the Internet and cloud computing technologies to make infrastructure and services—which include municipal administration, education, health care, public safety, transportation and utilities—more intelligent and efficient.

In 2006, China launched a national initiative to build citywide digital systems. As of June, nearly 320 prefecture-level and 150 county-level cities had been involved in the digitalization process, the administration said in a statement on August 13.

Among them, more than 170 prefecture-level and 40 county-level cities have completed digital geo-systems and put them into operation.