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Cities worldwide are attempting to transform themselves into smart cities. Recent cases and studies show that a key factor in this transformation is the use of urban big data from stakeholders and physical objects in cities. However, the knowledge and framework for data use for smart cities remain relatively unknown. This paper reports findings from an analysis of various use cases of big data in cities worldwide and the authors' four projects with government organizations toward developing smart cities. Specifically, this paper classifies the urban data use cases into four reference models and identifies six challenges in transforming data into information for smart cities. Furthermore, building upon the relevant literature, this paper proposes five considerations for addressing the challenges in implementing the reference models in real-world applications. The reference models, challenges, and considerations …