November 16, 2010

The City of Cambridge (Ontario) introduced new intelligence systems for infrastructure management that will help municipal workers monitor infrastructure projects across the city in real time. For this effort, the city says it has been recognized as the first municipality in Canada by IBM as a smarter city.

“There’s a wealth of information on roads, wastewater, water and other
key infrastructure elements that exist in many forms throughout the
city,” said Cambridge mayor Doug Craig. “The new system brings together a
variety of data to enhance management processes of our more than
250,000 infrastructure assets valuing $1.2 billion. This system also
includes new mobile applications in the field with real-time updating
which result in savings for the community.”

The technology allows staff to identify safety issues on roads and
sidewalks, and effectively organize and route this information to crews
to ensure timely and complete response. The new system will be used
mainly by Transportation and Public Works staff with a view to expanding
it to other areas in the future. The Government of Canada contributed
over $978,700 toward this project through the federal Gas Tax Fund. The
City of Cambridge also invested about $703,000 toward the project, which
included training, work management systems and Global Information
Systems (GIS) technology development.

“The City of Cambridge is a leading example of a municipality that is
harnessing its creative leadership to put funding and technology to
innovative use to improve services for citizens. They recognize that we
can’t continue to address modern challenges with 20th-Century
infrastructure,” said Chris Mallon, senior brand executive, IBM Canada.
“This type of bold vision helps pave the way for sustainable growth and a
smarter city that is able to adapt and thrive as it meets the urban
challenges of the 21st Century.”

CLICK HERE for IBM.