CityROVER Case Study
Markham, ON
Drive. Detect. Determine.
Overview
Problems
The city’s road maintenance system prior to working with CityROVER was experiencing several points of inefficiency. Pothole reporting was time consuming, required frequent stops, and was error prone as potholes were often missed due to time restrictions.
Challenges
The city of Markham houses over 350,000 residents and includes a road network of approximately 2,200 lane km (1,370 miles). Due to this large infrastructure and traffic volume, road failures occur regularly. This includes potholes, cracks, damaged signs, debris and other deficiencies. The city aimed to better comply with the provinces Minimum Maintenance Standard.
Potholes reported by staff were logged using pen and paper, a slow, inefficient and error prone process.
Staff were focused on prioritizing tasks due to the time constraints of stopping.
Solution
In February 2020, the city of Markham initiated a pilot project, partnering with Visual Defence to develop the artificial intelligence solution CityROVER. The project aimed to help the City increase road safety and compliance with Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS).
Once installed, CityROVER AI finds potholes and other road deficiencies automatically as the patrol vehicle drives. Any detected incidents are then uploaded to the cloud and become accessible immediately, providing city staff with real-time actionable data on road conditions.
CityROVER’s built in privacy feature blurs any license plates, faces and other personal information that is captured. This allows the city to easily use the data collected by CityROVER in public settings.
A pilot program was initiated to evaluate CityROVER and collect feedback from the city.
The CityROVER technology was introduced at an initial meeting to describe it, and explore its benefits.
CityROVER devices were installed in patrol vehicles and city staff were trained on the app and platform.
Visual Defence and the city of Markham improved the technology to better serve the city’s needs.
The single device pilot was deemed successful, leading the city to expand to a total of five devices.
The CityROVER technology was introduced at an initial meeting to describe it, and explore its benefits.
The CityROVER technology was introduced at an initial meeting to describe it, and explore its benefits.
CityROVER devices were installed in patrol vehicles and city staff were trained on the app and platform.
Visual Defence and the city of Markham improved the technology to better serve the city’s needs.
The single device pilot was deemed successful, leading the city to expand to a total of five devices.
Results
As one of the first cities to partner with Visual Defence for the CityROVER program, the City of Markham was able to collect valuable and measurable data about road deficiencies. The city realized tangible benefits including:
%
Increase in Efficiency
Saved per Device
Total Devices
CityROVER was also able to help the city increase maintenance efficiency by reducing the number of stops during patrol, scheduling road repairs more efficiently, increasing pavement lifecycle with timely repairs, and measuring service levels better.
City patrollers are now able to focus on driving and pothole locations are automatically logged on the cloud. On average, the city has saved $36,400 per CityROVER device per year and has won several awards.
Some of the awards the city has won for its innovative use of CityROVER include the OGRA John Niedra better practices award, as well as the IDC Smart Cities North America award for their approach to road maintenance and safety. Additionally, the City of Markham was showcased in several prominent webinars and interviews, most notably on CBC News.
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