City of Markham, ON

CITYROVER Case Study

City of Markham, ON

The City maintains over 2,200 lane kilometers (1370 lane miles) of paved roads serving approximately 362,000 residents.

The City of Markham initiated a pilot program with CITYROVER focused specifically on automated pothole detection and patching support.

Following demonstrated operational success, the program evolved into a multi-functional AI-powered roadway intelligence platform that manages 9 road related programs.

Today, the CITYROVER system supports inspection automation, digital twin development, pavement lifecycle planning, asset inventory generation, and compliance with maintenance standards.

Overview

Challenges

The City of Markham houses over 362,000 residents and includes a road network of approximately 2,200 lane km (1,370 miles). Due to the size of this infrastructure and traffic volume, roadway deficiencies occur regularly, including potholes, cracks, damaged signs, debris, and other hazards. The City sought to improve compliance with Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) while strengthening long-term asset management practices.

The City relied heavily on manual inspections and reactive public reporting to identify roadway hazards and deficiencies.

Pavement condition assessments and road roughness data were collected through periodic, standalone survey programs, limiting continuous visibility into network condition.

Inspection, maintenance, and asset management programs operated in silos, reducing coordination and delaying data-driven decision-making.

Condition data was often outdated by the time rehabilitation planning and capital budgeting decisions were made, and required in-person verification.

Solution

The City of Markham initiated a pilot project in partnership with CITYROVER to develop an artificial intelligence-powered roadway intelligence solution.

The initiative began as a targeted pothole detection and patching optimization program aimed at improving road safety and enhancing compliance with Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards.

The software is deployed through a smart camera running CITYROVER’s intuitive AI, mounted to municipal patrol vehicles using a windshield mounted system. This configuration enables vehicles to collect roadway condition data during regular operations, embedding inspection directly into daily fleet activity without requiring dedicated survey efforts.

person-using-the-Pavement-Triage-feature-with-CITYROVER

Once installed, CITYROVER AI automatically detects pavement hazards and road-related infrastructure deficiencies, including potholes and sunken manholes, as patrol vehicles operate. Detected events are processed locally using edge computing technology and securely transmitted to the cloud, providing City staff with near real-time operational visibility and continuous condition data.

Over multiple development phases, the use of the CITYROVER platform evolved into a multi-purpose roadway intelligence. The project streamlines 9 different road related programs with the use of cutting edge AI technology suite analyzing multi-sensor, multi-vehicle data.

The Programs Include

Road Inspection

Emergency Maintenance

Work Management

Pavement Condition Surveying

Work Needs Assessment

Project Management

Pothole Patching

Crack Sealing

Road Rehabilitation

CITYROVER processes 99.9% of data locally, enabling secure and cost-effective deployment without additional IT infrastructure.

Built-in privacy protections automatically blur licence plates and faces, ensuring responsible use of image data in public environments.

A structured pilot program evaluated automated inspection, digital twin generation, and continuous pavement condition monitoring capabilities.

AI cameras were installed on patrol vehicles, embedding continuous data collection into daily municipal operations

Through multi-year collaboration, the system evolved from a single-purpose detection tool into a comprehensive AI-powered roadway intelligence platform which supports 9 road related programs.

Demonstrated operational and financial value led to expansion from one device to five and full integration into inspection, maintenance, and asset management programs

Zoyeb Vahora, Supervisor of Contract Administration, City of Markham

“Through its partnership with CITYROVER, Markham now uses AI powered smart cameras that have transformed its road management programs end to end. Every drives becomes a road inspection and a pavement condition survey. Every trip generates real time data, and every issue is automatically mapped and delivered through the CITYROVER dashboard. Markham now has the insights it needs to act faster, focus resources where they matter most, and accomplish more with less. Instead of waiting for complaints, Markham now sees problems as they happen, and respond proactively.”

Morgan Jones, Commissioner of Community Services, City of Markham.

“Safe, reliable and sustainable transportation infrastructure is a vision that any community can achieve with the power of AI solutions such as the CITYROVER AI platform.”

Alice Lam, Director of Operations, City of Markham

“Having this device capturing the pothole location can save them (inspectors) time from stopping and marking down the location. It also eliminates human error.”

Results

As a long term user of the CITYROVER system, the City of Markham collected reliable and measurable roadway condition data at scale. The City realized tangible operational, financial, and lifecycle management benefits, including:

Inspection Capacity

Program Delivery Cost Reduction

More Current Pavement Data

The City of Markham has received recognition for its innovative use of AI-powered roadway intelligence, including

Ontario Good Roads Association

John Niedra Better Practices Award

DC Smart Cities North America Award

Approach to road maintenance and safety

IRF Global Award

Achievement Award for Asset Preservation & Maintenance

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