CITYROVER Case Study
Township of King, ON
Drive. Detect. Determine.
Overview
The Township of King initiated a partnership with CITYROVER for a pilot program to enhance maintenance of all road related infrastructure.
With CITYROVER, the Township gained the capability to automatically gather accurate data on the its road infrastructure and prepare efficient plans which resulted in shorter repair times.
On completion of the pilot program, the Township of King decided to continue its partnership with CITYROVER and currently employs two CITYROVER cameras to assist in road infrastructure scanning and streamline maintenance operations.
Limitations of Previous Methods
Previously, the Township of King employed a road maintenance method that relied heavily on paper patrol sheets for reporting and keeping track of road hazards and their repairs. The process involved municipal staff who would go on regular inspection patrols to identify road infrastructure issues, such as potholes or damaged manholes.
Upon discovering a deficiency, the inspector would have to pull the vehicle to a complete stop and step out to record the detection details for later processing. However, this method was laborious and prone to inefficiencies such as missed or forgotten detections, leading to lengthy repair times and prolonged risk exposure for all road users.
Challenges
The Township of King is the largest municipality in York Region with an area of approximately 360 sq km (140 sq miles) and is home to over 27,000 residents. It is made up of four distinct areas (King City, Nobleton, Schomberg, and Holland Marsh), with only one public works yard that is tasked with maintenance of the road network within the Township’s jurisdiction. As such, it was of vital importance to improve the efficiency of the existing inspection and repair processes.
The Township of King’s road operations originally were dependent on paper based processes for reporting and record keeping.
Inspections were time consuming, error prone and tedious, requiring staff members to juggle between driving and surveying road infrastructure conditions, contributing to longer inspection cycles and prolonged risk exposure for all commuters and inspectors. This resulted in a slow and inefficient maintenance workflow.
Report details were left to the operator’s discretion on the severity and what action is required for a repair.
Solution
To address these limitations, the Township of King initiated a pilot program in 2022 to integrate the CITYROVER smart camera system into road operations. This solution leverages artificial intelligence technology to automate road infrastructure inspection and asset maintenance.
During the pilot, two CITYROVER detection devices were affixed to the windshields of municipal patrol vehicles. These cameras acted as a second pair of eyes, focusing solely on identifying road asset defects and recording infrastructure issues. The collected data is then used to automatically generate incident reports, which can be reviewed in near real time through a web interface.
By conducting frequent and consistent surveys of road assets, the Township can quickly assess and determine the best course of action for faster and more effective repair plans.
- The pilot program streamlined road surveying and inspection by mounting detection devices onto existing patrol vehicles.
- This approach led to a faster and more effective process due to automated and passive data collection.
- Encouraged by the program’s success, the Township of King decided to operationalize CITYROVER within its road maintenance operations.
Optimized Repair Planning
CITYROVER’s deployment has enabled the Township of King to quantify the exact number of deficiencies on both pavement and gravel roads within its jurisdiction, leading to accurate reports to council regarding road maintenance progress.
Time-Efficient
The introduction of AI into maintenance operations has eliminated human error with respect to road infrastructure issue detection, and expedited the repair process. Shorter repair times ultimately led to a lower exposure risk to maintenance personnel and to travellers, resulting in safer roads for all commuters.
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