IBM is helping cities become more efficient by visualizing and analyzing their physical and digital assets in real-time using location-based analytics. The company intends to do this with two municipal pilot projects in Wilmington, North Carolina and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The cities will use IBM software and embedded sensors to examine their infrastructure and operations in order to find more efficiencies.
The pilots emerged out of an IBM project in Washington D.C. in which District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) is utilizing analytics to create a smarter water system based on data coming through IBM’s software from valves, storm drains and service vehicles to optimize its infrastructure, maintenance procedures and improve service delivery.
For the Wilmington, North Carolina pilot IBM will be working with Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) to improve the efficiency of its water and sewage systems using location-based intelligence. The company is partnering with Esri GIS to provide this geolocation service and map nearly 1,500 miles of main lines and 143 pump stations to see in real-time the county’s water and sewer line problems.
In Waterloo, Ontario Canada IBM and Esri will deploy Maximo Spatial, an IBM solution that integrates with Esri, to geographically view and update all of the city’s water-related assets and find efficiencies.
The projects are part of a larger offering from the company, called its Smarter Cities project which hopes to utilize cities worldwide to prove the abilities of the company’s advanced analytics software in creating more efficiency in municipal service delivery. The competitive grant program will award $50 million in technology and services to 100 municipalities worldwide. IBM experts will also provide city leaders with recommendations on smart growth and streamlined service delivery. The program represents the company’s largest philanthropic investment to date.
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