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Digital transformation also helps public works professionals more easily anticipate necessary infrastructure repairs in typically challenging areas, thereby extending their life. These include; • Roads and bridges; • Solid waste facilities; • Parks and grounds; • Water and wastewater; and • Street furniture, poles, and lighting. Barrie, Ont. is a city growing at a rapid rate while their decades-old assets must be maintained under tight budgets and new environmental and accounting regulations. These complex demands require an enormous volume of information collected, stored, analyzed, and reported. Barrie adopted Cityworks, a GIS-based asset and work management solution. This centralized and streamlined the monitoring, maintenance, repair, and reporting of a growing infrastructure. Planning: If planning incorporates geodesign, it ensures a sustainable future that won't compromise land, water, or air quality. GIS combined with holistic design helps communities to make informed decisions and solve sustainability issues such as: • Environmental sustainment; • Transportation planning; and • Urban forms that put people first. Prince George, B.C. decided to develop their own mobile app which fit their needs using Geocortex Essentials and the Cityworks. Now, underground locators and other field workers no longer travel back to the office multiple times each day to take on new jobs, retrieve information or deliver status reports. One worker has calculated S mart communities are productive, livable, and sustainable. They have a local economy that harnesses the talents of the residents, a development approach that protects and even improves its natural environment, and a resilient physical and social infrastructure that strengthens the community. People expect all levels of government to work together to help them build and sustain their cities. The Canadian government recognizes this and is running a Smart Cities Challenge, with millions of dollars in prizes. The money will help communities use technology to become smarter. The challenge asks: what is the top priority for improving your city, town, or community? How can smart technology and new practices it enables create real impact? Priorities differ, and there is no magic answer for every community, but a properly executed digital transformation is key. It's also urgent. In June, the CRTC ruled that all 911 messages (texts, calls, etc.) come to emergency responders with an address attached. Local emergency responders must be ready. While geographic information systems (GIS) help governments to respond to those sorts of demands, it also saves them time and money, and increases the quality of services offered to their communities. However, the tools needed to make better decisions involve much more than just technology. It's a synergy of people, processes, data, and technology working together to solve community challenges. This synergy is what makes communities smarter. What improves when communities become smarter? Public works: Cities are under serious pressure to digitize their assets so they can be found easily in one place. Being able to do that is a profound saving in time and money. that the app is saving him 15 kilometres of driving per day. Public safety: Effective emergency response demands an integrated response combined with information shared from an accurate asset inventory. When that's happening, all these services are improved: • Emergency response; • Event security; • Crime prevention; and • Infrastructure protection. Alberta's Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) used Esri's ArcGIS technology to improve operations at its Emergency Link Centre. STARS developed a dynamic web mapping application that allows dispatchers to access up-to-date and complete information about an emergency. They can direct appropriate resources much more quickly, which increases patients' chances of survival. Public health: Whether responding to an outbreak or safeguarding against the threat of one, the ability to share complex information through the common visual language of a map benefits everyone in the community. The current opioid crisis is an example of how mapping and integrated information improves the response time of health care providers and helps the public understand both how their governments are responding and where to find help if they need it. Maps and apps also help public health and safety agencies to know how effective their responses are. Economic development: Communities vie for new capital investment, tourism income, and the resulting tax revenue. GIS provides economic development officers and potential investors with insight into the Credit: Esri The City of Kingston's industrial lands story map allows potential clients to understand the availability of industrial land in the community. Smart OppOrtunities How new technology can build smart cities across Canada. By Alex Miller Smart Cities 32 ReNew Canada November/December 2017 renewcanada.net

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