In this edition:
Shared Spaces Program: insights using Connected Car data
Can AI technology improve asset maintenance?
This is how drones are fixing potholes
Businesses need to fail in order to succeed
💡Case Study Highlight
➡️ The TL;DR: Compass helped a local council to determine the impacts of changing a busy two-way street into a one-way street as part of the NSW Shared Spaces Program. The result was a decrease in speeds and g-forces = better safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and vulnerable road users.
The NSW Shared Spaces Program provides funding for councils to pilot temporary interventions to test innovative ideas and build cases for more permanent changes in local area traffic management.
A council in Sydney’s North wanted to test the impact of converting a busy two-way street into a one-way on traffic in a beach-side local area. The street in question is a popular pedestrian area with a bike lane and a number of cafes and food outlets.
Brakepoint and Survey were used to monitor the changes before and after implementing the one-way. The areas monitored were:
15 segments of road to test changes in speed
6 intersections in close proximity to each other to monitor for changes in swerving, accelerating, and braking (i.e., changes in G-force)
➡️ Results:
Average, median and 85th percentile speeds all decreased.
Northbound speed had the most significant decrease of 15%
Average, median and 85th percentile G-force also decreased, meaning a reduction in hard braking or swerving as a result of the one-way change.
🤖 Can AI Technology Improve Asset Maintenance?
What’s going on?
Transport for NSW is leading a $2.9m trial of AI technology that will help to track and prioritize the maintenance of road infrastructure.
What does this mean?
The Asset AI project — an initiative that is funded by the NSW Government aims to equip local buses and garbage trucks with new technology that will track and prioritise road repairs, including identifying potholes before they form.
The trial involves 32 sensors being installed onto 32 public transport buses across the Greater Sydney area. The new technology can be combined with local weather observations to predict the rate of deterioration and streamline how road asset maintenance is prioritised.
The organisation’s President Grant Baker said Asset AI™ could revolutionise current practices. “This initiative is a game-changer for local government to re-imagine the way they currently assess and audit roads to fully benefit from new technology,” Mr Baker said.
Why should I care?
The Asset AI project is expected to be available to all NSW Local Government areas in late 2023.
Further testing is being rolled out across regional and metropolitan regions including Georges River, Blayney, Central Coast, Liverpool, Wingecarribee, Sutherland, Warren Shire, Liverpool Plains, Griffith, Tamworth, Wollongong, and Murray River Councils in September.
Is more hardware the solution or should we be looking at more future-focused alternatives?
Read the full article by Roads Australia.
✈ This is how drones are fixing potholes
What’s going on?
The city of Winchester, Virginia is the first to begin testing drones in road inspection.
What does this mean?
The Innovative Municipalities Project is a new initiative organised by DroneUp that aims to help speed up the process of identifying and fixing potholes. By leveraging drone technology, city governments can save money and time while improving road safety.
The issue that most city governments are facing is that road maintenance is manual and time-consuming. Road inspections usually require governments to temporarily close the roads and send out a team to examine pavements on foot.
The test was taken place in a predetermined, 2-mile area where the pilot flew with the camera and passed the designated area. The drone has successfully recorded all road surfaces and indicated pavements that have started to deteriorate which can lower repair budgets.
Why should I care?
The new technology enables road closure that requires minimal resources and time.
Road maintenance can be more efficiently executed, ensuring safer roads.
Read the full article by autoevolution
🎙Businesses need to fail in order to succeed
Why mistakes and built-in failure are crucial for success? We asked Josh Sattler, the CEO of Dantia - Lake Macquarie City’s economic development company that focuses on growth and innovation. Check out the show notes here on Substack.
What will you learn:
What does ‘smart city’ actually mean?
The importance of public-private partnerships
Why you need to build in mistake-making in your business
Got feedback on how we can improve our emails? Chuck Janis an email at janis@compassiot.com.au on how we can do better
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Compass IoT Team