Ready for a ‘brilliant city’
Everything from traffic lights to garbage to water leaks will be controlled wirelessly, says mayor
Niagara Falls is becoming an “intelligent community” as smart technology is being integrated throughout the municipality, says Mayor Jim Diodati.
Many municipalities around the world are trying to become “smart cities” by using the latest technology to do things such as wirelessly manage streetlights and traffic signals, as well as sensors to monitor underground infrastructure for leaks.
Niagara Falls is joining those communities.
“We don’t want to be a smart city, we want to be a brilliant city,” Diodati told a sold-out crowd of businesspeople and dignitaries during his recent state of the city address.
“Broadband can be as vital to economic development as clean water and good roads are to the success of the city. By boosting the economic and social wellbeing of communities, broadband can encourage young people to stay for economic opportunities. The global market for telecommunications is worth more than $1 trillion annually. Cisco Systems estimates by 2020 the world will have 4.1-billion people on the Internet.”
Diodati said Niagara Falls stands to improve contact between citizens and local government by using technology that allows for real-time responses to certain challenges and opportunities.
He said the city will benefit due to its connection to Niagara Regional Broadband Network, a local service provider of data and voice solutions.
NRBN runs fibre and broadband throughout the region, and is scheduled to move its headquarters from Grimsby into the former Niagara Regional Police station on Morrison Street, which the city purchased late last year.
Diodati said about 10 years ago, Niagara Falls and three other municipalities invested in NRBN, which services municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals with highspeed Internet and other options.
Niagara Falls is a majority owner, along with Niagara-on-the-Lake.
“A lot of people maybe don’t fully appreciate how big it really is,” said Diodati.
“We invested, through our hydro company, in this idea of broadband, fibre-optic connections. It was as the business was growing we were starting to see the different applications and the different opportunities and it became apparent that this was even bigger than we imagined.
“We realized we could completely connect the city and this would be through broadband, through education, through business start up, through better quality of life.”
Diodati said as part of the city’s Intelligent Community Strategy, Wifi will be established at some city parks this year.
“Interactive playground apps that you can upload to your smartphone, where they come up with creative play ideas for kids and for grandparents and parents at the parks,” he said.
“With the newest, coolest technology in learning and play, we can touch the entire community.”
He said the city will eventually be able to bring high-speed access to some neighbourhoods that may be socially and economically in need.
“Some of these kids that can’t do their homework or don’t have the opportunity to start a business because they can’t afford it, we can reach out and bring Internet to them wirelessly through our wifi,” said Diodati.
“The sky is the limit with endless possibilities.”
He said the city will be able to add cameras or smart data to find out where visitors are and when they come to the city.
“Through triangulation (a system of tracing and measuring a series or network of triangles to determine distances and positions over a territory or region) we can tell where they are, where they go and we can tell their habits — invaluable, critical information that we can use for tracking in the region,” said Diodati.
“We can use this technology to learn when our garbage cans are full before they’re full.”
As part of a renovation project on Victoria Avenue, the garbage bins being installed are going to have detectors that will prompt the city when they’re at capacity.
“We can tell, with this technology, when our trees and our gardens need water before they need water. We can also detect water loss in our underground water system.”
He said the city can experience up to 20 per cent water loss each year due to several reasons, including breaks in the system and defective meters.
“Now with fibre and smart technology, we can find the problem and repair it and mitigate it immediately instead of waiting until you get this massive, unexplained bill or we have a big flood going on underground before it becomes apparent above the ground. Before our sewers overflow into people’s basements, we’ll get notification.”
Diodati said the city can also connect traffic data through its newly retrofitted LED streetlights.
“Imagine knowing where there’s a train blockage a kilometre before you got there and knowing how you can detour around it. That’s what we’re going to be doing,” he said.
“Imagine if there was an accident in town and you had to get somewhere and you were notified on your smartphone to take an alternative route.”
Diodati said it can be frustrating waiting at a red light when there is no traffic coming the other way.
“We have, in large part, timed intersections instead of intelligent intersections that sense the traffic,” he said.
“We want lights that respond to traffic — the idea of smart intersections where the lights wouldn’t be pre-programmed by some random program that didn’t respond.
“We’ll be able to tell when the bus is coming, where the bus is with our GPS, how on time or not on time we’re going to be.”
Diodati said while the city’s parking meters accept credit cards, this year they will also begin accepting payments through smartphones.
“You’ll be notified before your time is up before you get a ticket.
“We’ll be a brilliant city and this is exactly the way we’re going to do it, through our control of Niagara Regional Broadband.”
Broadband can be as vital to economic development as clean water and good roads are to the success of the city.’ Mayor Jim Diodati