CityNext partner MaintStar develops augmented reality solution to transform city services
For many people in the United States, Pokémon GO was their first known experience with augmented reality. Within a month of its July 2016 release, the Pokémon GO app had more than 100 million downloads.1 It was a swift and natural adoption for citizens to use the augmented reality technology, where data could be displayed over real-world objects on their mobile screens.
Meanwhile, software company MaintStar was working with its partner Civic Resource Group on how it could use augmented reality to improve citizen services. As a Microsoft CityNext partner that serves public-sector customers, MaintStar is committed to delivering technology solutions that engage citizens, optimize city operations, and empower city employees.
MaintStar imagined a firefighter responding to a burning building and not having to waste precious minutes pulling up building information on a fire station computer. What if the first responder could go directly to the incident, hold up a smartphone to the building, and instantly see the floor plan and sprinkler system data?
What about a couple holding up smartphones in an unfamiliar neighborhood and retrieving data about all the restaurant options within sight? They could immediately see that on the other side of the brick alley there is an Italian restaurant currently open.
MaintStar has more than three decades’ experience in creating technology solutions to transform cities’ abilities to provide innovative digital services. With MaintStar software, cities can better manage infrastructure assets related to parks maintenance, sewer maintenance, storm water, freshwater operations, and streets and transportation. These assets include storm drains, bridges, curbs, trees, buildings, sports pavilions, and stop signs, among many others. The number of assets that cities need to track is staggering—a mid-sized city might have 10,000 stop signs alone. Many cities still use pencil and paper methods to manage all the maintenance and repair data.
MaintStar knows that cities are constantly faced with limited resources and the same question: how can we do more with less? The company saw tremendous possibilities with augmented reality and began to develop a new solution using the cloud storage and data computation capabilities of the Microsoft Azure platform. Now the overlay of site data for firefighters is becoming a reality. And citizens can get transportation, food, and public agency location information simply by pointing their smartphones at their surroundings. Public works inspectors can use the solution from within a building to see permits, inspection history, and CAD drawings. They can then record any repairs, costs, and labor time onsite, without needing to return to the office.
Many existing MaintStar customers are eager to use the augmented reality solution as the next step to boost efficiencies, reduce costs, and provide outstanding data-driven services to their citizens. MaintStar is currently engaged in a pilot project with Alameda County, the seventh-largest county in California. County employees use the solution to track assets, decide appropriate safety measures, aid search and rescue, and get step-by-step help in real time. Daniel Woldesenbet, the Director of the Alameda County Public Works Agency, sees a future in which the county is highly integrated with mobile devices and augmented reality—ultimately increasing transparency between citizens and the government and providing faster responses to citizens’ needs.
Woldesenbet and Dimitry Poretsky, CEO of MaintStar, will be presenting at the Nordic Edge Expo in Stavanger, Norway, on October 6–7. Learn more about the new MaintStar solution in their talk, “Augmented reality and technology: a case study from Silicon Valley.”
For more information on how CityNext partners are using technology to transform cities and optimize city operations, visit the website.
1http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/pokemon-go-100-million-downloads/
