Introducing the Integrated Smart City Ecosystem, powered by Bell and Esri

Bell partners with Esri Canada to deliver Internet of Things (IoT) smart city capabilities to communities across Canada.

Canadian municipalities and regional governments are increasingly embracing digital transformation to improve their ability to respond to a wide variety of challenges and opportunities—such as traffic disruptions, service delivery, severe weather events, public health concerns and attracting residents and economic investment. Smart city solutions enable municipal governments to make faster, more informed decisions, deliver critical services and manage infrastructure more efficiently in ways not previously possible. While smart city initiatives are as diverse in their applications as the communities that deploy them, the technology that powers these initiatives tends to share some key aspects.

Internet of Things (IoT) sensors enable cities and towns to gather real-time data from a myriad of sources, including traffic lights, utility meters, fleet tracking devices and pedestrian traffic sensors. With all this data now available, the next task is to turn it into useful information that can support decision-making and the management of crucial infrastructure and services. Essential components of this work involve the ability to ingest and consolidate data, facilitate analysis, allow IoT data to be compared with other datasets and share pertinent information across multiple stakeholders. These two aspects of smart city technology—IoT sensor data and real-time data analytics and processing—form the basis of Bell and Esri Canada’s partnership to deliver an IoT smart city ecosystem for communities across the country. 

"Bell has Canada’s largest portfolio of IoT solutions specifically designed to empower smart city transformations, enabling the fast and secure collection of data from multiple sources for a diverse array of applications, including water leak detection, asset management, smart waste management and energy management. With solutions for everything from infrastructure to public safety, Bell has helped many Canadian municipalities lower operating costs, enhance public services, and improve quality of life for citizens. Bell delivers Canada’s best national network for IoT, with the network coverage, security, and reliability required for smart city applications.  Bell also invests nearly $4 billion annually in network innovation, including building out Canada’s fastest 5G network. With the growing need for connectivity and the growth of IoT sensors and solutions, cities will rely on next-generation networks to support smart city advancements." (Arvinder Dhaliwal, Senior Product Manager - Smart Cities at Bell)

Esri’s ArcGIS is the most widely used GIS and location intelligence system in Canada. ArcGIS Velocity is our cloud-native capability for real-time and big data analytics. It is designed to ingest data from multiple sensors in different protocols and formats and provide context to this data using the element they all have in common, location. Velocity allows organizations to monitor and analyze IoT data at scale and against historical data. Further, it can push data in response to triggers, populate dashboards and share information throughout the organization. Essentially, Velocity cuts the time between observation to decision-making.

Together, Bell’s portfolio of IoT solutions and 5G network and Esri’s real-time and big data analytics form the Integrated Smart City Ecosystem. The ecosystem enables Canadian cities to collect, integrate and display data in a smooth end-to-end experience for faster, more informed decision-making. It allows multiple stakeholders to share a common view within context for more effective collaboration. Cities can also configure the solution with access to multiple pre-integrated solutions, integrate with existing location intelligence investments and tailor reporting and workflows to their needs. Ultimately, the Integrated Smart City ecosystem will empower Canadian communities to accelerate their digital transformation and realize their visions for a smarter city. 

You can learn more about the Integrated Smart City Ecosystem at the upcoming Building a Safer, Connected Community virtual event, hosted by Esri Canada. In addition to a session focused on this solution, you will also hear speakers from Bell, Esri Canada, Edmonton Police Service and the City of Guelph present on smart cities and IoT more broadly, including talks on public safety and transportation.

Register today! 

This post was translated to French and can be viewed here.