City of Kelowna
Enhancing customer service with digital transformation
How Kelowna leverages Nearmap imagery, AI, and 3D mesh across city initiatives.
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About the City of Kelowna
Kelowna is a rapidly evolving city in the southern region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a dynamic, urbanising hub and an economic powerhouse. Kelowna is home to thriving traditional industries like agriculture and construction, as well as emerging sectors such as information technology. Over 1,400 dedicated staff members work tirelessly to make Kelowna a better place to live, work, and play.
The challenge
When what you have isn't enough
Kelowna faced several challenges typical of a rapidly growing city:
- Escalating project costs: With urban expansion, the city encountered rising project expenses driven by the need for frequent updates, maintenance, and physical site visits. This made efficient resource allocation critical.
- Limited and low-resolution imagery: Relying on outdated, low-resolution imagery hindered infrastructure planning and emergency response capabilities.
- Seamless integration: Essential systems such as Esri ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online required reliable data that could be easily integrated into existing workflows.
- Responsive project support: Rapid urban growth necessitated faster decision-making and data-driven responses to manage projects and address environmental events like wildfires and storms.
Recognising the need for a modern, reliable solution to address these challenges, Kelowna turned to Nearmap. This partnership marked a pivotal step toward enhancing the city’s ability to manage urban growth, optimise workflows, and respond effectively to environmental demands.
The solution
Location intelligence: Imagery, AI, & 3D
Nearmap solutions integrate into Kelowna’s ArcGIS environment without the need for costly technical resources. High-resolution imagery from Nearmap serves as the ideal basemap in Esri for detailed mapping and analysis, elevating the capabilities of ArcGIS and enabling Kelowna to enhance critical city initiatives. Key products supporting these efforts include:
- Frequent and historical imagery: Provides accurate, up-to-date views of sites with multiple captures throughout the year, along with access to historical imagery spanning up to five years. This gives Kelowna deeper insights for disaster response and urban planning.
- AI layers: Over 130+ detections are available to automatically surface insights for a variety of projects and use cases.
- 3D textured mesh: Creates high-resolution and immersive views for areas of interest and brings work to life with contextual renderings of the built environment.
“Digital Transformation is one of our key priorities. Nearmap fits in nicely by providing a subscription service for us where we receive 2, 5cm acquisitions each year.”— Kevin Stehle, Business Systems Analyst, City of Kelowna
Project highlights
McDougall Creek Wildfire
The Kelowna area faced a significant wildfire in 2023, resulting in widespread property damage throughout the region. Nearmap pre- and post-catastrophe imagery, with post-imagery captured within a week after the fires, was instrumental in the recovery process.
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Reduced field visits
High-resolution imagery minimises the need for physical site visits by city planners, engineers, bylaw officers, and utility workers. It accelerates issue resolution, reduces costs, and improves service delivery. When site visits are necessary, Nearmap enhances preparation and resource allocation.
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Citizen engagement
Nearmap 3D mesh technology enabled Kelowna to integrate its 2D data into a 3D application, offering residents answers to common questions about current and approved developments. The application combines Nearmap 3D mesh, buildings under development, and information captured in a digital twin.
- Citizens can draw elevation profiles, visualise daylight changes, investigate line of sight, measure heights and distances, and analyse hypothetical scenarios, such as proposed building heights.
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Business impact
Better insights for better decisions
Kelowna relies on accurate location intelligence from Nearmap. For many projects, Nearmap imagery serves as the foundation for decision-making. Since implementation, the city has achieved the following benefits:
- Faster access to accurate insights: Nearmap enabled Kelowna to obtain up-to-date, high-resolution imagery within days rather than weeks, empowering rapid project execution and informed decision-making.
- Cost and time savings: By reducing physical site visits through remote inspections, the city streamlined workflows and achieved measurable cost reductions. Additionally, the Nearmap subscription model gives the city access to proactive coverage of their community.
- Improved citizen engagement: The integration of Nearmap 3D mesh into public applications enhanced transparency. Residents can explore digital environments of their neighborhoods, enhancing trust.
- Responsive emergency management: Pre- and post-event imagery allows officials to assess damage efficiently, reducing average assessment times from weeks to days.
- Enhanced urban planning: AI-driven layers allowed city planners to automate the identification of critical insights, such as impervious surfaces or vegetation density, optimising future developments for sustainability and resilience.
Nearmap equips Kelowna to manage diverse city projects effectively while dealing with rapid growth. From change detection and traffic control to site inspections and beyond, the city has the imagery, insights, and answers necessary to transform Kelowna into a smarter, more resilient urban center.
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