Abstract Manager

Municipal sidewalk and pathway snow clearing operations have traditionally relied on manual reporting from forepeople, inspectors, and contractors to communicate operational progress. These approaches are labour-intensive, inconsistent, and often lag real-world conditions, creating challenges for internal coordination, decision-making, and public communication during winter events.

The City of Winnipeg has implemented an Automated Vehicle Location (AVL)-based approach that derives sidewalk and pathway snow clearing progress directly from equipment telemetry. Instead of relying on manual inputs, progress is inferred using defined speed, proximity, and activity thresholds captured from operational equipment during live winter maintenance events. This data feeds both an internal operational dashboard used by maintenance supervisors and a public-facing snow-clearing map that communicates service status to residents in near real time.

This presentation will describe the evolution from manual reporting to an automated, data-driven model for sidewalk and pathway snow clearing. Topics include system design, qualification logic used to identify active clearing, integration with existing operational and geographic information systems, and validation approaches used to ensure accuracy and reliability. The presentation will also highlight how this approach reduces administrative burden on operational staff, improves consistency and timeliness of progress reporting, and supports clearer service communication during prolonged or complex winter events.

Observed outcomes include improved situational awareness during snow clearing operations, more objective progress tracking across large pedestrian networks, and increased public transparency through a single, authoritative source of service status information. Lessons learned from implementation, governance considerations, and the transferability of the approach to other winter maintenance activities will be discussed. The presentation will conclude with practical insights for municipalities seeking to modernize winter operations using existing AVL data and operational fleets.