Hexagon Wins World Smart City Award

Hexagon has been recognized as the recipient of the World Smart City Award in the Urban Environment category at Smart City Expo World Congress 2019.

Hexagon was selected for its efforts to connect satellite and operational data to trigger predictive maintenance for utilities. Using a solution from Hexagon’s Geospatial division and its partner Planetek Italia, Italian utility company Hera improved the effectiveness of its pipeline inspections by 40 percent.

“Hexagon is committed to putting data to work to make cities safer and more sustainable,” said Mladen Stojic, president of Hexagon’s Geospatial division. “We are honored to receive the World Smart City Award, which demonstrates how innovation from Hexagon and Planetek Italia can positively impact city services and the lives of citizens.”

Hera is among Italy’s largest multi-utilities. It needed to reduce the cost of sewer system maintenance by preventing the breakdown of sewer pipes caused by subsidence or ground instability. Planetek Italia’s Rheticus Network Alert, powered by Hexagon's M.App Enterprise technology, not only enhanced inspections, but also enabled Hera to identify possible problem areas and predict future troubles.

The Rheticus service has a highly visual dashboard that provides intuitive indicators to give the utility advance warnings of possible problems. It monitors 3,852 miles of the Hera network to detect changes in the earth’s surface that could impact infrastructure. Being able to act on this information early, before situations deteriorate, greatly reduces the utility's costs of maintaining its sewer systems.

The World Smart City Awards seek to recognize pioneering projects, ideas and strategies that promote sustainable urban development around the globe. Applicants from 54 countries submitted more than 450 entries in total, and the awards were given to the projects deemed to be the most innovative and successful.

Smart City Expo World Congress aims to empower cities and collectivize urban modernization across the globe, creating a better future for all.