3D road mapping coming to North Bay
The province is teaming up with industry partners to provide $57 million in funding for 30 Ontario companies, including one locally.
“There’s $17 million that stems from the province,” says Vic Fedeli, Nipissing MPP and Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “But there’s $40 million that comes from private businesses that is above and beyond the municipal contributions.”
SafeSight Exploration and its partners, including the City of North Bay, are implementing real-time 3D road mapping supported by 5G networks.
Mike Campigotto, SafeSight President, says the equipment is about the size of a football and fits onto a city vehicle.
It’ll collect photographic and 3D modelling of pavement, pothole and curb issues or side and shoulder erosion.
“Engineers, as its being collected, can review and make decisions about what needs to be done and how quickly it needs to be done,” he says. “This has financial benefit with respect to a more effective deployment of financial dollars for roads and it makes the roads, shoulders and the curbs safer.”
Campigotto says the project is garnering interest elsewhere too.
“Our industry partners want to take the example we’re building here and deploy it to municipalities across Canada,” he says. “We have other international partners that are watching this that have municipal partners globally, that want to then take it to a global level.”
He adds there are plans to expand into water and sewer mapping in the future, too.
Locally, the province is providing $385,000 with the total cost of the project about $1.2 million.
Fedeli says by investing in homegrown innovation and helping local companies compete in global markets, Ontario is protecting the future of the automotive sector and ensuring the cars of the future are made in Ontario, by workers in the province.
“Through the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network, our government is strengthening our domestic supply chain, driving competitiveness and resilience, and creating good-paying jobs that will withstand this storm of tariffs and economic uncertainty,” he says.
Across Ontario, the funding is helping accelerate the path to global markets for homegrown electrification, EV charging infrastructure and smart mobility solutions.