The city of Kitchener is gearing up to become a smart city and the city is looking at ways to integrate technology into its services.
As part of the Digital Kitchener plan, the city plans to install a narrowband mesh network by the end of 2017.
It’s a wireless network that uses less power and is more reliable than other wifi networks.
The system will be used to monitor lights, traffic, water meters and parking spots.
This year they plan on rolling out pay-by-phone parking that would allow a person to log onto their phone to add another hour on the parking meter.
"A longer term solution is actually identifying parking spaces that are vacant, future connected vehicles and autonomous vehicles and how they can relate to parking spots, and dynamic pricing related to vehicle supply and demand," said Justin Readman with the City of Kitchener.
The technology can be used to inform the city where people are parking and how long they are parking, which can help the city establish dynamic pricing models.
Readman says in-demand areas could be priced higher that lower-demand areas, and could help shift parking around the downtown core during busier times of day or week.
The Digital Kitchener plan will be put in place over the next four years.
