Waterloo uses BlackBerry tech to mobilize disaster recovery efforts during emergencies

After seeing Toronto’s recent issues with flooding, the City of Waterloo created a better way to centralize communications with the disaster recovery teams (transportation team, parks and forestry teams etc.) on the ground, the mayor, the head of public works and other incident groups. They found communicating via email made communications disjointed and delayed.

City of Waterloo employees turned to their BlackBerry devices and activated emergency BBM™ Groups ahead of the ice storm to stay connected and communicate in real time with key groups of people. This enabled communications to be streamlined, drastically improved response time, collaboration and critical communication. For example, the forestry team could be informed via the BBM Group that a fallen tree needed clearing, and they could respond in real time.

The City of Waterloo has also developed the Ping Street mobile application to enhance municipal service delivery to residents. The first-of-its-kind BlackBerry mobile application provides Waterloo citizens real-time access to location-based information including garbage and recycling calendars, construction detours, road closures and more.