SmartCity: Inside the Driver App for Snow Removal

Snow removal accountability is one of the hardest problems in municipal fleet management: routes get missed, paper logs go missing, and when a resident calls to ask why their street wasn’t plowed, crews and supervisors often have no record to point to. This session is built for public works directors, streets and fleet managers, and snow removal supervisors at municipalities and DOTs who need real-time visibility into plowing operations and a defensible, timestamped record of service — without relying on radio calls, memory, or spreadsheets.

Join Routeware’s Nick Lidstone, Technical Account Manager, as he walks through the SmartCity Driver App from the cab and from the dispatch office, showing exactly how route assignments, progress tracking, and issue reporting work together during an active snow event.

What you’ll see:

• How drivers receive and follow digital route assignments instead of paper maps or verbal directions
• How every pass is logged with GPS and timestamp data to create proof of service for individual streets and multi-lane roads
• How supervisors monitor plowing progress in real time through a live dashboard, without waiting for radio check-ins
• How drivers report issues — blocked roads, equipment problems, unexpected obstacles — directly from the cab
• How shift-to-shift handoffs work, so incoming crews can see exactly what the previous shift completed
• How the platform supports contractor crews and multiple municipal business units on a single system
• How SmartCity integrates with Geotab, Samsara, and existing AVL systems to bring plow and salt data into one place
• What post-snow-event analytics look like, and how they’re used for reporting to councils, residents, and FEMA or state reimbursement processes

Why it matters:

Winter operations are judged in real time by the people who live on the roads being plowed. When a resident or council member asks whether a street was serviced, “we think so” isn’t an answer — a timestamped record is. Beyond accountability, the data collected during snow events becomes the foundation for smarter planning next season: which routes consistently run long, where equipment or staffing gaps show up, and how service levels compare block by block. Agencies that move off paper routes and radio-only coordination typically see faster shift handoffs, fewer repeat complaints, and a much easier time responding to public records requests or reimbursement audits after a major storm.

This session is built for anyone who owns snow removal outcomes — whether that’s a public works director answering to a city council, a fleet manager coordinating contractor and in-house crews, or a supervisor trying to keep a shift running smoothly at 2 a.m. during a storm. If your current system is paper routes, a radio, and institutional memory, this is the session that shows you what replaces it.