In Fort Saskatchewan, RFID Goes Out on a Limb

To date, Enders says, "The system provides us with great information," such as the type of maintenance work that has been done on the city's assets, which he can then take to the city council if he needs, for example, to explain the upkeep costs of specific items, or to request funds for further employees. The HisTree.net data, he says, indicates exactly how much work is being done at each location, as well as the results of that labor. He expects the system to save the town money previously spent searching for paperwork, or paying for trees not properly serviced. Moreover, the town now has better records of its responses to grievances from citizens, such as complaints about damaged playground equipment or filled garbage cans.

In the future, Enders says he envisions using the system to track city signage, including stop signs, that may have to be replaced, and records of those events can be stored in the HisTree.net system, based on reads of tags attached to each sign pole. He would also like the city to use the tags to track fire-hydrant maintenance.

The city expects to budget up to $50,000 annually for the solution on all hard assets in the parks system, though Maat notes that initially, it is unlikely to use the entire budget. Enders expects a return on investment, but indicates that it is too early to calculate the amount of money that the city might save as a result of using the solution.

In the meantime, Enders hopes that nurseries will provide trees with RFID tags already attached, so that Fort Saskatchewan can view data about each tree from the time a seed is planted. As the trees grow, he says, staff members will use a pole to extend the handheld reader's reach. The HisTree.net system has also been implemented at Canadian wholesale tree nursery Stewart Brothers Nurseries (SBM), located in Kelowna, B.C., which is applying a tag to each tree and storing data about that tree, including its species, the planting date and its maintenance record. That information, Maat says, can then also be accessed by customers such as Fort Saskatchewan.

HisTree.net makes the data available for an annual fee (typically ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 per year), and leases or rents hardware at a monthly or annual rate.