Summary:
Find out about new smart technology in Fishermans Bend
The project is an innovation trial including data collection
To inform you and address any questions or concerns you have.
Together with the Victorian Government, the City of Melbourne is trialing a new type of street pole in Fishermans Bend.
We are trialing eight ‘smart’, or multifunction poles, on Turner and Graham Streets as a part of the Gateway to the General Motors Holden (GMH) project in Fishermans Bend.
The smart poles will host different types of sensors, Low Range Wide Area Networks (LoRaWAN) gateways for connectivity and smart lighting, gathering data on transport, noise, weather, air quality and more.
Our aim is to measure how well these poles can support different devices to enable connectivity and collect quality data.
The poles
Each of the eight poles will be set up with a variety of sensors. Select a pole location to discover its features.
Background to the project
Fishermans Bend is Australia’s largest urban renewal project covering about 480 hectares in the heart of Melbourne. It is divided into five precincts, spread across two municipalities - the City of Melbourne and the City of Port Phillip - connecting Melbourne's CBD to the bay.
By 2050, it will be home to approximately 80,000 residents and provide employment for up to 80,000 people. The vision for the area is to be, “a thriving place that is a leading example for environmental sustainability, liveability, connectivity, diversity and innovation.” Fishermans Bend - Fishermans Bend
The City of Melbourne is trialing new technologies and innovative ideas here to help deliver this vision. Smart technologies in the public realm can help to increase connectivity. They also help data collection, support maintenance, and improve the quality of public spaces.
The rise in smart technologies has increased the potential for many new devices, creating visual clutter in the streetscape. We are exploring how to solve this challenge using innovative technologies.
Other questions about the project
Smart poles are technically designed light poles that combine a variety of technologies. The pole can include many technologies or just one. Typically, the pole owner selects from a menu of technologies for each pole.
This may include:
- different sensor types like weather and transport
- CCTV
- 5G
- LoRaWAN
- smart lighting
- 24-hour power supply
- electrical vehicle charging
- public Wi-Fi
- public announcements
- help assist button
- wayfinding
- and so much more
We are only using poles that contain some of these technologies. The technologies we are exploring are weather sensors, transport sensors (pedestrian, car, bicycle counts), LoRaWAN connectivity, and smart lighting.
We are not collecting any data that could personally identify anyone.
We will continue to keep the community up to date on the technologies we are trialing.
We are trialing smart poles in Fishermans Bend to understand the efficiency, impacts and opportunities they bring. The outcomes of this pilot will help inform the expansion of smart poles to other parts of Melbourne.
Sensors help collect important data about how the city functions. Smart poles enable us to install various sensors in one location without over cluttering our streets.
We are installing eight ENE.HUB poles called SMART.POLEs.
The poles will contain the following devices:
- Weather sensors
- LoRaWaN gateways
- Transport sensor/car and bike counting
- Pedestrian counting sensor
- Smart lighting
- Weather, including temperature, humidity, air quality and noise
- Transport counts of vehicles and bicycles
- Pedestrian counting
- LoRaWAN Connectivity strength
We are not collecting any data that could personally identify anyone.
We are not collecting any data that could personally identify anyone.
Various sensors will use different ways to send data to us. Some of the sensors use LoRaWAN to send data and others use 4G.
The data is used by City of Melbourne to understand the value of these smart poles in our city spaces.
This data is stored permanently for records and analysis. We are not collecting any data that could personally identify anyone.
We will install the poles and begin trialing various sensors. We will keep this page up to date as the pilot progresses.
Project partner
