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IVAGO is the Intermunicipal Association for Waste Management in Ghent and the surrounding area, which focuses on sustainable waste management for both households and companies in Ghent and the municipality of Destelbergen. Their activities include waste prevention, collection, processing and energy generation. The organization has more than 400 employees.
IVAGO provides selective household waste collection for almost 300,000 residents, manages 6 recycling centers and ensures the cleanliness of public spaces. Their fleet consists of more than 190 vehicles, spanning large collection trucks and road sweepers through electric cars.
The Routing Management Department has had a well-developed GIS infrastructure based on ArcGIS and VertiGIS software for quite some time. They handle extensive geographical data which maps out their area of operation and have deployed VertiGIS Studio applications to optimize the rounds of the collection trucks and road sweepers.
A specific problem relates to waste bins in the public domain. IVAGO currently manages 2,363 waste bins. However, waste bin locations are not static: new bins need to be placed, and Ivago selects trial locations where bins are temporarily placed to decide whether the location is suitable. Other bins are either temporarily or permanently removed.
The management and utilization of waste bins occur across two systems—GIS and SAP. However, a significant challenge arises due to the lack of synchronization between these systems in describing and managing the digital properties of the waste bins. This misalignment not only causes inefficiencies but also results in redundant efforts, with the same tasks being performed unnecessarily in both systems. Hence, in 2021, SIGGIS was selected for the integration of ArcGIS Pro and SAP with the help of VertiGIS Integrator. The installation and configuration was carried out between October 2021 and February 2022. After a year, the solution was further refined and optimized.
The new process of digitally capturing a waste bin always starts in GIS. The correct location is placed as a point on a map, the address details are added as attributes and an ID is automatically generated. Fifteen minutes later, the new waste bin is available in SAP. There, the data is further enriched with the type of waste bin and a QR code is generated for further follow-up if necessary. In SAP, the emptying and cleaning frequencies are also assigned based on a calendar table.
Every evening, data updates are automatically synchronized from SAP to GIS to ensure both systems remain consistent and aligned. This synchronization allows changes recorded in SAP to be effectively utilized within the GIS environment. Based on the calendar data from SAP, the Routing Management Department can now start including the waste bins in the emptying and cleaning schedules. Furthermore, GIS equips users with advanced tools to implement large-scale adjustments to collection routes. These features include modifying the sequence of stops within a route, enabling efficient and organized route management.
IVAGO is exploring the possibility of expanding the successful integration between GIS (Geographic Information System) and SAP to include additional assets, such as glass recycling centers and underground containers.
Jolien Baetslé, GIS Expert and Routing Manager IVAGO, explains the added value of VertiGIS Integrator: “In the past, the waste bins were entered separately in GIS and SAP. We have saved 50 % of the time in that respect because we only have to enter the information once.”
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