Case Study: LA Sanitation improves city cleanup efficiency with Microsoft Azure and SANSTAR

LA improves sanitation services with a cloud-based spatially enabled mobile solution

Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation (LASAN) needed a more efficient and transparent way to manage sanitation service requests from citizens and coordinate its field crews. The challenge was to improve responsiveness to issues like illegal dumping and street cleanup while optimizing operations and reducing costs. To address this, they worked with vendor Microsoft Corporation and its partner Spatial Wave to implement a cloud-based, spatially enabled solution.

The solution, called SANSTAR, was built using Microsoft Azure cloud services and Azure SQL Database, and deployed on Microsoft Surface LTE devices. This provided field crews with real-time, GPS-routed work orders and a way to update job statuses from the site. For Microsoft, the results were significant: LASAN reduced overtime hours, improved routing efficiency, and provided better public service. The system also gave management real-time dashboard visibility into operations, leading to more effective resource use and lower costs for taxpayers.

LA Sanitation

Anita Fernandez

Director of Systems