Digitalising Road Management: Glarus Leads the Way

Why go digital?

Municipalities across Switzerland face the same challenges: road conditions are often unclear, and maintenance work is carried out reactively based on gut feeling or subjective urgency. Without current and comprehensive digital data, it's nearly impossible to make informed and cost-efficient decisions.
Some municipalities still rely on pen and paper to assess their roads – a time-consuming and staff-intensive approach. A comprehensive road management system is missing.

Glarus takes a new approach

With a road network of 86 kilometres, Glarus no longer wants to operate in the dark. Since March 2025, the municipality has been using vialytics, a system that captures road images using a camera mounted on a vehicle. AI then evaluates each section objectively and continuously.
The system was introduced during an on-site visit with municipal representatives and vialytics staff. Since then, vialytics has been actively used for the Glarus road network.

What vialytics enables

Images of the road are collected regularly via smartphone camera. These are automatically analysed by artificial intelligence, which assesses each section of road. This gives the municipality a solid, data-based foundation for maintenance planning – efficient, transparent and easy to understand.
In short: road asset management becomes plannable and resource-efficient.

But there’s more

The user-friendly web platform also supports the documentation of municipal infrastructure, such as benches, playgrounds or waste bins. With its inventory-based task management, issues like a broken bench or an overflowing bin can be recorded and assigned to the appropriate maintenance team.

Thanks to its intuitive interface, vialytics also serves as a political tool – helping explain decisions and enabling transparency. For example, if the question arises, “Why is Street A being repaired but not Street B?”, vialytics provides objective evaluations and image documentation as a basis for clear answers.

It also adds value for construction documentation: the municipality can record road conditions before and after excavation works to track possible damage or incomplete repairs.
A major benefit: the municipality stays in control. Road assessments can be carried out as often as needed – independently and flexibly.

Conclusion

Since March 2025, Glarus has been paving the way for digital, efficient and future-oriented road management. With vialytics, the municipality uses an innovative solution that replaces estimates and manual inspections with clear, AI-driven data.
Grolimund + Partner AG is proud of this successful partnership and looks forward to supporting more municipalities in adopting this smart and user-friendly tool.

Curious how vialytics could support your municipality? Get in touch – we’ll be happy to advise you.