Inspecting Aging Infrastructure: Understanding the Challenges and the New Solutions
Across North America, underground infrastructure is showing its age. Many manholes and sewer chambers are more than 60, 80, or even 100 years old. Materials deteriorate, water infiltrates, structures weaken, and collapses become more frequent—all while budgets struggle to keep up.
Cities, engineering firms, and utility operators all face the same question:
How do you efficiently inspect aging infrastructure when traditional methods are slow, costly, and often unsafe?
The good news: a new generation of inspection technologies is transforming the landscape.
Why inspecting aging infrastructure is so difficult
When underground networks reach the end of their life cycle, several challenges appear simultaneously:
- Hazardous access – unstable manholes, toxic gases, missing ladders
- Inconsistent documentation – different years, different inspectors, different formats
- Slow inspection cycles – traditional methods may require 30+ minutes per manhole
- Subjective defect evaluation – reports vary widely between inspectors
- Limited visibility – traditional cameras only show the area directly in front of them
As a result, many cities inspect less than 10% of their network annually.
The rest continues to age… until a major failure forces emergency repairs.
Transitioning toward faster, safer, and more complete inspections
To overcome these challenges, municipalities are increasingly adopting a modern approach built on three pillars: 360° imaging, cloud centralization, and AI-assisted analysis.
360° imaging: capture everything in seconds
360° pole-mounted cameras—like RV-MAX 360 and RV-PRO 360—have completely changed the inspection workflow.
A single descent captures a fully illuminated 360° view of the entire manhole.
Benefits include:
- no confined-space entry
- full inspection in under 3 minutes
- only one operator required
- zero blind spots
- clear, actionable imagery even in degraded structures
For aging infrastructure, this is often the only truly safe method left.
MACP standard: turning video into structured, comparable data
Aging networks require a consistent language to classify and prioritize defects.
That’s exactly what MACP (Manhole Assessment Certification Program) provides.
MACP helps:
- classify defects with a standardized scale
- compare inspections from different years
- identify immediate risks vs. long-term concerns
- build a uniform, organization-wide asset inventory
Artificial intelligence: fast and consistent defect coding
Where a human might take several minutes to analyze a video, AI—such as the model integrated in RinnoCloud via Pallon—can process it in seconds.
AI can:
- detect cracks, infiltration, deformation, corrosion
- classify defects automatically
- generate full MACP reports
- reduce human error
- ensure consistency across hundreds or thousands of assets
For cities, this translates to more inspected network, lower costs, and better decision-making.
Cloud platforms: centralizing, sharing, and planning at scale
Aging infrastructure naturally generates more findings and more documentation. Without a centralized system, the data quickly becomes unmanageable.
RinnoCloud solves this by providing:
- automatic upload of 360° inspection videos
- online viewing and intuitive navigation
- team collaboration features
- exportable and shareable MACP reports
- a complete historical record for every asset
For the first time, managers can track the true evolution of their underground assets over time.
The measurable benefits of modernizing aging-infrastructure inspections
Municipalities that adopt 360° + cloud + AI see immediate improvements:
✔ Up to 10× faster inspections
An entire neighborhood can be inspected in a single day.
✔ Inspection costs cut by 60% or more
Less labor, fewer confined-space entries, lighter equipment.
✔ Safer operations
Confined-space entry is nearly eliminated.
✔ Full network visibility
Something impossible with traditional methods.
✔ Better budgeting and risk management
Data becomes consistent, comparable, and actionable.
How to modernize your aging-infrastructure inspection program
To modernize an aging-infrastructure inspection program, organizations must shift from slow, labor-intensive methods to a streamlined workflow built on 360° imaging, cloud data management, and AI-assisted analysis. By replacing confined-space entry and traditional cameras with fast, surface-based 360° inspections, teams can capture complete visual data in seconds while dramatically improving safety.
Standardizing evaluations with frameworks like MACP ensures consistent, comparable results across all assets. When combined with AI-powered defect detection and automated reporting, municipalities can process more inspections with fewer resources and eliminate subjective variations. Finally, by centralizing data in a cloud platform, engineers gain a unified view of asset conditions, enabling proactive planning, risk-based prioritization, and smarter long-term rehabilitation decisions.
This integrated approach transforms inspections from reactive to predictive—delivering better outcomes, lower costs, and a clearer understanding of aging infrastructure.
This transformation typically takes weeks—not years.
Conclusion: modernizing inspections extends the life of the network
Aging underground networks have long been seen as an unavoidable burden—too big, too costly, and too complex to fully understand. But today, with 360° imaging, AI-driven analysis, and cloud centralization, municipalities finally have the tools to take control.
Using RinnoVision, municipalities can:
- inspect dramatically more assets
- reduce operating costs
- improve worker safety
- build reliable long-term datasets
- plan rehabilitation with confidence
In a world where underground infrastructure is aging faster than it can be replaced, the key advantage is knowledge. RinnoVision provides that knowledge—quickly, safely, and at scale.