Charles Ramdatt, Director of Smart Cities & Special Projects, City of Orlando
In Orlando, we see smart cities initiatives as a valuable way to promote and enhance the Orlando brand. Although Orlando is a city of just over 275,000 people, we are part of a larger metropolitan area of about 3 million. We also have the 4.5 million Tampa/St. Petersburg metro area to the southwest and we are growing toward Daytona Beach (and vice versa). People as far as 70 miles away from us use the Orlando brand, and it is also a brand that is known around the world. That brand is important to us, and we have been building it and protecting it with smart city projects since the 1990s.
Rescuing Orlando’s Brand Image Using Technology
Orlando is a popular tourist destination, and we are home to the largest rental car market in the world. However, during the 1990s there were several instances of tourists being lost in Florida and, as a result, there were often very negative consequences due to them being lost. There were strong concerns that those instances could severely damage our brand image, as we didn’t want people around the world to mention stories like this when they heard the name Orlando. In response to those threats to our brand image, we turned to technology.
We addressed the issue with an extensive partnership network to foster collaboration and problem-solving. We worked with the US DOT, Florida DOT, GM, AAA, the University of Central Florida, Avis Rental Car, and others. The result of our efforts was the development of a forerunner of the modern vehicle navigation system, aimed at keeping tourists safe when they rented cars and traveled the streets of Orlando.
The problem is that we didn’t take this idea and run with it. We sat on our hands and let others develop further generations of the navigation system. We also didn’t develop the tech ecosystem we needed to expand. In hindsight, we realize that part of being a smart city is creating that ecosystem and building on successful ideas, not just solving one problem and walking away.
Moving Boldly into Smart City Projects
We have learned from our past mistakes as we have implemented new smart city initiatives. Some of our past and current projects include:
- Creating the Green Works Orlando plan to set and track sustainability goals.
- Working on other ITS projects including adaptive signal control, emergency vehicle pre-emption, traffic signal priority and AVL.
- Building an open data policy.
- Installing smart parking meters and modernizing parking garages.
- Promoting and switching to more energy efficient technologies such as distributed generation (solar) and electric vehicles.
- Setting up a city-wide surveillance system and the IRIS police surveillance system.
- Establishing EDIS route optimization for emergency teams.
In addition to these and other efforts, we are currently working on four priorities:
1. Full Engagement of Our City Team
We have many team members who are doing smart things, but the problem is that they are working in silos and not coordinating their efforts. Instead of having our various departments compete, we’d like them to start collaborating so we can move forward, faster, together. We are looking at grouping departments, three at a time, so they can work together to solve problems, in their specific areas by using the same technology or same approach.
2. Partnerships for Education
In events like the recent Readiness Workshop conducted by the Smart Cities Council, we were able to work with elected officials, departmental representatives, neighboring jurisdictions, regional agencies and more, to discuss smart city planning and implementation. We recognize that we may be competing economically with some of these entities, but that we will get further together than we will separately.
3. Developing a Roadmap
In our roadmap, we see civic engagement as the highest priority. Once developed, we will make sure that the roadmap is reflected in our comprehensive plan, our land development code, our capital improvement plan, and operations and maintenance plans.
4. Partnerships for Product Development
We are also working on creating regional partnerships so we can work on new smart city initiatives. For example, we have developed the Central Florida Automated Vehicle Partnership (CFAVP), a network of partners working together to research and test automated vehicles. Our team was one of the winners in a recent US DOT competition in this area.
In Orlando, our mission is to be a great place to visit, live, work, play, and raise a family. We aim to ensure good environmental stewardship, attract the creative class, and promote economic development. Protecting and projecting our brand is a big part of that mission. Standing out as a leading smart city helps us retain that brand image and spread our message across the world.