fbpx

Technology companies that help the Magic City – and one is homegrown

The New Tropic has an update on what some start-up tech companies that debuted in Miami five years ago are still doing to help the Magic City. They are still going strong, and one of them, Coastal Risk Consulting, is not only home grown, but after the Surfside Condo building tragedy, just that much more important to Miamians.

 

Coastal Risk Consulting
(homegrown)

What they are doing now? They offer RiskFootprints that allows homeowners and businesses to find hidden flood risks.

Cutting-edge technology providing clients and customers property-specific flood, natural hazard and climate impact risks and advisory services.

After the surfside tragedy, the coastal risk consultancy miami business is important
photo credit: Coastal Risk Consultancy

After the tragedy of the Surfside condo building collapse, the Coastal Risk Consulting business is even more important. Local environmentalist and entrepreneur Albert Slap made the drive down from Fort Lauderdale to introduce Coastal Risk Consulting, a service that offers a FICO-type “flood score” that assesses flooding risk on a property over the next 30 years. The idea is to give consumers, businesses, and governments the ability to better anticipate the effects of sea level rise in a way that’s cheap and efficient – a running theme of the night.

Casual users thinking of purchasing a home can get a report on a property for $49.95, while the company works with businesses, mortgage lenders, banks and governments to provide the information on a larger scale. The reports are produced using a cloud-based algorithm and terabytes of publicly-available data which can project, for the first time, non-storm flooding down to the parcel level.  CRC claims that not only is the information accurate, but that it can save governments and businesses tens of thousands of dollars over the current cost of producing similar reports.

RallyBus

What they are doing now? They offer Rally Miles.

It’s simple to participate in Rally Rewards… just sign up and climb on board. You’ll accumulate Rally Miles for each real mile you travel and trade them in for free rides. Refer your friends and family and get credit for every seat they reserve. Or book for them and you get all the credit for the miles plus instant discounts.

After 5 years, RallyBus is still going strong. What is it? It’s a service that bills itself as “pop-up mass transit” – a concept that allows users to go online and organize chartered buses and shuttles for special events like sports games, concerts, and festivals.

The process is simple – users search for their event on the website and reserve a place on the bus. Once the bus receives a minimum number of reservations, users receive confirmation that they will definitely have bus service. RallyBus even offers price matching if users find a lower-priced shuttle elsewhere, and its vehicles include luxury motor-coaches, school buses, and limo-buses.

TransitMix

What they are doing now? Frequency mapping!

A frequency map helps you communicate the true quality of your service by stylizing routes by frequency, with high frequency routes displayed as bold red lines, and less frequent routes displayed as thinner blue and green lines.

 

TransitMix is an online tool that allows transit planners to quickly analyze transit routes, calculate costs, and review the demographics of affected areas using publicly available data and data created or obtained by the startup. This functionality allows transit planners across the world to completely review their existing systems and easily model improvements. The tool offers live updates, meaning you can drag and drop the current lines to create new routes (like planning a trip on Google Maps) and immediately know how costs and rider demographics change. They also map what they call informal systems of transit, such as the jitneys and “Jeepneys” used around many parts of the world. In places like the Philippines and Vietnam, these are being mapped for the very first time. Compared to the current costly and work-intensive method of drawing on paper and making calculations on unruly spreadsheets, TransitMix dramatically lowers the barriers for local governments everywhere to better plan their local transit systems.

HandUp

What they are doing now? They still help you find a campaign so you can donate to whom you want!

Help nonprofit organizations raise money for their clients, operating expenses, and special projects.

HandUp launched in 2015 and it, too, is still going strong. What is it? It’s is an online platform that enables generous donors to give directly to people in need, much like (DonorsChoose) serves teacher-specific projects. The startup partners with established human services organizations to sign up homeless and at-risk individuals who can then request donations for basic needs, including anything from dentures, to work clothes, to apartment deposits for moving off the street.

Rest assured, your donations will serve their intended purpose. HandUp pledges that 100% of contributions are transferred to their partner organizations, who work with their clients to ensure the money goes toward their stated goal. Donors are offered the option to contribute to HandUp’s overhead costs, and most do support the platform.

Miami’s poverty rate has stood at 17 percent, three points higher than the national average, for many years and homelessness continues to be an issue, particularly in the neighborhoods around Miami’s urban core. A tool like this in Miami would have unique potential to help thousands of homeless and at-risk Miamians from slipping further, and could help many rise up as the city continues its economic recovery.

 

Photo credit: Jason Briscoe