To Serve and Observe
THE CITY EXPANDS ITS WI-FI FOOTPRINT
Since 2013, Coral Gables has been installing free Wi-Fi. It began with public buildings, like City Hall, and has since slowly spread across the city. The network became available on Giralda Plaza in April, and on Miracle Mile in June.
“The goal is to come up with more communications in public areas,” says Raimundo Rodulfo, Director of Information Technology, serving businesses, visitors, students – anyone who uses the Internet.
But the Wi-Fi doesn’t merely provide internet access. “Before it was just like a hotspot,” Rodulfo says. “Today this technology comes with sensors, with analytics, it tells you density of visitors… it gives you live data that you can connect to your systems, so it has a lot of intelligence.”
What’s helping the city’s IT Department has been a sharp drop in cost. A few years ago, the project would have cost millions of dollars, says Rodulfo. So far, the city has spent less than $300,000.
