Florence is under a digital transformation.
Local journalists were given a tour today of the city’s new “smart” apps and services that will significantly help the city advance and flourish. Three smartphone apps were demonstrated outside of the Palazzo Vecchio this morning, each proving that Florence is a much “smarter” city than one would expect.
The apps, revealed today Lorenzo Perra and Andrea Sbandati, were Firenze Parcheggi, an interactive Google Maps styled service used for locating parking spaces in the city and their availability, Tap and Park, which provided many similar features as the previously mentioned, and ATAF 2.0, which details Florence bus lines and schedules.
Each of the apps will be available for iPhone and Android users.
Since 2009, the city of Florence has put forward an initiative to enhance services and products that would allow both locals and tourists to view this charming city as equally technologically advanced as other European counterparts. Today’s tour was organized to give journalists a sense of the recent digital breakthroughs that the city has implemented, and to encourage an updated perspective on this city.
The tour continued aboard an ATAF bus which took journalists to Silfispa, in charge of the city’s electricity, to demonstrate their innovative techniques in managing consumption and energy put into services from Wifi to streetlights to video surveillance systems. Inside were several visual aids to show how electricity is managed throughout the city, as well as Siflispa’s plan to integrate all of their individual services into one unified program, as part of the Smart City initiative.
Florence will no longer just be known for it’s beautiful architecture and rich history. They are putting themselves on Europe’s tech-savvy map, one app and service at a time.