University of Baltimore

Ope Thomas video interview - Roadi Introduction and the future of mobility

Roadi transforms parking into a meaningful collaboration. We do this through a platform which allows customers to deliver a better customer experience to their customers who drive. Drivers have a way to share parking information to help them park

Roadi products bring stakeholders together on a platform to share parking information for better intelligence about real-time available spaces

• Mobile: Roadi brings drivers together on a platform to share parking information for better intelligence about real-time available spaces

• Web – A web plugin for any website administrator to place it on the website or email to send parking information.

• SMS: Customers and users can send direct messages for personalized updates

• Roadi geo targeted ads – SMB retailers and advertisers pay to display advertisement and localized parking data in an easy to use digital package, through mobile, web, SMS products.

• Parking dashboard – Blended B2B2C product where enterprise clients can put the crowdsourced and researched parking data to work, not just consume, but drive business decisions to increase revenue, and efficiency.

The platform has unparalleled accuracy to detect and predict available parking spots, forecast and provide real-time parking trend analysis with ease and precision. Users can access and share on demand parking availability information. Roadi sells software applications to drivers, parking operators and SMB retailers in metropolitan regions, with a need to access, manage and share parking information. Both needs correlate with cities experiencing a growing population size of 3,500 people / square mile or more. Roadi helps customers and users: 1) Find an available parking spot; 2) Gain insight on parking trends; 3) Share parking availability and access information

Februray 2018 Collaboration with CityBizList and University of Baltimore CEI

Hack for impact: A conduit for social change

Hack for Impact, the 24 hour hackathon in Baltimore, was a glowing success!

The Hack for Impact team want to show appreciation to our sponsors, community partners, event planners, judges, presenters and of course give a big CONGRATULATIONS the winners, Food Chain!

Together we were able to collaborate to build and implement solutions for relevant problem statements in the pre-selected categories for crime, health, education, transportation, child welfare, and domestic welfare. One part of the mission is to set an example of how cities can bring together tech innovators and social change-makers in order to solve relevant, painful problems by exchanging ideas, sharing expertise and developing effective solutions.

The event opened with an inspiring speech by Aaron Velky on the power of moments! Aaron is the founder of Ortus Academy a non profit that teaches financial intelligence to k-12 students. 

 

We wanted to give a special thanks to Impact Hub Baltimore for providing the venue for the hackathon! Impact Hub is the largest entrepreneurial communal network in Baltimore, a key driving force in creating community engagement and they help to create innovative solutions that address sustainable development goals in 50 + countries.

We thank our sponsors Fearless Tech, a full stack software development firm in Baltimore that delivers sleek, modern, and user-friendly software designed to push the boundaries of possibility.

Fearless is a company that represents the mission of HackForImpact as their website states, "We build software to solve problems. Software has the potential to change lives."

Ope Thomas, founder of Roadi, a parking app that tackles the painful problem of finding available parking, was the primary organizer the HackforImpact. The hackathon and it resulted in $3000 in sponsorship value, 57 total registrations, 4 project submissions, and 20 participants who were in the final presentation, which was evaluated by 4 distinguished judges.

The judges were Gary McDaniel, Ope Thomas, and Alex Bullignton, Founder and CEO of Arbit. Gary McDaneil is a highly accomplished business builder and decisive leader with an extensive record of successful executive leadership. Alex Bullington, founded Arbit with a goal of helping athletes and brands connect better with their audience.

Fully Grown LLC, A Baltimore based food startup strives to overcome food deserts, and one way is by teaching children about healthy food habits, and providing healthy meal prep services

The University of Baltimore, was a strong community partner for the event helping to organize the event and reach the right audience. The University of Baltimore provides Knowledge That Works in a vibrant, urban setting. These sponsors and community partners provided essential support to make this event a success and helped to create dynamic engagement with influencers in the community, the HackForImpact team extends the deepest gratitude.

As stated above the HackforImpact team wanted to formally congratulate Food Chain, the winners of the hackathon! Food Chain, devised a solution that will help improve access to quality food for those in a food desert. As part of their next steps to make this vision a reality they have begun conversations with public health experts in Philadelphia and Baltimore to learn what they can about the challenge they want to help improve. 

Thank you again for your support, the impact of this event would not have been possible without your help! This event was more than simply a hackathon, but together we did the work to investigate ways to be conduits for social change in Baltimore city by addressing it’s relevant problems and creating solutions with technology. Events like these will be the catalyst for swift, effective change in cities all over the world and by creating an atmosphere of inclusion, collaboration, and competition; we will only create more unique solutions to challenging problems which will lead to a higher quality of life for all of us.

All of the organizations listed work to provide tremendous social value to the community, and we would love if we could spread more awareness so that more people can be a part of the coming changes with us. Through our collaboration we can merge technology with social innovation so that we may merge and extend our capabilities into horizons not previously known. Please join us on our journey!

 

SPONSORS