Dog Parker, State of Place lend new meaning to hyperlocal service
NEW YORK–Last November 9, Coinvent held a whole-day tech startup fair with several startups and inspirational talks at the Metropolitan Avenue in Chelsea.
Dog Parker was one of the most popular startups as it showed a “doghouse” that provides secure dog parking when you’re out and about in the city with your dog and you need to run an errand. Dog Parker partners with businesses to place Dog Parkers in front their stores.
Launched in Brooklyn in October 2015, the plan is to expand to the rest of New York and then to as many cities. This service will be offered to members only. Dog owners must sign up online at www.dogparker.com/membership to get an access card to use Dog Parker.
Annual memberships cost $25 per dog. Once approved, a membership card will be mailed to you and allow you to access the network of Dog Parkers. Membership works similarly to ZipCar and Car2Go if you have used those services before.
But how long can you park a dog? Dog Parkers have a maximum time limit of three hours per 12-hour time period. The price is $0.20 per minute ($12 an hour). Membership is an annual fee of $25.
Each Dog Parker is reportedly cleaned by a Dog Parker sanitation crew on a scheduled weekly basis and then as-needed if there are any specific issues. Sanitation wipes are available to users at each location to anyone who may want to use them in addition to its sanitation system.
Each Dog Parker aims to keep the temperature inside comfortable for the dog in both the summer and winter. In the summer it plans to have solar-powered fans for air circulation. On extreme temperature days where the temperature inside the Dog Parker goes below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or above 85 degrees, it will not be available for use.
Complementing Dog Parker’s business model somehow is State of Place. Founder Mariela Alfonso said it aims to harness the power of predictive urban data analytics to not only enhance the public good, but also to maximize economic development and engage the community.
State of Place quantifies walkability of existing neighborhoods; identifies built environment assets and needs; prioritize built environment changes with maximum impact on walkability and economic development; forecast the walkability impact of planning scenarios & development proposals; objectively compare planning scenarios & development proposals based on their walkability potential and measure the walkability impact of planning, urban design, and development projects post-implementation.
The benefits is predicted to help provide data–driven evidence of walkable development opportunities; economically justify urban design “asks” of developers; maximize resource allocation and get the biggest bang for your walkability buck; establish an evidence-based RFP process; foster community engagement; turn your planning team into walkability experts and tap into State of Place’s walkability thought-leadership.
State of Place also allows developers, investors, and brokers to leverage the pent-up demand for walkable places while also facilitating stakeholder buy-in by quantifying how delivering walkability is more than just a social good.
For communities, it offers a comprehensive diagnosis of their built environment assets and needs that can be benchmarked against other communities. It serves as an advocacy tool to more effectively justify changes to existing policies, garner developer support, and target key design interventions.
In the talk-workshop portion of the event, Coinvent delved on several diverse subjects ranging from building a world-class startup and the future of phone services to selling your company and hyperlocal marketing.
