J Magazine Winter 2019

that runs smarter and leaner by plugging
its assets into the Internet of Things. In that
broader tale, The Innovation Corridor is
neither the first act nor that final scene.
The Internet of Things has been quietly
developing in Jacksonville for over a decade.
Its future is much larger than a 3-mile stretch
of Downtown roadway.
North Florida gets smart
The Internet’s worldwide network of
computers and devices has for decades
provided information to people. Now the Internet
is being used for things to provide information
to other things. Any object armed
with a sensor and a microchip can collect
data about its environment and broadcast it
to the Internet.
The more objects get connected to one
another this way, the more they can react
to things around them without human
intervention. When the Internet of Things is
used to perform municipal services, that city
is called a Smart City. Parking spaces can tell
you when they are empty. Trashcans can tell
you when they are full.
The Internet of Things seems incredible,
but it’s also believable. That’s because it’s
already happening in Jacksonville.
For years the North Florida Transportation
Planning Organization has been using
swaths of remote sensors to collect bits of
traffic data. It all started 15 years ago, long
before the Internet of Things was…well, a
thing.
“We needed transit to become more
efficient,” said Jeff Sheffield, executive
director of the TPO. “We are not going to be
able to build enough roads to fulfill all of our
transportation needs.”
So, transportation engineers deployed
hundreds of infrared sensors and Bluetooth
receivers along highways. The pings
of data the TPO now collects from moving
vehicles feed a traffic app that tells commuters
which route to work is quickest. The
data also inform those smart highway signs
that warn travelers of a disabled vehicle
ahead.
Mission control for all of this traffic data
is a little known facility on Jefferson Street
— a 6,500-square-foot Regional Transportation
Management Center. Sheffield
stands in the middle of it, arms outstretched
as he presents the achievement.
The floor is divided into workplace
“pods,” each with its own array of computer
terminals. The walls of the room are lined
at both ends with monitors.
Some display live feeds from Interstate
Highway traffic cameras. Others light up
highway routes in green, yellow and red,
according to congestion. One tracks the
GPS position of Road Rangers — a fleet
of repair trucks that respond when a car
breaks down on the highway. Another
monitor lists wind speeds on bridges.
“If conditions go out of the norm, an
alarm is sent to the relevant agency,” Sheffield
said. “They don’t have to watch every
minute.”
All of this input helps the TPO with its
operations, certainly. From this building,
transportation managers can reprogram
stoplights remotely, aligning them with
measured shifts in traffic demand.
The real power of the Internet of Things
happens when data is shared, though,
Sheffield said. He makes a case that’s already
begun, though in an analog kind of a way.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Florida
Highway Patrol, Fish and Wildlife and state
Department of Transportation all maintain
teams at the transportation center.
“It helps them to react a little bit sooner,”
Sheffield said. “We found with first responders,
all of us are asking a lot of the same
questions.”
When an accident occurs, police can
dispatch officers to the scene. During a hurricane,
winds can be measured, evacuations
can be managed and incidents monitored.
The data from the Regional Transportation
Management Center connect to a larger
statewide network, too. When Hurricane
Dorian threatened South Florida last summer,
the Florida Department of Transportation
evacuated its transportation management
center in Miami and relocated the staff
to Jacksonville. From that safe distance they
could “listen” to pings of data from South
Florida sensors.
Petri dish for a Smart Region
Today’s accomplishments are just one
small step toward the Internet of Things. The
giant leap is still to come.
The North Florida TPO has teamed with
the cities of Jacksonville and St. Augustine,
the JTA and more than 100 public and
private partners to form a Smart Region
Coalition. Its aim is to transform Northeast
Florida into a place [Continued on page 97]
BOB SELF
Jeff Sheffield, Executive Director of the North
Florida TPO, stands at a bank of monitors showing
real time traffic camera feeds and other traffic data
at the operations center on North Jefferson Street.