[IP] The Wi-Fi west
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 13, 2004 3:34:13 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Wi-Fi west
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Wi-Fi west
Bristol has gone hi-tech, with a huge city centre hotspot and web
kiosks, reports Jack Schofield
Jack Schofield
Thursday August 12, 2004
The Guardian
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1280760,00.html>
Wouldn't it be nice if you could wander down the high street, sit on a
park bench, or pop into any cafe and know that you would always have
wireless broadband available to your notebook computer or handheld? It
is the sort of dream being sold by Intel's Centrino advertising. The
city of Bristol is turning it into reality.
Bristol has just opened the first stage in the development of the UK's
largest public wireless network, which is being assembled from a number
of Wi-Fi hotspots, knitted into a single system called StreetNet.
Anyone can use it, and it's free.
The system isn't so much a cloud as a worm, which follows the main
roads. Start at Queen's Road, walk down Park Street and along College
Green, then either go to the Watershed area by the docks or turn left
towards St Augustine's Parade. By the autumn, the Wi-Fi coverage should
be continuous, and it is hoped to extend it further.
Bristol was already a centre of wireless innovation, thanks to the
Mobile Bristol project being run in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard's
nearby development lab, with the support of the Department for Trade
and Industry. This gave rise to a number of Wi-Fi projects, including
Riot!, the world's first "located radio play" in Queen Square, and
Harbour Trails, a typical tourist application providing a multimedia
guide on a trip on a Bristol ferry.
The local council was also working with Cityspace, which was setting up
i+Point touchscreen information kiosks in the city centre, including
some at bus stops. It wasn't hard to see the next step, which was to
connect all the bits together.
Phil Stenton from HP Labs says: "Cityspace put forward the proposal to
do StreetNet, and the council was thinking about it, and we thought it
would be a good way of extending our network. So we went halves with
them - with Cityspace - and co-funded a pilot scheme turning half their
proposed kiosks to run using 802.11 [Wi-Fi], to create one big hotspot
in the centre of Bristol. And the council has gone for it."
The council was coming from a different direction: the i+Point kiosks
were part of Bristol's award-winning Legible City project, which
included local information services and a Travel Bristol internet
journey planner. Legible City wasn't particularly aimed at tourists,
says local councillor Helen Holland: "We were interpreting the city to
ourselves as much as anyone - increasing people's involvement, and
making sure they had a better feel for what's available."
The journey planner worked well, and the kiosks proved popular, with
kids queuing up to send their email. They also allowed residents to
interact with the council, to do things like reporting that
streetlights weren't working. It was also important to the council that
they were socially inclusive: you didn't need to own an expensive
portable computer to use an i+Point.
The expansion from kiosks to Wi-Fi hotspots and then to an urban
"hotzone" brings many more capabilities, according to Marc Meyohas,
Cityspace's managing director. "The council can use it for their own
employees, connecting via a virtual private network (VPN), and they can
use it for [internet-based] CCTV cameras, bus shelters, traffic signals
_ It also has a consumer angle: people with PDAs or laptops can go to
the StreetNet landing page and surf the internet. Providing free access
is good for the council, and it's good for the citizens," he says.
StreetNet is also a powerful way for Cityspace to expand its product
range. "Cityspace's business is urban digital networks," says Meyohas.
"We already have a terminals business, with millions of people using
our terminals in bus shelters. We're now present in about 50 local
authorities, and we have Wi-Fi hotspots on Oxford Street: we expect to
deploy StreetNet in about a dozen cities this year, but Bristol is the
biggest hotzone."
Brussels is now installing 20 i+Point kiosks, delivering free Wi-Fi
within 300m, and Moscow has also signed up. There could already be a
Cityspace hotspot near you, but you might not know it unless you knew
where to look. However, Meyohas doesn't think the answer is to increase
the signposting, but for the signage to disappear.
Mobile phone users don't have to look for notices that tell them they
are within range of a transmitter, and Meyohas reckons Wi-Fi users
should not have to do that either: it should just be there.
Indeed, ubiquitous Wi-Fi is an idea that is attracting the attention of
city administrations right round the world, including Long Beach,
California, and Atlanta, Georgia. Some smaller US communities such as
Hermiston, Oregon, and Grand Haven, Michigan, have already installed
citywide Wi-Fi networks. Many more will follow.
Meyohas now wants to get the Bristol hotspot operating effectively then
offer the same sort of thing to other local authorities, who will share
the cost of the infrastructure instead of having to fund it on their
own. "Our whole concept is to provide a complete turnkey solution," he
says. "Our pitch to local authorities is that this is a key urban
utility for the 21st century. We think it can have a really positive
impact."
Mobile Bristol
www.mobilebristol.com
Bristol: Legible City
www.bristollegiblecity.info
Travel Bristol
www.travelbristol.org
Cityspace
www.cityspace.com
Hot Cities
www.muniwireless.com
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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