Four Wireless-Enabled Applications at the Metropolitan Scale

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The City of Chicago, the third-largest metropolitan area in the United States, provided a compelling platform for participants at the 12th W2i Digital Cities Convention (May 22–23, 2007) to take a closer look at applications for public-safety, traffic management, emergency medical response, and education to be enabled at the largest scales. These are applications that could improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in the 21st century. Field practitioners spoke (see links below) about ambitious efforts within the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Los Angeles Police Department, Houston’s North Forest Independent School District, and Tucson's Traffic Department. Audio recordings of their remarks are now available on this Web site and join a growing archive of both audio and video files dating back to 2003. (To download their PowerPoint presentations in Chicago, view the proceedings page.)

1. Vehicle Integration Infrastructure for the U.S.

Is the U.S. losing the war on traffic? A quarter-million wireless access points could connect 180 million vehicles and provide a nationwide cure to gridlock. Craig Pickering, Senior Associate at Booz, Allen, Hamilton and a consultant to ITS Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation, spoke in Chicago about Vehicle Infrastructure Integration. VII is a major project of the US DOT in conjunction with eight of the major auto manufacturers, including DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, and BMW.

In a VII wireless network, traffic lights will anticipate cars’ arrivals and optimize signalization to most efficiently route traffic. For example, if you drive three routes to work, a map in your car could tell you the best route to take from one morning to the next. What if you're taking a curve too fast? Your car could alert you. To move the plan forward, the DOT went to the FCC and secured 75 Mhz in the 5.9 Ghz band to make it happen.

Listen to Craig Pickering

2. Public Safety in L.A.'s Jordan Downs

L.A.’s 30-acre Jordan Downs Housing Development is home to the Grape Street Watts Crips and “is by all accounts the most dangerous place in a most dangerous city in America,” said Deputy Chief Charles Back of the L.A.P.D. Jordan Downs is where both the 1965 and 1992 riots touched off, and it has seen more than 50 homicides in the past 10 years. In Chicago, Chief Beck described this difficult law-enforcement environment and explained how broadband-wireless mesh networking is now being used to change human behavior by decreasing criminal activity and providing a bridge to the outside world to 2,000 residents.

When asked how citizens feel about the surveillance cameras mounted 40 feet above them, Chief Beck responded: “Every neighborhood has entirely different expectations. I did an application in the downtown area. I did one in a public park — MacArthur Park — and that was an easier sell. But this is a housing development and people live there, and it’s important to set the parameters. There are bullet proof boxes around the cameras, and we have not lost one. I was sure that not one camera would survive. That’s part of the buy-in for the community. If the people thought we were abusing their use, I would lose them.”

Listen to Deputy Chief Charles Beck

3. Tucson and Traffic, Ambulances

Tucson, Arizona, is similar to Corpus Christi, Texas, in its digital-city planning. With a Wi-Fi mesh network, Corpus Christi automated one its major municipal chores—utility meter reading—and used that application to drive network expansion to more departments and the community. In Chicago, Francisco Leyva, Project Manager in Tucson’s Department of Transportation, talked about the City's plan, which was first launched to eliminate recurring telecommunication costs associated with traffic-signal monitoring and support video streaming on ambulances.

Listen to Francisco Leyva

Read a Q&A with Francisco Leyva

4. Houston Schools and Neighborhoods

The neighborhoods around the North Forest Independent School District in northeast Houston may be among the city’s poorest, but the District sees a significant opportunity for educational, social and economic development through the City of Houston’s broadband-wireless plans. It is working with the Greater Houston Partnership to get on board the plan. Dr. Don Green, NFISD’s Director of Technology, says: “As far as our infrastructure is concerned, it is actually a huge challenge communicating with the parent. Even if we did want to provide them with the grades, attendance, and discipline of their students, it wouldn’t be possible as of right now. So, again, Wi-Fi would be huge — along with getting computers in the homes. We have a program called Links to Learning, which places refurbished computers in the homes of students and opens a line of communication between schools, teachers and parents.”

Listen to Adam Levy, Field Marketing Manager, Simdesk, speak about North Forest's education applications to be extended by wireless.