October 2008 Archives

What about access to your Geographic Information System (GIS) files by field personnel?  Could this benefit the organization?  What operations within your structure could use wireless access to GIS information?  I picked this topic (it doesn't appear on the chart I published last week) because it supports many organizational software uses of the wireless system.

Suppose for a moment, you are looking through a mystical portal into the not to distant future and you find yourself watching a Water Department repair crew just clearing from a previous call for service.  The Forman receives an urgent assignment via his laptop computer for a broken water main at the intersection of Main and First Streets, about the busiest intersection in town.  Before the crew truck begins to roll, the Forman pulls up the GIS on the laptop to the intersection of the call and selects the water distribution system overlay.  He is looking at all the distribution pipes in the immediate area and determines that only one could be the cause.  He places his curser on the pipe icon on the map and "left clicks his mouse".  This action brings up the nomenclature of the 20" main including brand, when installed, expected life and repair kit requirements.  The Foreman then activates his asset management system to reveal the availability of the needed repair kit in the Water Department warehouse.  Finding none in stock, he orders one to be drop shipped from a neighboring City.  This is all accomplished as the crew leaves the location of their previous call...pretty slick huh?

Upon arrival to Main and First, the excavation begins and the break is revealed.  Rather than traveling to the scene, the Water Department engineer has the Forman activate a wireless Internet capable camera to walk him "virtually" through the break and discusses requirements for the repair of the pipe.  In the meantime, the repair kit arrives, the repairs are made and the engineer approves the work through another "virtual" assessment of the repair.  The hole is covered, the road repaired and water service restored, all within the same working day!

This example of field access to GIS files can be repeated throughout the organization.  The more information made available to field forces through GIS improves their efficiency many fold.  The combination of a GIS system, an asset management system (CMMS) and a work order management system is a real time saver and waste killer.  Many cities are currently working to establish this combination with wireless access and some have already achieved the ultimate.

Leonard Scott

Last week I took a little time comparing a wireless broadband mesh network to another municipal infrastructure, city road systems.  The comparison was fun and somewhat of an eye-opener.  Now we can further compare our city road systems and the city vehicles we drive on them with wireless broadband and the applications that can be used on the system.  This exercise allows us to begin to see many common uses of software applications.

When we purchase a vehicle for city use, we evaluate our particular needs, then we set about to find vehicles that meet the majority of those needs at the best overall price.  Different vehicles many times are needed for different field applications.  However, many times our needs span our organizational structure.  For instance, a police package sedan may meet the needs of the fire department.  Pickup trucks can be used throughout the organization to meet similar needs, and, by the way, no one wants to face the Mayor to give him the keys to his brand new dump truck.

The chart below shows that many software packages have the potential for "multiuse" applications throughout a municipal infrastructure.  Many/most departments can share applications and their resulting benefits:



A brief review of this chart reveals that one wireless broadband system has the potential to meet the needs of an entire organization.  With proper attention to segmentation and security requirements we can all make use of the same infrastructure in the same manor we share our roads and more recently our current computer networks.

I will move forward in the coming weeks to take a closer look at many of the exciting applications available for wireless broadband mesh network use.  I am open to any discussion or questions you may have regarding them.

Leonard Scott

 

Welcome!  Come in and take your place in this roundtable discussion of the realities and possibilities of Municipal Wi-Fi.  I have long since learned that on every occasion I have had to speak to groups throughout the world I have learned many new things from my audience and I am very much looking forward to learning from you.

I don't hold myself out as a Wi-Fi technical expert nor do I propose that I have all the answers regarding Wi-Fi's potential in the future of our world.  I am a strategist and come to you as an assistant to cast reflection and insight onto all aspects of this subject.  I have for the last couple of years used a comparison of Municipal Wi-Fi and Municipal infrastructures that have developed throughout history. 

I find the comparison of a Municipal Wi-Fi system and a Municipal Road system very useful in demonstrating the importance and potential usage of WiFi.  Imagine for a moment that you are working with a municipal planning group ~200 years ago.  Cities were developing at a rather rapid pace with the onset of the industrial revolution and roads were not being maintained or possibly had no improvements whatsoever.  To keep pace with economic development, the thought of the day was that cities would need to develop road systems to allow for the efficient public transportation and the distribution and availability of goods and services.

Who would build such a system of roadways?  How would they be funded?  Who would maintain them?  Who would use this system and what restrictions/regulations would need to be developed to insure that the system would be available for its intended use?   Who would enforce these regulations?  How would the system be expanded and what would trigger expansion?  How would these roadways interconnect to the developing state and federal road systems and to the Railroads?  When new and more efficient ways to build and surface roads are developed, how can existing roads be brought up to date using these new methods?

Wow, Fun thoughts huh?  Now let's look around ourselves for cities that did not establish and maintain Municipal road systems to see what they look like!  Don't see any do you?  What you do see are some very large successful municipalities that were early adopters if an organized transportation system and smaller cities that were probably slow to adopt or left out some of the necessary components.  Without our transportation system, economic development and our quality of life would have been severely and negatively impacted.

We are at a point in our development that wireless data or Wi-Fi has become a necessary part of our wellbeing and a prerequisite to our future development.  Many cities have already recognized this and are working to develop systems.  Other cities are exploring the possibilities while many have not yet pondered the thought (wonder where they will be in 200 years).  The debate is underway between forward thinkers and those who don't want to be bothered, both sides being equally important in the planning and development of Municipal Wi-Fi systems.

Each week I look forward to bringing you another thought provoking chapter in this developmental process.  And, more importantly, to spend time each week learning from your comments, questions and suggestions.

Leonard Scott