Grand Rapids WiFi (grwifi.net)

2004-present
Technologies: Ruby on Rails, XHTML, CSS, RDF, Web Services, MySQL, Google Maps

Wireless networking is a huge growth area. The introduction of wireless technology to the consumer and business markets has allowed many people to more easily network their homes and offices, no longer needing to worry about running cables. The introduction of wireless internet access in cafes, restaurants, libraries and other public spaces has liberated people from the need to work in fixed locations and has been a boon to many service-sector businesses.

As a visitor to Grand Rapids I would regularly seek out locations offering wireless internet access from which to work and when the opportunity came up to take-over and revamp this excellent listings site I was very glad to be able to give something back to that community.

As well as redesigning the site for a clear and attractive presentation, utilising an image of Calder's La Grande Vitesse sculpture which for many has become a focal point of Grand Rapids' downtown area, I added a search mechanism to allow users to seek out wireless 'hotspots' in particular zip code areas. That system is soon to be extended with a 'neighboring zip codes' option. Users can also now offer ratings of locations, send us comments hosted on their own websites for automatic inclusion (using a mechanism called 'trackback' pioneered for blogging software) and submit any locations we have yet to discover.

Over time, regular improvements have sought to further develop the sense of geography provided by the site. All locations now provide RDF metadata which can be easily integrated into other applications, it is possible to search for locations near a given address (thanks to longitude and latitude data provided through web services house at geocoder.us) and locations and search results can now be viewed plotted on a dynamically-generated map. I initially used the worldkit flash-based mapping system to provide that service, but with the advent of google maps I switched to that more familiar interface.

The site is now built as a Ruby on Rails application and work is underway to make it easy to deploy for other cities.

The site is quickly attracting visitors and a growing community is gathering around it. Along with further publicity I am planning more features to enhance that community and to foster discussion around public wireless provision.

Visit the site at: http://grwifi.net