Building a Wireless Internet Infrastructure in Chicago?

I tackled this question in 2003 as one part my graduate research and demonstration project. (See the concept map below)

My research lead me to recognize the opportunity for municipalities to extend their control of their public spaces, in this case virtual space, as they had for decades with physical spaces. My solution idea rested on rethinking the parking meter, extending its functionality to include service as a wireless node, thus allowing cities to parse virtual space as they have for physical space.

So it is of interest to me that cities continue to struggling to find a viable way to provide wide spread Internet access to its citizens.

Maybe I should drop a note again to the parties mentioned in this news report to see if they would be interested in my thinking on the subject.

NPR Audio Report

San Francisco Plan