New York advances in its transformation as a smart city with the largest WiFi network in the world in digital totems

The CityBridge consortium of companies, responsible for the LinkNYC project to replace the near 10.000 New York City pay phones by 8.400 WiFi access points located on informative digital totem poles so that citizens can connect for free, It already has the approval of the authorities to deploy the largest wireless network in the world, Funded by dynamic digital advertising.

The project LinkNYC, awarded in competition to the consortium of companies CityBridge -formed by Qualcomm, Titan, Control Group, Comark, Transit Wireless and Antenna Design, with a non-exclusive franchise agreement with DoITT-, part of the initiative of the City of New York made a few years ago and effective now with its current mayor, Bill de Blasio, to modernize the city and eliminate the digital divide between citizens, visitors and companies with the replacement of 10.000 Public telephone booths by 8.400 free WiFi Internet access points and digital information systems.

With the approval of the Franchise and Concessions Commission (FCRC) of the city council, The deployment of what will be the largest WiFi network and digital information media in the world will begin at the end of this year and its budget (around two hundred million dollars) It will be funded through advertising revenue that will be displayed on digital screens, at no cost to citizens, with which it is expected to raise more than half a billion dollars in twelve years.

The five boroughs of the city -Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island- will have these innovative access points, with a radius of 45 to 50 meters and support for about two hundred simultaneous users, that will work 24×7 and will have three high-power wireless antennas to provide a maximum of 1 GB free speed and make free calls within the United States.

As Bill de Blasio has pointed out in a statement, "With this proposal to launch the largest and fastest municipal free internet network in the world, Accessible and free to all New Yorkers and visitors, We are taking a critical step towards a more equitable city, open and connected".

Dynamic digital advertising

These supports, which will also have a Braille keyboard for the visually impaired and a charging station for mobile devices, will integrate two large digital touch screens with Google's Android operating system to provide information of interest and services of the city of New York, as interactive maps, Main monuments, Emergency Services (with a direct communication button to the 911 and 311), surfing the net, Etc.

Through these screens, and as the main element to finance the LinkNYC project, Dynamic advertising spaces of advertisers who bet on this project will be shown to connect with a huge and varied audience.

Advances in the smart city process

The LinkNYC project is one of the most important advances that the city will launch in its transformation as a smart city. The first five hundred stations or access points will be available between the end of 2015 and principles of 2016, and the process will continue over the next six years and open to new possibilities of interconnection. (For example, with the city's metro network), since the contract signed with the CityBridge consortium has a duration of fifteen years.

The proposed structures have been designed in an elegant aluminium structure by the award-winning team at Antenna Design., led by Masamichi Udagawa and Sigi Moeslinger, to complement and enhance New York's cityscape. As part of the contract, CityBridge to Create Manufacturing Facility, Production assembly and local repairs thereof in the five boroughs, what you will create around 150 new jobs and 650 more complementary, according to the forecasts of those responsible.

The CityBridge consortium, based in New York, It is formed by companies specialized in technology, advertising, Connectivity and user experience, chosen through a public Call for Proposals competition (RFP, In English), in which it was evaluated, among others, Technical characteristics, Function efficiency, aesthetics, safety, durability, Adaptation for the disabled, Articulated benefits for the public and the implementation service.

Other articles on Antenna Design, New York City Hall, CityBridge, Comark, Control Group, DoITT, LinkNYC, Qualcomm, Titan, Transit Wireless