As Baltimore County became the first in the region to join a national list of local governments providing free Internet service to the public Tuesday, other nearby jurisdictions said they?re making plans to do the same.
Baltimore could soon join Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco and Anaheim, Calif. as a city entirely blanketed in wireless Internet access, according to technology officials in at least three jurisdictions hoping to launch pilot programs by the end of summer. Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith demonstrated the launch of five “hot spots” in Towson?s downtown district on Tuesday, logging on to the county?s government Web site from the shade of an umbrella at a picnic table in the courthouse plaza.
The project is a collaboration between Towson University, which donated the broadband, and the county, which spent $78,000 installing antennas in strategic places such as light poles.
“The campus went wireless two years ago and we immediately started talks to extend it into downtown,” university President Robert Caret said. “You can be out not only walking, talking, just thinking or dining, but also surfing the Web.”
The county plans to add two additional access points near the Towson library within the next month, and Robert Stradling, director of the county?s Office of Information Technology, said future expansion will include at least the rest of Towson.
Baltimore City is investigating free public wireless access, said Michael Barocca, interim chief executive officer of the Mayor?s Office of Information Technology. He said his staff successfully wired City Hall and have identified public parks and the harbor area as potential expansion sites.
In Howard County, too, government officials expect to launch free wireless service in its Gateway Building in Columbia within the next 45 to 60 days, said Ira Levy, director of technology and communications. Government employees will be able to access a separate network from the public, he said.
“We?ll take it from there and look at locations that will add the most value,” Levy said. “We?re integrating private and public so we can really harness one network in the most efficient manner.”
Experts said obstacles such as thick walls or even leafy trees can affect connectivity. Barocca said the walls and halls of “formidable” City Hall posed challenges, as do high-rises that also provide ideal locations to mount antennas.
But technology officials said the benefits ? such as providing police officers access to software ? are infinite.
“They can use things like e-Ticket, or use applications for gang identification,” Stradling said. “It helps bring business and students around, but we?re looking at public safety, too.”
