1 edit | Think outside the box... First off, when you think about this initiative, you have to think about something other than yourselves. This is not about Internet access. Government uses computer networks like every other entity. In this manner, it is simply attempting to extend its reach to those elements that are not mobile or can be made better through enhanced mobility.
Imagine reducing response times to medical emergencies by begin better able to dispatch ambulances or to better locate them in the first place. Same thing with Police vehicles. This is done through the use of Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVL).
In Nassau county, they were able to reduce costs and improve service with snowplows that were sitting idle. That helped reduce traffic congestion and probably saved lives by avoiding accidents that might otherwise have occurred if those additional roads had not been plowed. Imagine that here in NYC.
It's important to think of the glass half-full and not half-empty when you think of these efforts. It's too simplistic to condemn an idea because it doesn't fit in with what we would do with it. We would complain about the lack of bandwidth at peak hours, high latency for gaming. We'd complain that we can't get reception in the basement of our house where we hide from the rest of the family on the Internet. Government is required to come up with solutions that improve our daily lives and keep us safe.
My opinion, open your mind to creative solutions that could be used with a network like this. Think of things that it could do. The boring, mundane things you don't think about (like meter reading) and consider what it would be like to do those things better.
Imagine having the city mount air-quality monitoring devices on city vehicles, or taxis, that go around the city and tell us where we have air quality issues. Put radiation detectors on police vehicles to be on the lookout for "dirty bomb" material. Put a transponder on a bus so that the people at the bus-stop know exactly when the next bus is coming.
I'm not involved in this project, though I've had the opportunity to deal with those who have. The one thing I didn't understand and didn't like was that I thought it would be better to use private industry for the effort. They're more efficient as a rule. But then someone I spoke to who understood the matter (and worked in that private industry) had a good answer. One that was all the more impressive considering it was counter to his benefit. He said that when it comes to emergencies, the most critical moment is in the immediate hours surrounding an event and those hours, in his words, were the worst moments to expect private networks to be robust. I thought that was an interesting point.
Remember, glass half-full. Fill it up. |
| I completely agree, at Rutgers in New Brunswick we have nextbus, »www.nextbus.com/ which I find so handy to know when a bus will be coming so we can go to one of the many campuses. Would be nice for a metro area like NYC to adopt such program.
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