Contribute!
So you want to get that warm, fuzzy feeling that you get from helping others? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This page gives some hopefully useful information on how you can start adding new maps to the collection, or augment current maps with your knowledge of WiFi locations in and around your favourite city! I hope that WiFi in Australia is intuitive to the point that you won’t really need this page. But, if I’ve failed in that respect, hopefully this page is useful.
There are two sections to look at here. The first is Editing an existing map and the second is Adding a new map. Most people will be interested in the former.
But before both of these, you will first need to…
Login or creating an account
To be able to either edit an existing map or add a new map, you will need a WiFi in Australia account. Luckily, this is really easy to set up. The WiFi in Australia account in tied in to your WiFi in Australia WordPress account. So, either log on with the same credentials you use for the blog, or register for a new account.
Once you have an account you will be able to both edit/add maps as well as interact with the WiFi in Australia blog.
Editing an existing map
So you’ve jumped onto the WiFi map of your town, only to find your favourite WiFi location is nowhere to be found? Well, lets add it! Once you are in your favourite map (try selecting one from the location panel on the main page) ensure you are logged in. This will allow you to add new markers and edit existing markers.
Adding a new marker
Figure 1: Showing the dropdown button to add a new hotspot marker to the current map.
Adding a new marker is a really easy process. To add a new marker, simply click the ‘new marker’ dropdown button (see Figure 1). Clicking this button will generate a new marker in the center of the currently visible map, with a placeholder title and description. This marker is then able to be edited and moved like any other marker.
Editing an existing marker
When logged in and viewing the details of a marker, both an ‘edit’ and ‘delete’ option are available. It is (hopefully) obvious what the delete button does! Clicking the edit button will enter you into the editable mode. Once in the editable mode, you can edit the details of the current WiFi spot such as its title, description and the type of hotspot (paid, free or restricted). You can also drag the marker to its geographical location on the map. Finally, when done adding information to the map, Click the save link next to the cancel button (5 points if you can guess what the cancel button does)!
DESCRIPTION
Figure 2: A hotspot currently in editable mode, showing the raw WikiCreole markup. Notice the white marker colour representing a currently edited hotspot.
The description is formatted using a form of Wiki markup known as WikiCreole. Clicking the ‘markup cheatsheet’ link will open a cheatsheet to help you format your hotspot description effectively. Try to give some useful information about the spot. Some useful tidbits might include the street address, any usage restrictions, the price (if not free) and even a picture of the building if you can be bothered! See the second picture for an example entry.
WIFI TYPE
As mentioned earlier, there are currently three classification of hotspot:
Free, paid and restricted.
By restricted WiFi, we are talking restriction as in membership, not restriction as in usage limits. I.E. WiFi that you need to be a member of a particular organisation or group to use. Common examples of this include University networks and library networks.
Adding a new map
What?!? You’re town isn’t here yet? Then feel free to add it! Adding a new map isn’t really that difficult at all.. and you can get one started in as little as 15mins!
All you need is…
- A WiFi in Australia account
- about 10-15 minutes
- A few WiFi spots to add
- The desire to help others find some wireless access points!
Firstly, visit the ‘Add a new map‘ page and log with your account. Use the location panel on the left and then select ‘Add new map’ from the pop-up menu. This brings up a few text boxes for you to select a default view, give the map a meaningful name (use proper capitalisation) and a description for your map!
IMPORTANT! Currently we are in the beta stages for WiFi in Australia. We currently do not provide the ability to edit the description, name and default view for a map. This will be provided in future releases.
Once you have set the initial state for your new map, click the ‘add new map’ link at the bottom to add the new map to the site.
Congratulations! You have just created your very own wifi map!!
Finally…
If you add to or edit a wifi map it is nice let everybody know, we’ll all appreciate it! Jump on to twitter.com/wifi_australia and use an @reply to share the love. Otherwise, email info[AT]wifi-in-australia.com and we’ll make sure the word is spread!