WiFi in Australia

Hi guys,

It has been a while since there has been a WiFi in Australia (WiAU) update, making the project seem rather quiet. To the contrary, there has been heaps happening behind the scenes and I’m stoked to be able to finally release what has been happening over the last couple on months in WiAU!

The pilot site using Google Maps to display WiFi maps for Australian cities has been an amazing success - We’ve had people jumping on board and extending WiAU’s pitiful collection of a single Brisbane hotspot map to having maps for most capital cities in Australia. With the great amount of community support for WiAU from both individuals donating time to create maps and hotspots as well as other organisation such as Free Sydney Wireless giving the site a great wrap, I thought it was only fair that I give back my time and attention and improve the system.

A lot has changed in the new setup and I hate reading through streams of text as much as the next guy, so here is a list of things that are now present!

A completely custom engine

The new engine is run (mostly) on our own servers. In fact, WiAU is now done completely without the use of Google Maps. The pilot system was, in essence, a site for listing a bunch of Google Maps that had locations marked for hotspots. We had defined a bunch of conventions to follow, such as particular coloured markers for the type of hotspot on offer. This method was cumbersome however and required people to have a Google account to edit and add maps.

Open maps, open access, OpenSource

The maps have a Wiki-esque access style. Absolutely anyone can view maps and any registered user can add, edit, delete or otherwise change maps and markers - there are no access level restrictions, no moderators and no user caste-systems.

The maps on WiFi in Australia are completely open - and we believe the underlying technology should also be. All maps on WiFi in Australia are based on two fantastic open source mapping technologies:

• The OpenLayers mapping interface,
• using OpenStreetMap as its geographical layer.

Rich formatting using standardised markup

Descriptions for markers and maps are entered using WikiCreole, a standardised wiki markup language. By using a simple -to-learn markup it is easy to include rich formatting, links, tables and even images in your marker descriptions.

Beta and the old maps

Now for the other side. The new system is currently in beta - WiAU has grown into a complicated beast and as such it is inevitable that there might still be a few little bugs hanging around. Also, the new maps are currently unpopulated with the markers that users have added to the old maps - this is due to technical and licensing issues with accessing the old data. Also, hotspots that are added give credit to the contributor - I don’t want to take any credit for the work and contributions of others!

If you want to access the old maps, they are still able to be reached by visiting http://<mapname>.wifi-in-australia.com/ (replacing <mapname> with the city or region of the map).

Oh, and for comparison, the new URL structure for maps is http://www.wifi-in-australia.com/map/<mapname>.

Finally, thanks again to everybody who has taken part in the project so far - I look forward to your continued support, contributions and (hopefully less of this last one) bug reports!

It has been a busy month, so I’m afraid the updates on how the hotspot project has been going have been a little thin on the ground. Despite the lack of updates, there has been a flurry of activity on the maps themselves!

The has been an impressive number of hotspots being added to the Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast maps. I would like to especially thank @josh909, @sonialastrega and @robertablinger for continued support contributing wifi hotspots and letting me know about it!

I’ve had a lot of interest in more information about MESH networks across Australia, both where coverage exists and how to contribute. There is some information on a community-driven wireless network at Free Australia Wireless. I am also talking to people about other MESH related projects. I’ll keep you all posted on anything that eventuates!

Follow WiFi-in-Australia on twitter: http://twitter.com/wifi_australia

Hi guys,

We have had a bunch of hotspots added to the Brisbane map, bringing our Brisbane hotspot total to over 20 locations, which is a brilliant start!

We have also had a couple of points added to the Gold Coast map, but it could definitely be improved.

Finally, still looking for some contributors to help out with getting a Sydney and Melbourne map started. Any takers?