The fact that our emergency communications system was rated tops in the nation has been mentioned a lot in the last week. By all accounts the deployment of first responders and the hospitals’ handling of the influx of the wounded was remarkable.

Since that assessment was made, we’ve started to build out this municipal wifi thing which did exactly what it’s purported to do. Besides providing affordable internet access for residents and visitors, muni wifi is to be a communication tool for city workers for a variety of applications, including public safety and public works (pdf, skip to pg 34).

Downtown Minneapolis was the first area in which muni wifi was deployed and is the best-covered at this point. The existing infrastructure served its purpose well and U.S. Internet moved quickly to make adjustments to assist with disaster response as needed. Julio breaks down how the network was used and what USI Wireless did.

Make it free. Within roughly an hour of the disaster, U.S. Internet stopped requiring paid access via usernames and passwords, and opened the network to all. Network use rose roughly six-fold over about 48 hours of open access.

Though it’s unclear who used the network and why, it’s likely many found it a handy way around clogged cellular networks in order to reach their friends and relatives - perhaps via instant messaging or voice-over-Internet calling.

U.S. Internet had a bit of difficulty switching the network to free-for-all mode, according to Joe Caldwell, president of U.S. Internet’s wireless division. It is formulating procedures for doing this more quickly as part of the company’s still-gestating written policies for harnessing their network during major crises, he said.

Help it grow. Though the wireless network now blankets downtown Minneapolis and some of its surroundings, it didn’t fully cover the bridge site at the time of the collapse. U.S. Internet hurriedly deployed staff and equipment to remedy this.

Furnish pipes. As officials set up command and coordination facilities at Minneapolis city hall, on the riverbank and on watercraft, they needed ways to easily access or exchange vast amounts of digital data - often in the form of vital Geographic Information System maps.

Without high-speed Internet access, they likely would have been reduced to printing out maps or burning them to discs for distribution using couriers, says Minneapolis chief information officer Lynn Willenbring. With Wi-Fi access, any official anywhere can access centralized servers brimming with data via their laptops.

Give it eyes. City, state and federal officials scattered around the city need to see the disaster site - but few of them have unobstructed views. U.S. Internet over the weekend fixed the problem by installing several webcams, each linked to a Wi-Fi transceiver for integration with the network. Those using the cameras over the Wi-Fi system have full pan, tilt and zoom control, Caldwell said.

As the last quote in the article says, it’s fortunate that the most robust part of the muni wifi network (mostly) covered the area of the disaster. It most certainly made communication efforts and information gathering a lot easier. Major kudos to USI for taking swift action.

UPDATE: Wireless Minneapolis program manager Jim Farstad has written up a great summary of what happened with the network. (via Minnesota Monitor)

Related posts:

1. “MTN, Comcast, USI Wireless and Minneapolis”
2. Minneapolis Municipal Wi-fi: Upcoming Events and Info
3. Wireless Minneapolis Pilot Testing
4. More on the Wireless Minneapolis Pilot Test
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