Wi-Fi access could have Texas paramedics plugged in

By Alexis Grant
The Houston Chronicle (Texas)
Copyright 2007 The Houston Chronicle
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

HOUSTON — Paramedics could tap into medical records to provide faster and more appropriate treatment from ambulances; computer screens in police cars would display mug shots; meter readers could avoid dangerous dogs.

City officials say wireless Internet access would help public safety personnel and other city employees obtain vital information in the field and do their jobs faster and better.

That potential is why Mayor Bill White’s administration is urging the City Council to approve a $2.5 million contract with EarthLink Inc. that would allow city workers to use the massive wireless network the company plans to build in the next two years.

“Your imagination is your limit,” said Larry Smith, the Houston Fire Department’s chief communications officer. He predicted that new applications will evolve once the system is up and running.

Under the contract, EarthLink would build the 640-square-mile project within two years. The city, as its anchor tenant, would pay at least $500,000 annually for five years to use the service.

The council considered the agreement last week, but members Addie Wiseman and M.J. Khan used a procedural move called a tag to delay it one week.

White has promised the city will not use tax dollars to build the $50 million network, which also would be available, for a fee, to residents and businesses.

The $500,000 annual fee, he insists, is the discounted price the city would pay to use the network, not a project subsidy.

Officials say the $2.5 million investment will save the city money, although they don’t know yet how much.

Expanded capabilities
Richard Lewis, the city’s director of information technology, uses this as an example: It now costs the city $45 per month for each wireless card provided to building and restaurant inspectors so they can do computer work from the field. Under the EarthLink agreement, monthly subscriptions would cost $10.

City employees who work from their offices now use wired Internet, and they would continue to do so even after wireless becomes available, Lewis said. Wireless would be used mainly by mobile employees.

He said the city and EarthLink plan security measures to preserve the integrity of wireless city communications.

Police officers and firefighters, as well as many other mobile workers, don’t have Internet access from their vehicles now because it’s too expensive.

So while police can access certain databases and communicate with dispatch and other vehicles from their patrol cars, their computers can pull up only limited text.

With Wi-Fi, as wireless Internet is called, they could look at photos of suspects, use more databases and other crime analysis tools, access maps and perhaps even watch real-time videos of crime scenes.

Paramedics, emergency medical technicians and firefighters would have similar benefits.

They could send live video feeds of fires to the command center, use satellite images to understand building or property layouts and access other Internet-based information from their trucks.

Skeptics still worried
A possible use beyond police and fire protection would be more efficient and safer reading of water meters.

They could be connected to the network so workers could take readings from a remote location, saving time and money.

The city’s 2,300 traffic lights also could be controlled through the wireless system, and some of its parking meters already run off a smaller network.

“Once you have the network, then people start saying, ‘Oh, I can do this. Oh, I can do that,’” said Alan Shark, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Public Technology Institute, a think tank that helps municipalities, including Houston, embrace technology.

Skeptics worry that the system won’t work as planned and that Houston will experience the same service-quality problems as smaller cities that have embarked on similar projects.

Some municipal networks around the country have provided spotty service at best, weak connections or signals that are not accessible indoors.

Corpus Christi’s example
In Corpus Christi, one of the nation’s first municipalities to blanket itself with a network, some residents have complained of spotty indoor access.

But officials say the network has enhanced public safety operations.

Police officers can stream video between patrol cars and offices and conduct some crime analysis from their vehicles, said Leonard Scott, who oversees the wireless project for the city.

Building inspectors also use the technology so they don’t have to return to the office to file paperwork.

“What we have found about Wi-Fi is, it is a catalyst to get a lot of these things done,” he said.

Employees in Corpus Christi also are testing more innovative uses of the network, such as outfitting heavy machinery with devices that send wireless signals to personnel when it’s time for maintenance.

The next step
Officials there originally planned to use the network only for public safety and other government functions, and they built it using tax money for that purpose.

But when they realized the public also would benefit from access, they decided to turn the project over to EarthLink.

The company bought the network in early March and expects to offer service for a fee to residents and businesses as early as May.

For municipalities, having access to the network is only the beginning.

The next step is developing applications, buying and distributing new technology and teaching employees how to use it.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do over the next two years,” Lewis said, “to try to optimize the benefits of this network for city government.”