Proposal:WiFi Zone/Hotspot

WiFi Zone/Hotspot
Proposal status:	Rejected (inactive)
Proposed by:	Batchoy
Tagging:	amenity=wifi Data item
Statistics:
Rendered as:	TBA pending research into registered trademarks
Draft started:
Proposed on:	2006-11-27
RFC start:	*
Vote start:	*
Vote end:	*

Rationale

There is a need to identify wifi zones and hotspots. -- Batchoy 15:59, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Applies to

Nodes : A wifi hotspot.

Way?  : A road or street that has wifi access? Rather a railroad route (in the train)

Area  : An area showing the extent of wifi coverage

Usage

<tag k="amenity" v="wifi"/>
<tag k="class" v="~|free|charged">
<tag k="name" v="ESSID">

Examples

	WiFi Node: Free <tag k="amenity" v="wifi"/> <tag k="class" v="free"/>
	WiFi Node: Paid (default) <tag k="amenity" v="wifi"/> <tag k="class" v="~|paid"/>
TBA	WiFi Way <tag k="amenity" v="wifi"/>
TBA	WiFi Area <tag k="amenity" v="wifi"/>

Icon Design

There are a number of recognisable of WiFi symbols in existence, however from my researches they seem to all be registered trademarks belonging to various organisations and have various licencing restrictions on their use. Once I come up with something that remains recognisable but does not breach trademarks or licences I will post it here. -- Batchoy 15:59, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

After some thought I have gone for two symbols which have a resemblance to the regular trademarked wifi symbols but have some significant difference. I reluctantly went with the word 'WiFi' rather than pictograms as I felt radio transmitter symbols were too nondescript, and WiFI is a common global term. I have gone for red since this is my designated communications related colour. -- Batchoy 22:01, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

What about a dot with "broadcast waves" around it, a bit like the logo for RSS? Novem 06:04, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I assume "way" is for linear services, such as if a city covers a road/path along a river. Would an Interstate highway be a "route" if coverage is only provided at some locations (such as rest stops)? -- SEWilco 18:40, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

A symbol for a route could have up-down arrowheads to suggest a line; take the present red sample image and add red triangles above and below the red side. Add the red triangle/arrowheads outside the circle/square border and the icons will be recognizable in smaller formats as well. Similarly, for an "Area" symbol, add triangle/arrowheads pointing outward toward the top right and lower right corners in the white area around "Fi", suggesting expanding the circle/square to cover an area. -- SEWilco 18:40, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

I suggest we start with the icon for "open node". The image is "ineligible for copyright". I also suggest that after adding that icon, that we continue the discussion about which is the "best" or "most fit for the purpose" icon. If you think its unclear legally whether we can use the "Warchalking" icons we can just make our own. I'll upload a very simple image soon to have something to start with. logictheo 17:04, 23 September 2011 (BST)

This is the image: . Meant for the public access/free wifi hotspot. (gratis access to the net). Also if you do not agree to it being used I suggest that you not only use words in your argument but also add an icon(just like mine) to strengthen your argument. You are free to change my icon(released with CC0 and CC-BY-3.0) or make your own to support your argument against it. That will be helpful :) but you can also comment on how I(or anyone else) may improve it logictheo 17:42, 23 September 2011 (BST)

Notes and Comments

Wikipedia says that Wi-Fi "is a brand originally licensed by the Wi-Fi Alliance". Why not use the value "wireless zone" or "WLAN" instead of "wifi"? Novem 06:04, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I've recently setup a map for freewlan.org, see [1]. It's only done for the Norwegian version yet, but if anybody wants to geocode on the other country wikis drop me a line and I'll set it up. Bobkare 21:37, 22 May 2007 (BST)

Should there be a category of free-for-customers? Such as hotels which provide free WiFi for customers. It might be common for a building to have two hotspots, one for a hotel and another for an attached restaurant; each hotspot might have different policies. -- SEWilco 18:46, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe we should also include ssid (network name) and bssid (accesspoint serial id)/MAC address. This data could be used for locating features... --Saerdnaer 08:45, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

See also

• Proposed features/Internet access (for places where you can sit down at someone else's computer to use the internet)

Voting

• I approve this proposal. Ivansanchez 12:01, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
• I disapprove of this proposal. Not sure how useful wifi is to the average traveller as its coverage is likely to be dynamic. Ksbrown^talk 20:00, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal - too dynamic Mac 22:06, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal - they change too often to be in the OSM base layer Gagravarr 10:14, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
• I disapprove of this proposal - too dynamic, not a physical property so shouldn't be in OSM base layer --Dom 10:20, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal, but only for fixed installations, for example the public wifi hotspots at Rest Areas along major freeways in the USA. --Cohort 22:56, 21 May 2007 (BST)
• I disapprove of this proposal as it uses the obsolete class tag and the information it keeps is far too subject to change.
• I approve of this proposal as an optional layer. -- SEWilco 18:32, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
• I disaprprove of this proposal because "wifi" is a trademark, and it'd lead all wardrivers to use OSM for publicising private wlans that are not protected. ThaNerd 00:04, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal, because there is obviously a need for WLAN access in pubs for mapper conventions!!! The logo shall be without text though.--Lulu-Ann 01:08, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. We should name the amenity wlan or hotspot. --Elwood 09:09, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Toaster 17:20, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
• I oppose this proposal. too vague (paid or charged ??), how to map an aera for something that's highly fluctuent? it would be simpler to add a wifi=yes/no to existing amenities, shop ...--PhilippeP 17:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Lunix2008 17:30, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Ckruetze 14:48, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal. Highly fluctuent/dynamic, to much changes. --jhohn 20:31, 8 September 2008 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal. Highly fluctuent/dynamic, range is dependant on weather, etc. --R2D2 22:15, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal. to much changes. Frank 22:18, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal. There is already a large community for tracking WiFi hotspots; Wigle.net --Quiky 22:22, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• I disapprove this proposal. Hotspots are too "dynamic" and better suited to a layer on top of the map.--Sward 22:27, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --France-59-valenciennes 17:30, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Marking as rejected. Voting seems to have been open for two years, and isn't heading for a clear majority. Chriscf 14:03, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

think the problem is not if poi will be store in osm storage but if map could be view offline in many device and that all poi could be update easely from main fon storage in one click [2]

• I disapprove this proposal. Amenity is ofen in use for other things and the combination of tags with ";" will in time not split by the software in use (worst engl.!) --Lübeck 20:25, 18 October 2011 (BST)

• I oppose this proposal. I'm missing a possibility to tag z.B. a required registration. It would need multiple ways to tag the "chance of connection" (depending on weather, Hardware of the User, realy luck). It would oft be in combination with amenity=* - Imo separating with ";" is not a good solution. It would be better to add wifi=yes/no to existing amenities, shop, ... --rayquaza 00:11, 22 June 2012 (BST)