Plugging into wireless: wireless Internet is making its way into more parks nationwide.

Wireless public Internet service started popping up only a few years ago, becoming a mainstay of the funky coffeehouse or corner cafe. Chain eateries caught on with the trend--most Starbucks stores now offer wireless service (also called Wi-Fi) and Panera Bread Company runs the largest free wireless network in the country. So it was a natural progression when Vienna, Va.'s Parks and Recreation Department decided to move that wireless access beyond the walls of its downtown businesses.

"It's just an extension of our businesses for people who work in town during the day," Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Salgado says of the Vienna Town Green. "We have a lot of eating establishments and during nice weather people may want to eat outside."

Vienna has recently broken ground on the Town Green, which is located at the urban center of town. The idea was to provide greenspace between the dense clusters of business for a community gathering place. "The free wireless Internet is meant to be a service because we have a pretty vibrant business and restaurant community around the town green. People may bring their laptops with them to sit and do work outside," Salgado explains.

While a wireless "hotspot"--a location where wireless Internet is available--may seem right at home in the central hub of a bustling town, it has trickled quietly and invisibly into parks of all types across the country.

JiWire is a company that archives Wi-Fi hotspots online. It indicates that parks in the United States contain 111 hotspots. Ken Brack is proud to be responsible for seven of those.

"It's just so cool!" Brack exclaims, discussing the parks he helped bring online. Brack is the information technology director for the Park and Recreation Department of Dallas, Texas. Brack brought Wi-Fi to all seven parks in a short period of time--equipping all but one during the month of July.

Brack explains that bringing technology into a traditional park setting gives a certain duality to the park's purpose. "When we were testing the first one, I was over at Tietze park sitting underneath this wonderful old oak tree on a park bench. I e-mailed our boss and emphasized the fact that I was sitting under this tree, listening to the kids play and e-mailing her--I told her I've found my new office."

But Brack also understands that park visitors vary on where they draw the line between work (connectivity) and play (enjoying the park). He says that he can grasp the point of view that parks are for traditional recreation, but the Internet access is provided as an amenity. "It's like anything--if you don't want it, don't use it. Turn it off. That's up to the individual person. We're just providing the service," Brack says.

An additional 361 hotspots that JiWire has archived are on campgrounds (a category that includes certain RV parks). David Blumenfeld is a director at JiWire. He explains that using Wi-Fi in the woods is different than being connected in a city square. "I think that in a city park, for the most part, you're in an urban setting. It's an extension of being able to enjoy the city parks even though you're potentially on the clock. When it gets interesting is if you go camping and you're trying to get away from it all. Then you have to ask yourself if there is a benefit to being connected," Blumenfeld says.

But Blumenfeld agrees with Brack's idea that Wi-Fi is an amenity--something users can take advantage of or leave alone. He says that it began as a way to bring people in the door of the corner cafe and funky coffeehouse that started it all. And if you can tap ito your existing facilities' high-speed connection, offering wi-fi can be less expensive. So why shouldn't parks and campgrounds of all types glom on to this marketing scheme?

California State Parks show that there's no reason to fear Wi-Fi connectivity. In fact, 49 locations in the California State Parks system have available wireless Internet. The long-term plan, unveiled in January 2005, calls for 85 California State Parks to have Wi-Fi access. The California State Parks Wi-Fi allows for free access to government Web pages, like those alerting park road closures. Full Internet access costs visitors $7.95 per 24-hour period or $19.99 per month.

Blumenfeld says that a choice of free and pay-Internet like California has implemented is likely to become the norm for Wi-Fi providers. He says that while the overall price of Wi-Fi is going down, users will be offered free wireless that may contain advertising or give slower connection speed, while a paid version will also be available.

New York City will counter other locales' paid Wi-Fi and its own high cost of living by installing free service in 10 public parks this fall, including eight locations in Central Park. The highly anticipated service will be available in locations in all five boroughs.

Cities are creating new hotspots all the time. Pittsburgh, Pa., turned on Wi-Fi in its downtown and surrounding neighborhoods in September. The entire town of Miami Lakes, Fla., hopes to be fully connected by January. It seems that hotspots are escaping park boundaries and town squares. Would a park hotspot become obsolete by a larger network even before it was plugged in?

Blumenfeld says no. He calls these larger hotspots municipal (or "muni") networks. "I don't think muni networks will necessarily replace hotspots," he says. "I think for a while you're going to see those coexist. The trend is toward larger scale blankets of coverage that will give people access no matter where they are." He explains that a misconception about these muni networks is that they don't saturate the area they serve. He likens a muni network to Swiss cheese--a user can't be sure where a hole in service may be.

The fact remains that Internet has become a fixture in modern life and communities are willing to take a chance with this technology--holes or not. Brack explains that Internet is now a standard in daily life. "I view the Internet as a utility like gas, water or electricity," he says.

A wide swath of California thinks the same way. The country's largest Wi-Fi network has been recently proposed in the state's Silicon Valley area. The region between Daly City and Santa Cruz is soon to be blanketed in Wi-Fi. The 1,500-square-mile area consists of 38 cities in four counties and will offer service to 2.4 million people via 30,000 access points. The system's groundbreaking will likely occur sometime in 2007.

Wireless Internet access is growing with the technology. But Blumenfeld says that it will probably take another decade before most citywide Wi-Fi networks become reliable. So a wireless network in a park setting is still valuable to the casual surfer. Knowing this, it begs for you to take Brack's advice for the next 10 years or so: Pack a picnic and a laptop so you can log into the office under a big oak tree.

Web extra: Plug into a list of resources on how to get your own outdoor wireless system up and running.

www.nrpa.org/p&r

Safe Surfing

While wireless Internet technology lets you log on in convenient locations, it brings with it a greater risk for information theft. Unsecured computers and open networks provide hackers all they need to grab a user's personal information. Here are a few tips that users should keep in mind:

1. Don't hand over the goods willingly. Entering financial information or passwords while you're on a wireless network is a bad idea. Hackers have software called "packet sniffers" that allow them to locate and view information transferred over wireless networks-including your credit card number or a private e-mail you sent or received.

2. Use a VPN. If you're on an office computer and you connect to your office via a virtual personal network (VPN), the information you send and receive is safer because it's encrypted, or secured in a way that hackers can't access it.

3. Make sure your computer is secure. Shared files are open to anyone in the network. Know what files you are sharing or turn off file sharing all together.

4. Know your network. Make sure the network you log into is legitimate. Hackers often use "evil twins"--or networks that are designed to look real but are actually a network the hacker created on his own computer. Logging into an evil twin network compromises your entire computer.