Six Diverse Arts and Cultural Neighborhoods Located in Indianapolis
Arts and culture thrive in Indianapolis with six distinct “cultural districts”. In these districts, you will find public art, unique galleries, inspiring museums, quaint shops, restaurants, ethnic eateries and sidewalk cafes. Entertainment includes dozens of night clubs and theaters, professional sports and performances. Spread out over many city blocks and separated by several miles the six cultural districts are: Broad Ripple Village, Fountain Square, The Canal & White River State Park, Mass Ave Arts & Theater District, Wholesale District and Indiana Avenue
Objective:
Working with Indianapolis Downtown Inc the objective was to create multiple large areas of free wireless Internet for public use in each of the six cultural districts. These areas were to require a secure login and offer information on each of the districts to visitors using the service. Another goal was also to be used to create a virtual connection to each district so that they could mutually cross-promote activities and events while building traffic to the various web properties that each district owns. This network was to be used to add a modern and competitive feature to the districts while helping to enhance the overall tourism product of the City of Indianapolis.
Challenges:
As each of the six independent cultural districts and Indianapolis Downtown Inc are Not-For-Profit organizations, budget was a high concern for this project. An additional factor was the fact that the cultural districts are made up of a combination of various associations of merchants, local businesses and other stake holders who own properties within each district. This meant that the cultural districts do not actually own properties in these areas to offer up for equipment placement. The project was reliant upon individual entities within each district and their willingness to participate.
Result:
eWireless project managed every aspect of this endeavor to ensure a cohesive and organized execution of this large project. During the site survey of the districts eWireless was able to identify key locations that would maximize signal strength over large areas where people would congregate and use the wireless network. After identifying these areas eWireless team members worked with various building owners and were able to negotiate roof rights for equipment placement that mutually benefited all stakeholders in the project. The unique challenges and needs of this project forced eWireless to use it’s experience and knowledge of wireless technology to create an entirely new product offering that could cost effectively fulfill the required obligations. The eWireless Hot Zone System was developed and implemented to complete the project. The welcome screens that greet visitors to the area are acting as virtual billboards advertising unique amenities, restaurants and arts & cultural events that each district has to offer as well as other hyper-localized content. In the first 90 days over 11,000 wireless sessions were recorded on the new wireless network.