New York City Will Be America's First Smart City

As smart and responsive cities continue to expand across the globe, LinkNYC has emerged as one of the most innovative moves yet in evolving the New York Metro Area. As the company begins to roll out free gigabit Wi-Fi across the city, we are enamored with everything that comes with it.

A city full of Millennials and the need to accommodate outdoor charging ports, LinkNYC has stepped it up a notch, as they knock out over 7500 payphones around the five-city borough and install multiple technology kiosks in their place. Connected by superfast citywide Wi-Fi, these “Links” serve as information stations, communication platforms and even city directories.

Paid (News - Alert) for by advertising, Links are powered by highly effective OOH advertising networks and will be sustained on revenue alone. What is said to be a “rich, context aware platform,” all Links will feature digital signage on 55” HD displays and will bring the city over half a billion a year in revenue. These totems, as ZDNet has labeled them, will not be a burden to tax payers, as funding will be generated from partners, supporters and advertisers directly.

Sponsored by The City of NY and CityBridge, personal devices can be used with the systems. USB ports will allow for on-the-go charging and lead the city to become a more efficient and safer place to live. 9-11 will be a short swipe away and public service announcements will be immediately posted to warn passersby of harm in the immediate area.

Each kiosk will have a tablet to access e-mail, browsing the Web and a Vonage (News - Alert) app for telephone calls. Users will have to provide their own headphones, however, or everyone else nearby will hear the conversation. Tons of new apps are set to rollout over the next ten years and are expected to bring continued innovation to communities all over the Big Apple. Connectivity is said to be 100 or more times faster than LTE (News - Alert) servicing and standard public Wi-Fi… even at 150 feet away.

CItyBridge, a New York-based technology company, is comprised of technology experts, media professionals and communication groups, who are focusing on connectivity and the user experience. The companies forging together under this entity are Intersection, QUALCOMM and Civiq Smartscapes. The company is led by a parent company, Titan Outdoor. With this powerhouse behind them, Links are now considered “for New Yorkers, by New Yorkers.”

With the growing concern for security and privacy, CityBridge only collects data related to logins and passwords that access their system. And while they do collect complex analytics to better improve and maximize their servicing, data remains anonymous to the user so that nothing will become identifiable to any particular user within the system. Better yet, this information will not be sold.

According to ZDNet, The City of New York will be simultaneously be implementing free broadband service to households all over the city. From now through 2019, a proposed minimum of 100mbps will be delivered through each network and will keep the city connected to the rest of the world.  While directly unaffiliated with Links, power to Link towers will be made possible. The move to implement citywide broadband servicing will cost the city $500M, matched by $500M from a private source. It seems that after Links have been positioned, broadband servicing will pay for it. Now, that’s smart.