Charleston Expands Public Wi-Fi Network To Waterfront Park

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- May 10,2013 -- Waterfront Park, one of the premier public gathering places on the Charleston Harbor, is the city's third park to have free public Wi-Fi access. The Waterfront Park Wi-Fi project is funded by a Google grant to the Charleston Digital Corridor Foundation.

Waterfront Park is a popular destination for residents and visitors. This park is a twelve-acre linear park and pier along a one-half mile on the Charleston Harbor entry. The park masterfully combines spectacular fountains, spacious lawns, intimate garden "rooms", walking and jogging path and a long pier with picnic tables and wooden swings. The park received the 2007 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation

"The initial deployment of public Wi-Fi service in the City's Marion Square Park last year has been tremendously successful with approximately 9,000 park visitors and merchants using this modern convenience within a year of the service being launched," said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. "We are honored and delighted Google considered the expansion of the public Wi-Fi service to Waterfront Park, the crown jewel in the city's park system" he added.

In addition, Google brought its Street View Trekker team into Waterfront Park to capture 360-degree imagery that will be featured on Google Maps for the world to see. The tour in Waterfront Park is a follow-up to the Trekker's initial hike through the Grand Canyon

"Google is proud to be part of the Low-country and, as a member of the community, is committed to growing and fostering the relationships that make these Wi-Fi projects possible," said Eric Wages, Google operations manager at the Berkeley County data center. "Accessing information anytime, anywhere is what people expect. Google is happy to work with Digital Corridor to expand free Wi-Fi through downtown Charleston, so residents and visitors alike can find the information they need to be more productive."

When a visitor to waterfront Park connects to their Wi-Fi, their browser will take them to a landing page - CharlestonFreeWiFi, where they will see instructions and terms of service to access the Wi-Fi network.

A group of students from the Charleston Charter School for Science and Math participated in demos learn how to edit Google Maps by adding information about different historic and cultural places around Charleston. The students learned how to add links to websites, operating hours and contact information about the different businesses, museums or places on Charleston's map.

Funding for the Charleston Free Wi-Fi Network was made possible through an approximately $35,000 Google community grant for the project's capital costs and maintenance of the network for three years. The Charleston Free Wi-Fi Network will be owned and operated by the Charleston Digital Corridor Foundation, an entity that supports the City's mission to attract, nurture and promote Charleston's knowledge economy.

For more information about the Charleston Free Wi-Fi Network in Waterfront Park, please visit CharlestonFreeWiFi.com/wp.

For more information about Google, please visit google.com/berkeleycounty.

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