Online map shows 1,500 potential wireless spots in the Adirondack Park

The Wireless Clearinghouse Project has started an interactive online map of tall sites and existing structures suitable for antennae that could expand wireless telecommunications in the Adirondack Park.

The map was paid for through a state Department of Environmental Conservation Smart Growth grant. The towns of Fine and Parishville are participants in the clearinghouse and the Adirondack North Country Association is a project partner.

The map will serve as an inventory for companies and municipalities that choose to use locales within the park that could become transmission sites, along with those that already exist.

“It identifies high spots,” Fine Supervisor Mark C. Hall said.

“They probably had 20 spots identified in Fine. Each municipality identified them, such as whether it was a church steeple or an existing tower, and whether it had electricity, things like that,” he said.

Participating municipalities can update the map as needed.

Twenty-eight Adirondack Park municipalities participated in the project. The clearinghouse then tried to identify sites in all of the park’s municipalities. Using tax parcel data, 81 sites were identified across the park.

As an incentive, all participating towns were entered in a drawing for a free customized online mapping application, which was won by Fine.

“It’s going to map the town and we’ll have an overlay of property boundaries with the assessed values. We’ll have an overlay of Adirondack Park land classifications,” Mr. Hall said. “We’re trying to figure out what else we can put on it. It’ll be a neat tool we can put on our website.”

On the Net: www.giswebhosting.com/wirelessclearinghouse