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Get Ready For the High-tech Beach

Posted by samzenpus on Thu Jul 26, 2007 06:51 AM
from the natures-friends-electricity-and-water dept.
The Almighty Buck Wireless Networking Technology Hardware
coondoggie writes "Ocean City, New Jersey is a nice, family-oriented beach that will apparently soon be the high-tech model for seashore lovers and now perhaps geeks everywhere. The city has on its plate a $3 million plan for myriad public services and Internet access using radio-frequency identification chips (RFID) and Wi-Fi wireless technology. A wireless network will let Ocean City expand economic development and control the cost of local services. Wireless allows the City to save on cell phone usage, T-1 lines, and it adds efficiency. The city is looking to replace its ubiquitous but mostly annoying beach tags — which indicate you paid to get on the beach $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the whole summer — with wristbands that contain an RFID chip. Yet another cool feature of the high-tech beach will be the ability to track beachgoers — an application that is being touted by parents."
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  • The city is looking to replace its ubiquitous but mostly annoying beach tags -- which indicate you paid to get on the beach $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the whole summer -- with wristbands that contain an RFID chip. Yet another cool feature of the high-tech beach will be the ability to track beachgoers -- an application that is being touted by parents."
    Hello big brother.

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Aladrin (926209) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:01AM (#19994767)
      I was wondering how long that post would take to appear.

      Unfortunately, I have to agree... -sigh- While this would be great to find your children, should they be unruly or kidnapped, nobody else has a use for this. And the kids would rip it off if they didn't want to be tracked (they're unruly) and the kidnapper would rip it off, too. It's no better than the slips of paper, and probably quite a bit more expensive to implement -and- maintain.

      So who is it better for? People that want to track you. That's it. You can't very well throw anyone out that managed to break theirs (on purpose or not) as they paid their money and can't be held accountable for the technology failing.

      • Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by CaptainPatent (1087643) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:09AM (#19994825) Journal
        Well the solution is obvious.

        Instead of putting the tags on a flimsy wristband, why not inject them into the patron's blood stream. It may also worry some of you that a kidnapper may just take the kid off of the beach thereby eliminating the ability to track and monitor. This is why it is necessary to expand the sensing to a full nationwide, or better yet worldwide scale.

        I'm big brother, and I'll keep an eye out for you.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by FractalZone (950570)
        The city is looking to replace its ubiquitous but mostly annoying beach tags -- which indicate you paid to get on the beach $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the whole summer -- with wristbands that contain an RFID chip. Yet another cool feature of the high-tech beach will be the ability to track beachgoers -- an application that is being touted by parents.

        Pardon me for asking, but why are beach tags or RFIDs necessary in the first place? Is the beach in question not a public one? If so, why does

        • Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Aladrin (926209) on Thursday July 26 2007, @08:29AM (#19995593)
          I've already answered this elsewhere, but I'll say it again: Clean beaches aren't free.

          They get paid for somehow, and if you don't charge admission, you have to charge taxes. Why should people who never go to the beach have to pay for it? I personally hate it (phobia) and never go. When I used to go, nobody ever complained about the admission fee.

          I think maybe you've been spoonfed by the government too much if you think everything 'public' should be 'free'. I feel exactly the opposite and people that wish to use a public service should be the ones supporting it. Emergency services/etc are the obvious exception, of course.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Hans Lehmann (571625)
            Why should people who never go to the beach have to pay for it?

            I've never driven on 90% of the interstate highways in this country, so why should my federal tax dollars be used to build & maintain them?
            I've never needed to go to the emergency room either, so why should I have to pay taxes to support those frivolous hospitals?
            My house has never been attacked by a foreign nation, so why should I foot the bill for our trillion dollar armed forces?
            Get the point?

            I hate the beach as much as you; it's

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by mike_the_kid (58164)
          A beach tag costs about $15 for the season, and are available for the week or day as well. The trash and recycling cans on the beach fill up each day, and the beach tag essentially pays for this, as well as lifeguards. There are about five swimming areas per mile, each with two lifeguards. And they also pay some kids to walk up and down the beach checking for / selling tags.

          The beaches are kept safe and clean. People do complain about the cost of the beach tag, but when you consider that people often dr

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Funny)

      by MrNaz (730548) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:13AM (#19994861) Homepage
      Security Monitor Guy into walkie talkie: Hmm... Jim, I'm seeing JANE_2 and SAM_12 at exactly the same location in some shrubbery behind the dunes. Perhaps they're lost.
      Security Patrolman: Yea I'm watching them now.
      Security Monitor Guy: Why does your voice sound distant?
      Security Patrolman: The walkie talkie is on the ground coz my hands are... occupied.

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Funny)

      by ozmanjusri (601766) <{moc.liamtoh} {ta} {bob_eissua}> on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:37AM (#19995029) Journal
      Hello big brother.

      Big Brother hell!

      What happens when the sharks get wind of this? Not only will they have frickin' lasers on their heads, they'll be able to track our every move with their radio direction sensors.

      Those chips'll be inside fish in no time, you mark my words...

  • I live in the land of the free. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 26 2007, @06:58AM (#19994753)
    I live in the land of the free....beaches.*

    WTF: you paid to get on the beach $5 per day - Australia may suck big sweaty pendulous donkey balls, but at least we don't have to pay for our beaches.**

    * Not so good as the land of the free biatches

    ** Please return to your scheduled why-noone-needs-wireless-on-the-beach flamefest.
    • I couldn't careless about the tech or survellance issues in this story. I am sitting here thinking "You have to pay to use the beach". Then I remember a
      Michael Moore's TV Nation where somewhere in the North Eastern US had private (district residents only) beaches, which is even worse. The land of the selfish seems to be a better motto.

      • Michael Moore's TV Nation where somewhere in the North Eastern US had private (district residents only) beaches, which is even worse. The land of the selfish seems to be a better motto.

        So there are private beaches. There is no reason for every stretch of the coastline to be 100% public access, just as there is no reason for every acre of forest to be 100% public access. Is it that hard to imagine that some people would want to find a quiet little area on the ocean to setup a home. A home that doesn't have a flock of people who have no regard for the residents of the area tramping through their backyards to camp out on that little section of beach. Not every piece of coastline has to

      • Re:I live in the land of the free. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by hb253 (764272) on Thursday July 26 2007, @08:10AM (#19995379)
        I live in New Jersey and am annoyed to no end that we have to pay to use the beach. Worse yet, there are some wealthier commmunities along the shore where the residents think they own the beach. They make it extremely difficult for day visitors by restricting parking and obscuring or outright hiding the beach access points between the mansions. It's sickening, but it seems that money always wins.
        • I live in New Jersey and am annoyed to no end that we have to pay to use the beach.

          It's for good reason. The individual communities are responsible for maintaining the beaches. This includes cleaning (people leave a ton of trash on the beach), life guards, and sand. Most of the communities along the Jersey shore lose a lot of sand to erosion during the winter and have to periodically buy sand to put on the beaches. This all costs money. There's no reason why only the residents of the communities should bear the cost of this.
    • That was my first thought, too. Who would want to pay $20 to go sit on the beach? Especially considering that once you got there, it would be full of the kind of people who would pay $20 to sit on a beach...

      Balmedie ftw.
      • That's Balmedia up on the NE Coast?

        Picture #1 [beachwizard.com]

        Picture #2 [belhelvie.org.uk]
      • 20$ is the price for the entire summer
        10$ is the price for a week
        5$ is the price for a day.

        (btw, if you snap them up early, it's 15$% for the season)

        This pays for the
        1- DAILY sweeping of the beach with a big ol' sand rake machine along the heaviest portion of the beach (directly in front of the 20 block boardwalk) which sifts through the sand

        and the intermittent raking of other beaches

        2- the lifeguards

        3- the trash removal off the beach/emptying the trash cans...

        strangely, (and I originally found it shocking too) it works.. much like the toll roads, it's a pay to play system.. the nicer motels in town (see my homepage) include them with your stay.... so do most of the condo rentals.. so for those folks, it's free/subsidised by direct spending at area businesses (in my case, a motel) and day trippers also pay in proportion to the # of dollars they leave in the town (i.e. little) someone enriching my business at a few hundred a night doesn't pay the 'tax' directly, but indirectly... someone who comes into town for 8 hours pays more... beacause their direct benefit to the towns economy is a whole lot less....

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by LordBafford (1087463)
      In Ocean City, Maryland the beach is free, people in Jersey are getting ripped off.
      • Who do you think pays for the life guards, beach patrol, cleaning, shore maintenance? The tax payers, so in Maryland, all the people who don't use the beach are paying for your fun. In NJ the people who use it are charged.

        Just like gas prices. In america we think we only pay 3-4$ per gallon, while in Europe, they pay $7. However, most Americans forget that we just spent a TRILLION dollars make sure the oil keeps coming.
      • Yep, and it's a lack of that law which has made it necessary to charge people to go to the small strip of beach that is still public.

        Not that these are real beaches anyway. It's not quite as bad as an English beach but don't expect Bay Watch.
      • On the money, except that there are also hundreds of thousands visiting from Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. Services are expensive to provide in NJ, and though the state sees indirect revenue via sales tax from tourism, municipalities don't.

        Sure, businesses do better, but a lot of the tourism doesn't really improve property values enough (luxury homes do just as well) to make up for the expensive services NJ shore municipalities provide. Emergency services, policing, etc.

        It's only just that those who visit a

  • Is this article meant to be flamebait? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Glowing Fish (155236) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:02AM (#19994771) Homepage
    Since there is a big crowd of Slashdotters who are reasonable luddite-like, and who rightfully decry the unnecessary adding of technology to everything, I am guessing that an article suggesting that what the majestic natural experience of ocean and land needs is RFID tags was perhaps posted knowing that it would cause scorn and derision.

    Which doesn't mean I am not going to fall for the bait.

    Man, is this a stupid idea OR WHAT?
    • Absolutely right. And Wi-Fi internet was Hi-Tech maybe 6 years ago.

    • majestic natural experience of ocean and land
      Er... We're talking Ocean City here. This is beach as playground, not beach as majestic natural experience of ocean and land

      You're still right, it's technology for technology's sake.

  • Is this a joke? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Chineseyes (691744) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:05AM (#19994795)
    Why on earth would you need wi-fi and rfid at the beach? Maybe its just me but when I go to the beach I don't bring anything that would allow someone to contact me except an old cellphone which is usually OFF. Why an old cellphone? Theft is a huge problem at beaches these days leave your average device that is wi-fi enabled and you'll probably find it gone by the time you are out of the water.

  • RFID people tracking (Score:3, Funny)

    by ArcadeX (866171) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:10AM (#19994833)
    If we take these rfid tags and throw them in the water, will a lifegaurd come save it? Technology vs. the undertow, and all i want is pam anderson to save me

  • Wrong Spin (Score:3, Insightful)

    by detain (687995) on Thursday July 26 2007, @07:12AM (#19994855) Homepage
    Great idea, but they're not focusing on the good parts of it. This shouldnt be about wireless on the beach but more wireless within the city. This is a great technological advancement and something I hope more cities start to do as well.

    As far as wifi on the beach little people will use it, but most people will be using it in the city where the wifi also is.

    RFID tags: great for your kids, wonderful idea.. but not everyone will want these, should be optional.
    • I couldn't see bringing a laptop, or any other wireless device to the beach. First, when you want to go in the water, what do you do with it? Trek all the way back to your car and leave it to roast in there? Second, even if you don't plan on going in the water (why are you at the beach), the sand would still be a major problem.
  • C shells by the sea shore.
  • I grew up going to the beach. Some of my earliest memories are of fun days at the beach. One thing I've never seen in the last 30 years was public lockers. It just seems like such an obvious thing to me. You go to the beach, you can't swim with your wallet in your pocket. So where do you put it? Under your towel and hope no-one steals it? Pretty much. I asked a friend who is a lifesaver once if he'd ever seen lockers available. He had, but it's pretty rare. Apparently the most common excuse is that the lockers would attract thieves. That's, umm, interesting logic.

    • Maybe it's not logic but experience. I'm sure the beaches can compare the number of theft complaints when they had lockers to when they didn't and see the difference. (Comparing different beaches is harder, of course.)

      There are quite a few thieves out there that see unattended storage as a beacon, where leaving your wallet in your car or house or hotel room, hidden, isn't so much of a beacon.

      I'm sure the headache of people that lose their key/combination or are just plain scamming is another large part of
      • Well, the best way to avoid complaints is to have no-one to complain to.

      • How is a beach fundamentally different from a pool, for any of the issues you mention? By your logic, everyone should keep their wallets wrapped in their poolside towel.
    • Yes, and somehow, everyone assumes that if they put their watch/gsm in their shoe, it is safe. No wait, make that the tip of the shoe, because the thief will only check the first bit of the shoe!

      Just.... don't bring anything valuable or bring friends.

      B.
  • The Wi-fi aspect is nothing new. Brighton [wikipedia.org] beach in East Sussex, southern England, has had wi-fi access [piertopier.net] for years now. I believe it's free too...
  • We go down to Ocean City a few times a summer, and at least at one point we're doing there for a week straight. Needless to say, sometimes it rains, sometimes you're bored, but regardless the reason I've had need/desire to get online. I for one welcome the idea that we may be able to get wireless access in OC or on the Boardwalk or wherever.

    However I agree with RFID complaints. Right now teenagers stand at the top of the steps leading down to the beach, and 'check' that you have you beach tags. Most
  • Wireless allows the City to save on ... T-1 lines,

    How's that? Do they honestly think they can build a wireless network with sufficient capacity for an entire city? Presumably, they want to replace local T-1 connections (from the telecom exchange to customers) with WLAN. But with the limited number of channels available, they'll run out of bandwidth in no time (esp. near the exchange).

  • Get ready (Score:3)

    by AbbyNormal (216235) on Thursday July 26 2007, @08:24AM (#19995549) Homepage
    for my family and my dollars to leave this cesspool. Beach tags at the beach for $5/$10 a day? 7-8 dollar cheesburgers on the boardwalk without fries? Ocean city used to be a family friendly destination, but its turning into a playground for the rich. Now a network that monitors all of its visitors? No longer family friendly in my book. Its a shame to see this place degrade in such a short period of time. I've been going down there since I was a kid. Not anymore.
  • I think that it is time that the USA puts together some Federal investment into national infrastructure. The Internet is a highway, and just as much as the federal highways repay themselves many times over from the increased economic activity they generate, so to will pervasive broadband.

    We should have broadband wireless in the entire northeast corridor, and along all the major highways and railways. All the trains, commuter and Amtrak, should also offer free public wireless service. How much could it co

  • Why beach access is not free (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tyrsenus (858934) on Thursday July 26 2007, @09:09AM (#19996051)
    I've been to Ocean City, NJ every summer for 10+ years.

    Ocean City has a large life guard staff. A lot of people (esp. from Philly) visit this beach. The guards aren't just guys sitting around getting a tan-- they actively monitor the beach. There's a stand every hundred yards or so, with 2-3 guards to a stand. I estimate at least 200 lifeguards are on the beach on a normal day. In a given week, I've seen 3-4 saves done.

    By using the beach during lifeguard hours, you automatically give them consent to perform first aid, saves, CPR, etc. in the event of an emergency. Being that many beach-goers are not locals (shoobies), it would not be fair to charge a tax to citizens for a service used in a large portion by outsiders. By paying for a beach tag, you are supporting this public service that is not supported by taxes alone. The tags are only $20 for the season. I think that's a small price to pay for safety and compared to what they could charge.

    http://www.ocnj.us/comersus/store/comersus_viewIte m.asp?idProduct=1 [www.ocnj.us]

    For the record, you may use the beach for free after life guards have left (5PM I believe).

  • Anyone remember "Wild Kingdom"? (Score:3, Funny)

    by NUBlackshirts (680256) on Thursday July 26 2007, @09:31AM (#19996333)
    I think they should just tag your ear like Marlin Perkins did on Wild Kingdom. According to the show, you wouldn't notice it at all. And some guy can just track you down using a radio with a funky antenna.
    • However, like you said, Australia has bountiful beaches. Tons of them. And not a whole lot of people either. At least no relative to the states. I imagine their ocean side property is at quite a premium. It's completely understandable that beaches would be something you have to pay for. Then again, I'm from a town of 12,000 with 2 beaches, with the town built around a lake. Most of the time we didn't even go to the beach but to some other swimming hole where there wasn't so many people. Anyway, I gue
    • I must have misread this, surely you don't have to pay to go the beach.

      In the US, we have a constitutional guarantee of access to the ocean - No one can privately own the strip of land between the low and high tide marks or block your access to the same (though in practice, some entities, in particular shipping ports, can do so in the name of "security").

      As for the massive expanses of shining white sand above the high tide mark - No such guarantee exists for that; And the actual rights-of-way to get to
      • In the US, we have a constitutional guarantee of access to the ocean

        Really? I don't remember that part of the Constitution. Where was that, exactly?
    • The only beaches I've been to that DIDN'T have a fee were pretty gross and littered.

      Those fees go towards cleanup (and other maintenance) and lifeguards.

      If you haven't been paying fees to the beach where you are, it's because it's included in the tax you already pay, whether you go to the beach or not. I'd rather pay for my own trips to the beach than pay for everyone's, whether I go or not. (And I don't, generally.)
    • I know, these wacky Americans. Still, I know of beaches in the UK where the enterprising local council has built a car park on the main approach for which they charge an arm and a leg.
    • "Keep in mind that the closest of these beaches are less than 20 miles from NYC and you can deduce that something had to be done in order for locals to be able to get a square inch of beach."

      Hmmm, I live in Washington, DC; perhaps we could get the National Park Service to institute tagged entrance to the National Mall so that locals can get a square inch of lawn. I wouldn't mind paying $20 a year if it meant fewer tourists on the Mall.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by YrWrstNtmr (564987)
      Maybe I completely missed the point in capitalism 101, but why do you have to pay to go to the beach?

      Good beach in that area is limited. There is a population of tens of millions a few miles up the road. Even with a fee, it is still incredibly crowded.

      The vast majority of beaches in the US are entirely free.

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