JiWire tops 50,000 hotspots in its worldwide directory: I file this one under Self-Promotion because JiWire is my editorial and advertising partner. Although WNN is run independently, we work together on several fronts, and I'm just as excited as they are that their worldwide directory of hotspots has exceeded 50,000--more than 55,000 in actuality. London, surprisingly, has the largest number of hotspots of any city in the world, which is partly explained by the city's large metropolitan area under the same name, and partly by the incredible overlap of providers: BT OpenZone, The Cloud, Surf and Sip, T-Mobile UK, and others.
When I first met the JiWire folks in July 2003, I was impressed that they had brought together proximity, mapping, and hotspots. I like to be able to type in a street address, Zip code, or city, and then find out what's there, rather than reviewing lists. Lists become unwieldly, even though they're easier to scan, as the hotspot market grows.
55000 - cool!
Yes, knowing the ZIP helps, I also discovered that one can put in just the first three digits of the ZIP. That makes it easy to get an accurate count for Queens, where we go by neighborhood names (Forest Hills, Middle Village, Ozone Park etc.)
The 'Location (A-Z)' tab also helps to speed searches up.
I added the count for the NYC outer boroughs to the count for 'New York' (Manhattan really) and came up with 1019, still over 150 less than London.
Klaus Ernst NYC (Middle Village really)