The three-year Wi-Fi Boost project has been improving Wi-Fi all across UB’s three campuses, building by building, area by area. Now, UBIT wants to hear how it’s going.

The new “Rate My Wi-Fi” interactive map lets you pick an area, including your current location, on any campus and rate the Wi-Fi there, anonymously. You also can read the ratings of others, see which buildings and areas have been upgraded so far, and find out when others will be enhanced.

The team responsible for Rate My Wi-Fi is led by Michael Belus, systems software programmer with Network and Classroom Services, part of UB Information Technology. “Rate My Wi-Fi is not just a tool for people to tell us how the Wi-Fi is on campus,” Belus says. “It is a tool for communication. People can quickly see what buildings are upgraded, when other buildings will be upgraded and see the overall schedule for the boost project.”

The tool uses geographic information systems (GIS) to identify where people are using Wi-Fi and what their experience is. “GIS makes it easier to take Wi-Fi ratings and display them in a way that tells a clear story,” he says. “It helps us understand people’s use of their Wi-Fi and potentially helps us make better decisions about network design going forward.”

Rate My Wi-Fi and its underlying GIS technology have potential beyond Wi-Fi feedback. GIS can be used in many contexts, and IT is no exception. A few possibilities for the future may be to see locations of alerts and UBIT Help Center tickets in order to better assess how widespread problems are, or through the use of Bluetooth beacons for a wayfinding app inside campus buildings.

Belus says UBIT is investigating if it’s feasible to use a GIS app to track the fiber optic network within and between campuses, to more easily locate infrastructure in the field and to more quickly identify the location of outages when they occur in order to speed response.

He notes that “Rate My Wi-Fi” should not be used to get immediate assistance. For help with a Wi-Fi connection, contact the UBIT Help Center online or by calling or 716-645-3542.