A Simple WiFi Hotspot Model for Cities

WiFi offloading has become increasingly popular. Many private and public institutions (e.g., libraries, cafes, and restaurants) already provide an alternative free Internet link via WiFi, but also commercial services emerge to mitigate the load on mobile networks. Moreover, smart cities start to establish WiFi infrastructure for current and future civic services. In this work, the hotspot locations of ten diverse large cities are characterized, and a surprisingly simple model for the distribution of WiFi hotspots in an urban environment is derived.