# The Things Network Western Cape

A local community of The Things Network: people building an open, free LoRaWAN® network for the Internet of Things in and around Western Cape.

- Country: [South Africa](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/country/south-africa/)
- Status: Official community
- Founded: 2016
- Members: 114
- Location: -33.4589, 20.1742
- Web page: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/community/western-cape/

## About

Our mission is to provide a free and open Internet of Things network covering the whole Western Cape. This network will provide data connectivity for a multitude of sensors that are used in the city, the vineyards and other remote areas. Think about thousands of soil moisture and temperature sensors all sending their data to the internet without having to be connected by 3G. Our network is crowdsourced, involving the area's citizens and local companies.

Since the beginning of January 2017 we have the first gateway active in Technopark, Stellenbosch, providing coverage to this tech hub, as well as the surrounding farms and part of the Stellenbosch city centre. The current coverage can be seen on [this map](http://ttnmapper.org/?gateway=stellenbosch-technopark&type=radials). More gateways have recently been added in Green Point and Tamboerskloof, providing coverage to the Cape Town CBD.

In a few weeks, The Things Network kickstarter gateways will become available, dropping the price to contribute to this network.

## Contact

The best is to contact us in `#westerncape` on the main TTN Slack. 

Sign up for Slack by going to [the TTN console](https://account.thethingsnetwork.org/) and then clicking on the `Request Slack invite` link at the bottom of the page.

Then join `#westerncape` on [thethingsnetwork.slack.com](https://thethingsnetwork.slack.com/messages/stellenbosch/)

Alternatively you can contact me on `jp AT ttnmapper.org`
- Chat: https://thethingsnetwork.slack.com/messages/stellenbosch/

## Resources

- [High sites](https://goo.gl/mcT8dH)
- [Parts for outdoor gateway](https://goo.gl/yzpbpS)
- [Our forum](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/c/country/south-africa)

## Partners

- [Electronic Systems Development](http://www.esdweb.co.za/aboutus.html)
- [Polymorph](https://www.polymorph.co.za/)
- [VASTech](http://www.vastech.co.za/)
- [Western Cape Repeater Working Group](http://wcrwg.co.za/)

## In the media

- [The Next Web - The Things Network wants to make every city smart](http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/08/19/the-things-network-wants-to-make-every-city-smart-starting-with-amsterdam/)

## Recent updates

- [TTN at Cape Town Cycle Tour 2020](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/community/western-cape/post/ttn-at-cape-town-cycle-tour-2020.md) (2020-04-04)
- [The Things Network in and around Cape Town](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/community/western-cape/post/the-things-network-in-and-around-cape-town.md) (2017-12-12)
- [LoRaWan world record](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/community/western-cape/post/lorawan-world-record.md) (2017-02-17)
- [First gateway online](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/community/western-cape/post/first-gateway-online.md) (2017-01-16)