Inquirer: Mysterious boxes on RiverWalk explained

To this point in my long career, I had yet to get an inquiry about mysterious boxes nailed high in trees.

A Curious Reader wrote:

"Yesterday I took a long leisurely ride and enjoyed the scenery. As I was riding the RiverWalk near the recycling center I noticed a black box nailed in a tree about 20 feet off the ground. No wires, no holes and permanently attached. I though this odd, so I took a couple of pictures.

"About 100 meters farther north I noticed a second box. They do not appear to be cameras. I can't imagine that you would place anything this high in a tree that would require any regular maintenance or checking.

"Let me know what you find out."

They are Piper boxes or Piper beacons, and the two our Curious Reader saw are among 12 put up along the RiverWalk.

Why, you ask?

Piper is a company that builds the beacons that allow you to send out messages to anyone whose

phone has the Piper app (which mine now does). Restaurants and other businesses can send out messages about specials or offer special to Piper users.

McDonalds is a big user of Piper, and I'm told you can get a free ice cream by using it, but I haven't tried that to confirm it.

The ones along the RiverWalk give the Piper users brief messages about the area they're passing through along the river. CSU apparently uses a series of them to give an online tour of the campus and to announce events. Students can also use the app to send out a help message should they need to.

What is particularly cool about Piper is that Columbus is a test market for it.

The company, coincidentally called Piper, is based in San Diego, but they were searching around for a smaller city in which to test it out.

According to a story on fastcompany.com, the company's founder, Robert Hanczor, was looking for the right city when he remembered a marketing acquaintance of his, Wesley Ker-Fox, who lived here. Next thing you know, Columbus was chosen and Ker-Fox became co-founder of the company.

According to fastcompany.com, there are about 1,200 beacons in town, and 30,000-40,000 area residents have downloaded the app.

Besides McDonalds, the city and CSU, Ride On Bikes, Waddell Realty, Headquarters Nissan and the Double Tree by Hilton on Sydney Simons Boulevard are using it.

Download the app and try it out. Let me know if you get a free ice cream.

A new RiverWalk?

Speaking of the RiverWalk, an item on Columbus Council's agenda for last Tuesday dealt with acquiring easements from Georgia Power for the "completion of the Columbus Riverwalk."

A colleague, who has been at the paper longer than I have, asked me where that was.

I looked at him like he was smoking something he shouldn't be, pointed west and said, "I think it's down there by the river."

"That's the Chattahoochee RiverWalk," he said. "I don't know where this new one is."

Dang liberal media.

Seen something that needs attention? Contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Mysterious boxes on RiverWalk explained ."