Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said Wednesday that Pittsburgh would build on the pioneering legacy of George Westinghouse and Jonas Salk by luring a super-fast Internet system to the city, and he urged residents to help him make the case with Google.

Google, the Internet search engine, is seeking test cities for the ultra-high-speed broadband network it's developing.

Pittsburgh has until March 26 to submit its proposal, and Mr. Ravenstahl urged residents to log onto a city-developed website -- www.pittsburghgoesgoogle.com -- to nominate Pittsburgh. Howard Stern, the city's chief information officer, said community support will play a role in Google's decision-making.

Mr. Ravenstahl said Google's project could make the Internet 100 times faster than it is now, something that could transform education, health care, business and everyday life in a test city.

"That place should be Pittsburgh," he said, hailing Pittsburgh's role as a center of big thinking since the days of Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, and Westinghouse, a railway and electrical industry entrepreneur.

How fast would the new Internet be? A DVD that now takes an hour to download potentially could be downloaded in less than one minute with Google's system, the city said.

Google would install the system and charge consumers for the service, setting up potential rivalries with existing providers.

"Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone," the company says on its website. "We plan to test ultra-high-speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country."

Not everyone is impressed.

Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said his company's FiOS services -- provided on a fiber-optic network since 2005 in parts of Western Pennsylvania -- are similar to what Google is planning.

The city's focus Wednesday was squarely on the potential of a Google relationship.

Carnegie Mellon University President Jared Cohon said Google's system could revolutionize distance learning.

"Imagine, if you will, an entire college curriculum available on the Internet," he said.

Faster Internet, he added, would better enable astronomers and other scientists to work with the large data sets integral to their research. But Dr. Cohon, one of a handful of leaders who joined Mr. Ravenstahl in plugging the project, said the ultimate potential of the Google project can't even be glimpsed right now.

"Give these people a new tool, there's no telling what they might develop," he said of researchers in various fields.

Andrew Watson, director of the Center for Connected Medicine, Downtown, said telemedicine already is helping residents in rural, underserved areas get better access to care. He said Google's Internet venture would dramatically expand telemedicine's potential.

"A Google high-speed Internet would accelerate what we've been able to do," he said.

William Generett, executive director of Pittsburgh Central Keystone Innovation Zone in the Hill District, said Google's project would increase job-training opportunities for disadvantaged residents.

Mr. Ravenstahl was the first to nominate Pittsburgh on the website, saying, "We are ready, willing and able!!" Residents also may nominate the city on Google's website at http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/.

Google already has a familiarity with the city.

Its engineering center at CMU, established in 2006, is moving to larger quarters in East Liberty. And Google is a "strategic partner" of the Center for Connected Medicine.

Officials hope such relationships will boost the city's chances of luring the Internet project.

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