Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and South Carolina Provide Online Maps Showing Detailed Broadband Coverage

From ESRI press release:

The states of Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and South Carolina are now providing easy-to-use maps that show in detail each state’s broadband coverage. The interactive, online maps are made possible by BroadbandStat, an application based on ESRI geographic information system (GIS) technology, and will help the states plan and improve high-speed Internet access for their residents and businesses. The BroadbandStat maps were funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and contribute to the comprehensive national broadband map that NTIA is required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create and make publicly available by February 2011.

www.esri.com/bbstat

Minnesota broadband

This map, showing the availability of broadband in Minnesota, is one of a handful of broadband maps that will be used to figure out how to spend $7 billion in stimulus funds nationwide to improve broadband Internet service. (More maps can be found here)

With so much money at stake, some states are battling over the maps, contending the firm that produced them -- Connected Nation, Inc. -- is overestimating the availability of broadband in some states and has ties that are too close to the telecommunications companies, according to an article last week in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Some cable companies worry the stimulus money will be used for municipal broadband systems that will compete with them.
Diane Wells, the manager of the telecommunications division for the Minnesota Department of Commerce, stood by the integrity of the mapping process in a post on the Connected Nation blog.

" As [the Federal Government] develop[s] a plan for mapping broadband availability across the United States, we invite and encourage you to look closely at Minnesota's broadband mapping process. We believe you will find an excellent model for mapping broadband availability in such a way that is transparent, verifiable, continuously updated, and perhaps most importantly, practical and valuable for identifying those unserved and underserved areas of Minnesota," she said.

One upshot of the maps: There's more broadband coverage in Minnesota than I would have imagined. But the map looks different when it's broken down by download speed:



Shades of yellow and green represents download speeds between 200 kilobytes per second (light yellow) and 6 megabytes per second (green), which isn't much.

Meanwhile, the group Free Press today asked the Federal Communications Commission to increase the amount of competition among broadband providers, suggesting the government should "move past availability" and look instead at speeds that "are too slow and prices that are too high."

Link to this article

Minn. map to show reach of high-speed internet

From Minnesota Public Radio:

St. Paul, Minn. (AP) — A non-profit group is unveiling a newly completed map of broadband availability throughout the state. The map is being unveiled Friday afternoon by Connect Minnesota, a non-profit organization designated by the state to create the detailed map as mandated by the federal government. The map will show availability of high-speed internet down to street level, highlighting areas that are currently underserved or not served at all.

Link to full story

States Use ESRI's BroadbandStat Application for Broadband Initiatives

From GIS User:

Ten U.S. states and one U.S. territory will soon launch comprehensive broadband mapping and planning initiatives based on ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) technology. They will use BroadbandStat, an application developed by ESRI and Connected Nation, to organize and display broadband service and related data on the Internet.

For more information about ESRI's BroadbandStat application, visit http://www.esri.com/bbstat

Connected Nation Previews Interactive Broadband Mapping Tool at Technology Policy Exhibition in Washington, D.C.

Andy Blair from George Washington University asks Connected Tennessee’s Michael Ramage for more detail about interactive broadband coverage maps while Sabrina Matteson, a representative from the American Farm Bureau Federation, observes the presentation.

Connected Nation, in conjunction with ESRI, a market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, showcased its jointly developed new interactive mapping tool for viewing, analyzing, and validating broadband data at a technology policy exhibition on Capitol Hill.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) welcomes attendees to the Congressional Internet Caucus Kickoff Reception and Technology Policy Exhibition.

Jon Gant, a professor at the University of Illinois at Champaign, stopped by to view the BroadbandStat demonstration on Tuesday.

Gant, who teaches GIS classes and has used GIS data from more than 20 years, was impressed by the easy, user-friendly interface of BroadbandStat.

“Look at how smooth the graphics transition from query to query,” he said, pointing to the screen of BroadbandStat. “And, the small things—like the menus—they are a lot better this way.”
“This [GIS data] is really complicated stuff,” he said Tuesday after viewing BroadbandStat. “And, how you all use and represent this complicated data with this kind of interface is really interesting,” he said.

Jim Geringer, director of Policy and Public Sector Strategies at ESRI and former governor of Wyoming, was on hand on Tuesday, prior to his participation in a Wednesday’s panel discussion, “Transforming Government Through Technology: The Real, The Possible, The Surprising.”

“The common underpinning of all activities—economic, social or health—is people connecting with other people and that activity doesn’t happen without broadband,” he said. “You will never understand how much information is in the world until you can connect with broadband. Broadband mapping—or showing who is connecting and who is not—is just the first step.”

The Technology Policy Exhibition is a free, educational event that briefs lawmakers and staff, reporters, and representatives from government agencies and private sector organizations on cutting-edge Internet technologies. It is the largest technology exhibition on Capitol Hill. Yesterday’s event served as the official kickoff of today’s 6th Annual State of the Net Conference, hosted by ICAC at the Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill.

At Tuesday’s technology policy kickoff reception, more than 100 people had the chance to view Connected Nation and ESRI’s BroadbandStat demonstration. Michael Ramage, Executive Director of Connected Tennessee, continued showcasing the technology well after the official end of the event.

New map shows speeds of the information superhighway

From MN Public Radio:

St. Paul, MN — There's a new map of Minnesota being prepared and you're invited to participate. It isn't a roadmap. It's a map of the state's broadband or high-speed Internet service. The new map will show where Internet service is poor or speeds are slow.

Link to Article

Stimulus funding gives boost to broadband

by Britt Johnsen/St. Cloud Times via TMCNet.com

When Sandy Hansen's Watkins agriculture supply business swapped its dial-up Internet connection for a high-speed one almost five years ago, she and her employees helped more farmers make decisions about whether to buy feed.

Link to article