Minnesota Awarded $2.7 Million for Additional Broadband Mapping and Planning Initiatives

Mapping and Planning Efforts Expanded for the Full Five Year Program

St. Paul, MN — The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded Connect Minnesota approximately $2.7 million, under the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program (SBDD), to further implement broadband initiatives over the original five-year award period.

The additional Recovery Act funding will allow mapping efforts under the SBDD program to continue for three additional years, while the program also focuses on projects that relate to broadband planning activities, such as the identification of barriers to the adoption of broadband service and information technology services.

“This program will meet NTIA’s intent for developing high-quality projects designed to gather granular data on broadband availability, technology, speed, and infrastructure across the state,” according to Brian Mefford, CEO of Connected Nation, Connect Minnesota’s parent organization. “Through this project Connect Minnesota will support the work of the 15 member Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force in carrying out its functions, including the production of its annual progress report benchmarking progress toward meeting Minnesota’s 2015 broadband goals of a minimum of 10-20 MB to all residents and businesses.”

Connect Minnesota will continue to engage in broadband data collection activities that will capture complete and up-to-date datasets from the state’s broadband providers and will result in regularly-scheduled updates and further enhancements to the state’s interactive broadband map.

Under the SBDD program, the Connect Minnesota initiative released its first iteration of the broadband map in May 2010, and this funding will allow the state to prioritize and track progress over a longer period of time. This data will populate the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

As the designated entity for broadband mapping in the North Star State, Connect Minnesota is a public-private partnership working to unite local governments, businesses, and citizens in the goal of increasing broadband service in the state’s underserved areas.

To access a summary of the grant project please visit http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/grantee/connected-nation-minnesota.

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

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.

“A complete, interactive broadband map is now available for customers, Internet service providers, and policy makers,” said Orjiakor Isiogu, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), about the new map hosted on the Connect Michigan Web site. “This is an important first step as the state seeks to target resources to those areas of the state without high-speed Internet service.”

Interactive tools include the ability to identify the population density and unserved households in a selected area, link to news about broadband-related projects, and create reports and charts.

MPSC received a $1.8 million NTIA grant to launch its broadband mapping and planning initiative. Over the next 18 months, Michigan’s initial BroadbandStat map will be updated and refined as additional data becomes available. Connect Michigan, Connect Minnesota, Connect Nevada, and Connect South Carolina are the entities tasked with collecting the data and producing their states’ online maps. All are affiliated with the nonprofit Connected Nation organization, which partnered with ESRI to create BroadbandStat.

Connect Nevada was awarded $1.4 million in stimulus funds through the NTIA for broadband mapping and planning. Nevada’s broadband map includes data collected on the availability, speed, location, and type of broadband services from more than 35 state broadband service providers.

During the inauguration of his state’s BroadbandStat map, Nevada governor Jim Gibbons said, “Nevadans will now have a map that not only puts information about available broadband services at their fingertips but also defines where the state and the private sector need to focus their attention to bring high-speed Internet to every part of our state.”

Connect Minnesota and Connect South Carolina worked with their state broadband service providers to accurately pinpoint remaining gaps in broadband availability across the state. They also collected data from community anchor institutions such as schools, universities, libraries, hospitals, and public safety facilities, which are potential sites for providing community access to broadband services.

For links to each state’s interactive maps and more information on BroadbandStat, visit www.esri.com/bbstat.

[Source: ESRI press release]