Interactive Maps with BroadbandStat

Visitors to the Connect Ohio, Connect Illinois, or Connected Tennessee Web sites can also create maps of where cable, mobile, or DSL broadband is available; show statewide results by Census Block; and zoom in on results all the way to the street address level. Information on each state's demographic data, broadband and Internet adoption rates, and computer ownership rates (when available) can also be mapped.

"Now, business and industry can use this tool for relocation decisions, home buyers can use this while shopping for a home, and government and ECD [Department of Economic and Community Development] can use it for planning purposes," said Daryl Phillips, executive director of the Hickman County, Tennessee, ECD.

BroadbandStat was developed by ESRI in conjunction with Connected Nation, a non-profit corporation and leader in promoting broadband expansion. The application gives states the ability to map information they have gathered from a variety of sources and provide a visual way of exploring the results. For example, the data used to create the Ohio BroadbandStat map is based on information gathered from more than seventy Ohio broadband providers and Connect Ohio's 2008 Residential Technology Assessment.

States can use the combined data to pinpoint where the expansion of new broadband services will help support local economic development. The data is also a useful resource for policy makers, grant writers, and companies doing broadband investment research. Internet access to the maps gives the public a way to find information about broadband services in their area and give feedback, whether to report observations about the data or comment on their own broadband access and experience.

Twelve US states and the territory of Puerto Rico will be using BroadbandStat to organise their broadband services data and make interactive maps available on the Internet. These activities are supported by more than USD20 million in State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program funds that were made available through the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for improving broadband accessibility across the nation.