You can’t know where you are going unless it’s clear where you are now and how you came to be here. As simplistic and obvious as that may sound, it captures the driving principle behind one of this organization’s primary activities. Since 2001, the e-NC Authority has acted on its legislative mandate to develop and maintain a map that depicts the status of North Carolina’s broadband availability. The map evolved over time from a static, county-based representation that was updated annually to its current interactive format. Today, this map provides users with information on the availability of DSL, cable-modem and wireless broadband service at any address in a GIS-based searchable format. Based on this map and related citizen surveys, it is easy to understand the great progress that North Carolina has made in terms of deploying broadband technology. And while we can generalize about levels of connectivity for the state as a whole, circumstances in individual communities are sometimes hazy. To add a jumbled metaphor to the mix, we can see the forest clearly, but not always the trees.
Sometimes, the “look” of any broadband map can be challenging. While advances in the technology used to develop, display and update maps have made it more generally useful, problems in the collection and verification of underlying provider-supplied information can limit its true value. Inconsistencies in type, accuracy, completeness and currency of information from some sources can make it difficult to determine with confidence the true level of broadband access in the state at the street/address range level.
The need for better information about broadband infrastructure led U.S. Congress to enact the National Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA), directing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to develop the first national broadband availability map. The need for precise information about where service is and isn’t available was made even more acute with the release of funding guidelines for programs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (often referred to as “the stimulus”) dealing with broadband deployment. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP) and the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) will target awards to applicants who can document extension or enhancement of service to regions with inadequate broadband service at the street or census-block level. With better broadband mapping information the e-NC Authority will be able to:
1) meet obligations as the state’s designated mapping entity to comply with the BDIA mandate
2) fulfill the order from the N.C. General Assembly to regularly monitor and report the status of connectivity in this state
3) facilitate more competitive North Carolina-based BTOP and BIP applications
The e-NC Authority has proposed an innovative and exciting proposal to the NTIA entitled N.C. Broadband Rigor in Mapping (N.C. BRIM), which will ensure delivery of broadband data that is complete, accurate, timely and verifiable. This will be accomplished through a research method known as triangulation. Originally used in surveying and military target applications where precision and accuracy are critical, triangulation is a powerful technique that validates data by cross-referencing more than two sources using multiple research methodologies that study the same phenomenon. The idea is that you can be more confident in the results of said research if different methods are leading to the same result. If only one method is used, it is possible that the results may be affected by inherent biases or limitations of the technique used. If two methods are used, the results may also well clash. By using three research methods, the hope is that two of the three will produce similar answers. If all three methods create clashing answers, the investigator would then understand the need for revision – be it the research questions or the methods used. The e-NC Authority is pleased to confirm that the NTIA expressed such confidence in this approach. N.C. BRIM was one of four grants awarded in the first round of mapping awards.
Triangulation, as applied in N.C. BRIM, involves capturing and comparing data from different methodologies:
1) Broadband service providers will be asked to supply data that complies with standards established the NTIA
2) Leading-edge Web-crawling techniques will deliver the same categories of information obtained independently of providers
3) Citizen-derived data will be obtained through phone surveys (landline and wireless) or Internet-based e-surveys
4) Surveys of businesses will round out the user-provided data
5) A GIS-enabled wireless propagation study will be the first-ever statewide examination of wireless access (the results of this propagation study will then be validated by field interviews and surveys)
Finally, an expert panel of independent evaluators and data management professionals will convene to analyze results and validate a strategy that will deliver the highest quality result for the state of North Carolina.
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