The Application of GIS Tools to Inform Rural Telecom Policy and Strategies

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The Application of GIS Tools to Inform Rural
Telecom Policy and Strategies

• Oct. 24, 2006
• Brenda van Gelder

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You might be a GIS professional if

• you hear the words spatial and enterprise and
  do not think of Star Trek
• your favorite joke is this knock-knock joke
• you assume that the people around you are yawning
  because they are tired

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GIS is

• a computer-based technology composed of hardware,
  software and data that is used to capture,
  display and analyze spatial data information.
  Used in more than 50 countries, GIS technology
  can create cost-effective and accurate solutions
  in an expanding range of applications.
• Used for spatial analysis, data collection and
  analysis of quantitative information
• a visual representation in a geographic context
  recognizable by a broad range of stakeholders in
  the policy development and planning processes.

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An Influx of New Uses for Geographic Information
Systems

• A Massachusetts highway worker was charged with a
  crime because of a GPS in his snow plow. A Dunkin
  Donuts employee saw the incident and noted the
  worker leaving in the vehicle. She reported the
  incident. The state tracked the vehicle by time
  and location via the recently installed GPS, and
  arrested the driver. Local police noted that
  that's not really what the GPS is for, but alas
  can be used for such things.

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Some Uses of GIS Well Discuss

• Origins of legislative activity
• Workforce information
• Wireless deployment prospects
• Design of new infrastructure
• Broadband service availability and competition
• Assessments of demand for service
• Broadband pricing and quality of service
• (Inherent in many of these are answers to the
  question are service providers living up to
  their marketing in rural areas?)

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Resources for workforce development

• Identifying labor pools
• Identifying skill deficiencies
• Mapping out training resources

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Broadband wireless deployment success and
profitability

• GIS is exceptionally useful in predicting
  wireless coverage areas though line-of-sight
  analysis.
• Line of sight studies take as input the terrain
  of the area of interest (using a Digital
  Elevation Model), and the locations of candidate
  sites, and can predict the best locations to
  place towers based on the percentage of the area
  of interest each tower can See.
• Note that line of sight analysis is not a perfect
  estimator of RF propagation for broadband
  wireless, as some areas that do not have perfect
  LOS can sometimes get a signal as a result of
  wave reflection.

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Designing New Infrastructure

• GIS is ideally suited to infrastructure design,
  allowing highly accurate editing and the ability
  to display multiple layers of information
  simultaneously.
• Its primary advantage over traditional CAD
  packages in this application is the fact that
  each feature is linked to a database of
  attributes, allowing the storage, query, and
  retrieval of a wealth of information.
• The maps that follow illustrate the application
  of GIS towards fiber-optic network design, in the
  New River Valley Broadband Initiative.

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Analysis of telecommunications service
availability and competition

• Data for the service areas of local providers of
  telecommunications services are often very hard
  to come by, as they are considered proprietary.
• When providers are cooperative, GIS can be used
  to inventory assets and identify areas that are
  well served by several competing providers, and
  areas that are underserved.
• The state of Kentucky has conducted such an
  inventory on a statewide scale.
• Smaller-scale initiatives have been conducted for
  various projects in Virginia (usually at the
  county or town level)

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Assessment of demand for broadband services

• GIS has many applications towards demand
  estimation for broadband services.
• Detailed population density maps can show areas
  where there are concentrations of residential
  subscribers
• Landuse patterns and business location maps can
  show where business demand is likely to be
  concentrated.
• These maps, when combined with survey and other
  data, can help estimate take rate

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Assessment of broadband pricing and quality of
service

• The Community Broadband Map tool allows anyone to
  report the speed, quality, and pricing of their
  broadband connection.

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Hazards of Using GIS Markers
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Other Regions That are Using GIS

• Kentucky http//www.connectkentucky.org/projects/
  bbexpansion/phase1.htm
• Maine
• http//www.maine.gov/newsletter/jan_feb_2005/gis_m
  aps_broadband_deployment.htm

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