Wednesday, January 30. 2008

State Broadband Map for Tennessee

Update: The folks at Connected Tennessee corrected me about the first/second issue. From their note:

Your blog indicates that we misstated the presence of the Internet Speed Map as the first map of its kind, citing a later comment made in the release about out Broadband Inventory Map. That is a completely different type of map. Here is the segment of the release I am referring to:

“Connected Tennessee has also released maps that provide a very detailed picture of where broadband does and does not exist across Tennessee. The first Broadband Inventory Map was released on July 27, 2007. Tennessee is only the second state to benefit from such detailed and accurate maps of broadband availability.”

The Broadband Inventory Map is the second of its kind, following the efforts made by the state of Kentucky under the Connect Kentucky initiative. That is a completely different map, which is made clear in the press release.

I apologize for the error.

---original post----

First off the oddity: The headline reads:

"State first to offer broadband speed maps"

In the article, there's this sentence:

"Tennessee is only the second state to benefit from such detailed and accurate maps of broadband availability."

Apparently, per the press release (pdf), the state is the first with a county by county version of such a map.

That aside, there are two points I want to make about the map - well maps - since the organization offers up all sorts - including broadband density and detailed county maps mostly in PDF and JPG. First, such mapping efforts help reveal tech injustice if that's the correct term, and can help push economic development. Second, there's user generated content: those in the state can run a test on the site's server to have their speed added to the database.