Broadband availability mapping has long been a critical but complex component of policy, regulatory oversight, and research. In this tutorial we assume that a person will have a passing familiarity with datasets and python, but it is not required to successfully participate in the session. We will begin with a quick walk-through history and previous efforts to understand the availability of broadband around the US. This will lead us into a discussion about the current state of broadband mapping through the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). We will conclude this section with discussions about longitudinal analysis that is possible using both current and historical datasets.

Using online Jupyter notebooks will allow participants to follow along in their own accounts on their own computers, and if a participant is uncomfortable with Python they will be able to participate in the discussions and process. We will begin to work with the BDC dataset that is collected and demonstrate best practices for working the data apart from the Broadband Fabric and with the Fabric. We will dive into methods around analyzing the data using completely open source and open data tools. Closing this section, we will move onto working with the proprietary datasets and discuss the licenses available to researchers and if you have public service and outreach activities in your program you will be prepared to engage with industry and the public.

After we have worked through the current federal data sets we will move towards pulling in data sources including but not limited to MLAB, Ookla, Site location data, building footprints, and OpenAddresses. These correlative datasets will allow us to being ground truthing and quantifying errors in the BDC to enable a thorough understanding of accuracy, this can be used to scientifically quantify errors and used to potentially update the dataset to be more accurate. We will also show methods for working with the BDC and historic FCC Form 477 data which will enable 10-15 year longitudinal studies. Finally, we will review public and private fiber maps that are available and how to access them.

At the conclusion of the tutorial, we will facilitate a discussion between all attendees about what kinds of analysis in which they are interested and how this data can be incorporated into their analysis going forward.