The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has updated and modernized its National Broadband Map. According to the FCC, the new, cloud-based map will support more frequent data updates and display improvements at a far lower cost than the original mapping platform, which had not been updated in years. Improvements and features in the successor National Broadband Map include:
- Fixed deployment data based on the latest collection by the FCC and updated twice annually;
- Deployment summaries available for seven different geographical types: nation, state, county, congressional district, city or town (census place), Tribal area, and Core-based Statistical Area (such as New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ-PA);
- Broadband availability and provider counts in each of the nation’s over 11 million census blocks, available for six technologies (fiber, DSL, cable, satellite, fixed wireless, and other) as well as seven speeds, for a total of 441 combinations;
- Provider summary information available for 1,782 providers by technology, eight download speed tiers, and nine upload speed tiers;
- Deployment comparisons between geographic areas;
- A portal for data downloads;
- Satellite imagery map overlay that shows buildings, roads, and geography; and
- Graphs that show what fraction of an area’s population has access to broadband at a given speed
The map is available here: https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov. While data on mobile service is not yet available on the new map, it is available on separate maps here: https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/maps/.
