A new interactive tool – the New North broadband overview map – is now available for use by anyone.
Developed collaboratively with community-based partners throughout the region, it provides a means for planning through the use of localized data in a visual, easy-to-understand manner.
The map can be accessed at tinyurl.com/NEWBroadbandHub.
The plotting mechanism was developed collaboratively with multiple community partners, including East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (ECWRPC), the Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission (BLRPC), Door County, Marquette County and Neverman Consulting, among others.
The mapping tool was funded through a Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Local Planning Grant from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Each county in the state had the option to receive individual funding for broadband planning or could apply for it collectively under its regional development organization.
“The (New North Broadband) Alliance realized through its meetings that mapping was a critical aspect of the BEAD planning grant process and that the map would have other valuable, long-term uses,” said Barbara Koldos, vice president of business development for New North Inc. and a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband Access.
“We are excited to offer this compilation of data sources on a single point of reference that is easy for people to read and understand. It provides a powerful planning tool for industry and governmental bodies in the New North region to receive localized data visually for broadband internet and a host of other economic and community-development applications.”
Broadband internet service providers in the region already have been provided with access to the mapping tool and plan to actively utilize it, according to Koldos. It contains unique data filters that are important determinants to the cost and viability of broadband internet expansion in any particular area, such as environmental factors and railroad crossings.
Beyond broadband internet, the tool also offers mapping of multiple other factors that go into economic development. Most prominent among these, Koldos said, is data on population, housing units, economic levels, business and industrial parks and available services.
Creation of the regional mapping tool was led by Mike Zuege, GIS manager for ECWRPC, and Nicole Barbiaux, GIS coordinator for BLRPC. They developed a comprehensive map in lieu of 15 individual county maps that would have to be pieced together and would have border boundary inconsistencies.
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