Broadband Grants Fund Mapping Projects for Emergency Response

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was originally billed as a way to jump-start investments that would fix major infrastructure problems looming on the horizon and drive adoption of technology that would make the country more competitive in the global economy. But some of the money set aside for broadband adoption, specifically the mapping of "underserved" and "unserved" areas, could provide benefits beyond economic development, such as improved emergency response times. In this case, the major problem concerns inaccurate address records that complicate emergency responders' efforts to provide timely help, and some localities lack the funding to update address files. That's where the broadband funding comes in.