How Georgia Made Its Unique Broadband Coverage Map

For some time, it’s been no secret that the Federal Communications Commission’s Form 477 data overestimates broadband coverage in the US. In response, Georgia took matters into its own hands. Recently, the state had completed maps for three counties — Elbert, Lumpkin and Tift — that showed just how off current FCC data is.   The maps were the result of a pilot carried out by the Georgia Broadband Deployment Initiative (GBDI), which is part of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The plan is to complete a location-level map, which will reveal more detail than the FCC’s census block-level map, for the entire state in 2020.  “To our knowledge, no other state government has developed a location-level broadband availability map,” said GBDI director Deana Perry. “The reason Georgia developed this approach is due to statutory requirements, which put a deadline of January 2019 where the Department of Community Affairs had to evaluate the FCC broadband maps and if that data and maps would allow the state to identify unserved census blocks.”