Montana Cuts to the Chase With Broadband Mapping Project

If one goes by the experience of Georgia, a national leader in broadband mapping, a truth seems evident: A state must, over a lengthy period, negotiate with providers and undergo a trial-and-error technical process in order to complete a map of all the high-speed Internet coverage within its borders. The recent experience of Montana suggests broadband mapping doesn’t have to be as complicated. In less than two months, Montana was able to receive a completed initial coverage map from LightBox — the same company that sold Georgia a master address file for its groundbreaking work. According to LightBox CEO Eric Frank, his company wasn’t “super aware” of the opportunity to close the digital divide until Georgia opened its eyes to how a map can be constructed. After this realization, the company developed a turnkey solution where it provides both data and mapping to a state. So while Georgia produced its own broadband map while utilizing a data set from LightBox, Montana paid LightBox to do all the heavy technical lifting — from collecting Internet service provider data to providing a user interface for the map — and thus saved time and resources. “We were able to deliver to Montana in 45 days,” Frank said.