Category: News

There have been several updates to the I3 Connectivity Explorer and the I3 Telegraph (our user-support and discussion forum). The data sources are currently in sync with the Census ACS 2015-2019 release of December, 2020, and  current FCC releases.

Version 0.30

• • The FCC 477 wireline data set was updated to the release dated December, 2019.
  • The FCC 477 wireless data set was updated to the release dated December, 2019. The dataset changed substantially in this release. Read more about the changes on the I3 Telegraph.
  • The Wireless views were updated to account for the change in content of the wireless data.
  • The FCC 477 block population estimates were updated to the 2019 release.

Version 0.29

Version 0.29 was released one week ago. That version included the following changes:

• • The IMLS Public Library outlets data set was updated to the release for 2018.
  • The CRA-Eligible tract list was updated to the list dated June, 2020.
  • The M-Lab data view added separate tabs for “Download” and ‘Upload” charts.
  • Internal fixes and improvements.

New Census data is scheduled to be released in early December.

Would exporting maps as images (e.g. PNG or PDF) be useful to you? Please share your thoughts on this potential new feature by visiting the feature description on the I3 Telegraph and voting or commenting on various choices. Thanks!

The  I3 Connectivity Explorer  (Version 0.25) offers new ways to review all school districts in any state using a variety of key indicators. The most pertinent is  the Digital Distress Indicator (DDI) which ranks the districts in a state, relative to each other, by their digital connectivity. The views are useful when thinking about how to respond short-term to the COVID-19 crisis (“Where are those WiFi hot spots best deployed?”) and longer term when deciding where to invest. Since every school district in the state appears on the list,  every school district, large or small, is represented.

Other indicators in the summary include:

• • District size and type information (unified, secondary, or elementary),
  • Data from the National Center on Educational Statistics about enrollments and the percent of students eligible for Free or Reduced-Price school lunches,
  • Demographic information, such as median household income and families in poverty,
  • Selected Census data on Internet usage and subscriptions including whether persons under 18  do not have a computer in the home,  or whether they have a computer but not an Internet subscription,
  • The wireline providers at 25Mbs↓/3Mbs↑, and
  • The wireless providers at 4G LTE.

The data appears in a summary  table. A companion map shows the DDI across the state. You can also download  state data as a CSV file that can be imported into a spreadsheet.

Access the new views from the from the “state-wide” menu that is present in every notebook. Visually, this menu appears between the active notebook selector, and the “Demographics” menu. In the example shown, the state menu is titled “New Mexico”.

As you visit the new views,  you can switch back and forth between the map and the table, or you can view the data from other states. Scroll the table to the right to see additional columns.

Thanks to Education Week,  the table header also contains  school district closure data.

Tips:

• • Clicking on the school district’s name will automatically create a new I3 notebook for just that  district where you can find many more details.
  • You can  sort on any single column in the table.
  • You can download the CSV version of the data.
  • The complete data set is also available.

Create an account or login in now:   I3 Connectivity Explorer.

Version 0.25 was posted on April 2, 2020.

Version 0.23 of the I3 Connectivity Explorer incorporates recently released FCC 477 data sets. Both the Wireline and the Mobile data sets were updated.

Other minor fixes are also included.

Happy New Year!

The Census released its 2014-2018 Community Survey Data on December 19, 2019.  This data is now included in Version 0.22 of the I3 Connectivity Explorer.

Changes in Version 0.22 include:

• The Census data feed is updated to American Community Survey, 2014-2018,
• Underlying map data was updated to TigerLine 2018 shapefiles to match the new Census data,
• Support for Elementary and Secondary school districts, and State legislative districts (upper and lower),
• Population demographics for Native Americans alongside the other demographic categories,
• A revised interface for choosing among multiple localities when adding a Locality to a Notebook. and
• A preference setting to control whether satellite providers are included in statistics on the Overview and 10,000 foot pages.

Application Usage Tracking

With your permission, the I3 Connectivity Explorer can collect information regarding your usage of the tool, such as which browsers are being used, how long pages are taking to load, which pages have the most (or least) activity, and how long visitors stay on pages. By choosing to participate, you will help us to better address issues with the application and to improve its usability.  The data collected is retained by the Center for Internet as Infrastructure, LLC, without sharing to third parties. Please see the Privacy Policy if you have any concerns.  TLDR; Our policy remains one of user-consent and keeping your data private.

 

The next time you log in to the I3 Connectivity Explorer, you’ll be prompted to opt-in to any usage tracking by the tool.

A new, shorter, url:  https://i3connect.org

You can now access the I3 Connectivity Explorer at https://i3connect.org/ Your current bookmarks will continue to work.

Privacy Policy Update (Version 1.2)

TLDR; Our policy remains one of user-consent and keeping your data private.

The changes introduced in Version 1.2 are incremental. The updated policy clarifies the wording concerning web analytics (which remain opt-in), adds Stripe as a potential payment vendor, and adds the domain i3connect.org as one of our member sites. Version 1.2 of the Privacy Policy provides the details.

The next time you log in to the I3 Connectivity Explorer, you’ll be asked to confirm your acceptance of the new policy. 

Version 0.20 Improvements

The new release incorporates the following changes:

• The FCC 477 Wireline and Mobile data is updated to the distributions dated June 2018.
• The FCC 477 Wireline Adoption data is updated to December 2017, (data posted 09/2019).
• There are new map layers for HUD Opportunity Zones and for Distressed or Underserved Nonmetropolitan Middle-Income Geographies.
• New state and local Rural-Urban blocks views allow you to use rural/urban characterizations to check the number of blocks served by 0, 1, 2,  or 3+ providers.
• New state and local Well-Served blocks views have been introduced. A block is  “well served” when it has a minimum number of providers (default 3) at a specified speed. (e.g 25↓/3↑). Blocks are then  characterized as “well-served”, “under-served”, or “un-served”. The number of providers, and the target speed, are set in your Notebook preferences.
• The ACS Internet Subscription Summary and Map views include additional detail.
• Most maps now remember zoom, scroll, and layer settings from previous visits, so there’s less redrawing.

As always, let me know what you think. Your feedback helps to shape the application.

Thanks!

Version 0.19 includes schools and libraries using data from the Department of Education (NCES/CCD, NCES/PSS, NCES/IPEDS) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Library Survey. This feature set will be extended with additional data in an upcoming release. For now, schools and libraries can be displayed on map layers. You can click on a pin to see additional information. If you like this feature, let me know what additional information you would like at your fingertips.

Other new features include summary tables for ACS Internet Subscription Characteristics, for ACS Computing Devices in the Home, and for key demographic measures that appear on the Home page. Finally,  M-Lab Speed Test State vs. Local comparisons are available.

Version 0.18 is now available.

• The FCC Wireline data has been updated to include the revisions released on May 2, 2019,
• Congressional boundaries were updated to the 116th Congress,
• State and local tables were reloaded to correct missing special characters in place names, and
• Minor application updates are also included.

The next release will focus on user-interface improvements and new data visusalizations. Stay tuned!