Use Broadband Outreach

The Broadband Outreach solution delivers a set of capabilities that help you inventory broadband investments and resources, understand broadband coverage in your community, and promote actions being taken to address the digital divide.

In this topic, you’ll learn how to use the solution by assuming the role of a user and performing the workflows below.

Promote broadband and digital equity programs

The Broadband Outreach ArcGIS Hub site can be used to promote broadband investments and digital equity programs in your community.

In this section, you'll assume the role of a member of the public and explore broadband and digital equity programs in your community.

Submit a broadband access and speed survey

The Broadband Speed Test survey can be used to help broadband staff to find gaps in high-speed internet service and identify areas of need.

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Outreach ArcGIS Hub site.
2. Open the item page and click View.
3. Navigate to the Current Broadband Coverage section and click the Launch Survey button.
4. Ensure you are connected to your home WiFi network and turn off cellular service if you are using a mobile device.
5. Enter your address in the search box and select the corresponding location from the drop-down.
6. Answer corresponding survey questions and click Submit.

Examine broadband speed test survey results

The Broadband Survey Results app can be used to examine broadband speed test results.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Outreach ArcGIS Hub site.
2. Open the item page and click View.
3. Scroll to the Broadband Survey Results section.
4. Explore the embedded app to view broadband speed test results.

Locate a public WiFi hotspot

The Public WiFi Locator can be used to find WiFi hotspots that are available for use.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Outreach ArcGIS Hub site.
2. Open the item page and click View.
3. Navigate to the WiFi Hotspots section and click the Launch App button.
4. Enter your address in the search box or click Search this area in the map window.
5. Explore public WiFi locations and details.

Review broadband investments

The Broadband Investments app can be used to find information about broadband projects in their community.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Outreach ArcGIS Hub site.
2. Open the item page and click View.
3. Navigate to the Active Broadband Investments section and click the Launch App button.
4. In the left panel, choose Planned Start Date filters to further explore and refine broadband project results.
5. Click a project from the Projects list to see where the project is located, and to show the project detail.
6. Pan and zoom around the map to refine the list of projects and project details.

Inventory investments and WiFi hotspots

The Broadband Infrastructure Inventory app can be used by program analysts to create, edit, and review investments and WiFi hotspots. New broadband features can be added as new WiFi locations or broadband projects go online.

You'll now assume the role of a program analyst. In this workflow, you are asked to review and add new broadband investments and WiFi hotspots.

Edit broadband infrastructure

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Infrastructure Inventory app.
2. Open the item page and click View.
3. Select a broadband project on the map.
4. Review the attribute information and enter the remaining details for the broadband project.
5. When you're finished, click Update.

Add a new WiFi location

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Infrastructure Inventory app.
2. Open the item page and click View.
3. In the Editor widget, click New Feature under WiFi Locations.
4. Add a new WiFi location to the map.
5. Enter details for the WiFi location, scroll to the bottom of the form, and click Create.
6. Repeat steps 1-3 for each WiFi location.

Monitor broadband coverage

The Broadband Coverage Dashboard can be used by the director to understand broadband speed test survey results and identify coverage gaps in the community.

You'll now assume the role of director. In this workflow, you will explore how broadband coverage is distributed across the community and analyze survey results to understand patterns in access or speed.

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Broadband Coverage Dashboard app.
2. Open the item page and click View Dashboard.
3. Click the graphs to explore the surveys submitted.
4. Review indicators to see the range and average download speed, upload speed and ping results.
5. Click the Average Download Speed by ISP graph to see how results vary by provider.
6. Examine trends in survey responses by survey date, location type, ethnicity and race using filters in the left panel.
7. Click a survey in the map to see additional details.

Analyze broadband equity

The Social Equity Analysis solution delivers a set of capabilities that can help you understand broadband coverage, analyze community characteristics, and generate a broadband equity index that can be used to educate internal and external stakeholders.

In this section, you'll assume the role of a broadband program analyst and use the Social Equity Analysis solution to analyze broadband equity.

Deploy the Social Equity Analysis solution

To download the Social Equity Analysis ArcGIS Pro project, complete the following steps:

1. In a browser, go to Introduction to Social Equity Analysis and click Deploy the solution.
2. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the SocialEquityAnalysis item.
3. From the item page, click Download.
4. Unzip the downloaded folder, and then from the unzipped folder, open the ArcGIS Pro project.

Identify study area, create and prepare variables

First, you will use the tasks in the SocialEquityAnalysis ArcGIS Pro project to summarize and load data into your vaccine study area and spatial unit.

1. If necessary, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.
2. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder and double-click the Equitable Site Selction task.
3. In the Tasks pane, double-click the Identify Study Area, Create and Prepare Variables task group to expand the collection of tasks.
4. Double-click the Identify study area and enrich with demographic variables task and follow the steps provided.

Note:

In the third step of this task, when adding demographic data to reporting areas, keep the Total Population variable but adjust the other variables you’d like to enrich. Some common indicators you may want to use when looking at broadband coverage are:

• HHs w/ No Internet Access
• Population Age 65+
• Child Population
• Median Household Income

Relevant community characteristics are unique to each geography, you will want to focus on the characteristics that matter to your community - use the Broadband Coverage Dashboard to help inform your analysis.

5. Double-click the Create and prepare additional variables task and follow the steps provided.

Note:

If you’d like to summarize download and upload speeds by study area spatial unit. In the second step of this task, click the BroadbandSpeedTest layer as the Input Summary Features. Under Summary Fields, specify the download and upload speed fields and select Mean as the corresponding statistic. By checking the check box next to Add shape summary attributes a field will be added to the output calculating the number of speed test survey results corresponding to each spatial unit.

6. Review and share results.

Analyze equity

Next, you will use the community indicators data or enriched demographic variables from the previous steps and the Equitable Site Selection tasks in the Social Equity Analysis ArcGIS Pro project to identify input variables and find areas with a higher preponderance of these factors.

1. In the Tasks pane, double-click the Analyze equity task group to expand the collection of tasks.
2. Double-click the Create an equity analysis index task.
3. In the first step, for Input Features, browse to the enriched layer with your summarized vaccination rates.
4. For Output Features or Table, type EquityAnalysisIndex.
5. For Input Variables, designate numeric fields to use in the index.

Note:

For example, choose Average Download Speeds, HHs w/ No Internet Access, Population Age 65+, Child Population, and Median Household Income. Toggle the Reverse Direction check box for the Median Household Income variable to focus on lower income households.

Population Age 65+, and Population Age 25+: High School/No Diploma.

6. If desired, expand the Variable Weights parameter category and assign weights to each variable.
7. Click Run

Note:

For example, if you wanted the output index to be weighted 50% based on current vaccination rates, you could enter the following values for Weight:

• Average Download Speeds = .4
• HHs w/No Internet Access = .2
• Population Age 65+ = .1
• Child Population = .1
• Median Household Income = .1

8. In the second step, review the index outputs generated.
9. In the final step, complete the parameters on the Share As Web Layer pane and click Publish to share it.

Publish broadband equity analysis index map

After you share the equity analysis index web layer, you can add the layer to a map that can be shared with the public. To add one or more layers to a web map, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization, if necessary, and browse to the map tab to author a new web map.
2. On the left, in the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Add and click Browse layers.
3. Search for the equity analysis layer that you shared previously and add the layer to your map.
4. Search for the equity analysis layer that you shared previously and add the layer to your map.
5. In the Contents toolbar, click Layers to open the Layers pane.
6. In the Layers pane, to the right of the equity analysis index layer that you just added, click the ellipses and click Zoom to.
7. Save the map.