Virginia’s Region 2000 Partnership has been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Virginia Productivity Investment Fund to develop a geographic information-based system to inventory the region’s vertical assets, aimed at faster deployment of wireless broadband services. The project will serve as a model for other regions and organizations in the state interested in fostering the deployment of broadband service to unserved and underserved areas.
 
According to Bryan David, executive director of the Region 2000 Economic Development Council, the idea is to provide a repository of digital geographic data that maps location points and information about tall structures in the region such as communication towers, water tanks, and buildings. The data will be useful to Region 2000 localities and local broadband companies interested in advancing the availability of affordable, reliable broadband service.
 
“Currently wireless broadband providers must conduct their own inventories and pull information from multiple sources to get what they need for feasibility studies,” explained David. “If we can provide this information to them up-front in a digital format, they can more quickly determine the feasibility of reaching residents and businesses who have no viable broadband service available to them.”
 
The Virginia Productivity Investment Fund was established under Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine in 2007 to promote a simpler, more efficient government. The Fund is administered by the Secretaries of Technology, Administration, and Finance with the goal of awarding seed money to initiatives that lower operating costs, reduce service transaction times, and advance key performance goals of the Commonwealth.
 
“Governor Kaine has made universal broadband access for businesses a key priority of his economic development strategic plan,” said Aneesh P. Chopra, Secretary of Technology, Commonwealth of Virginia. “We applaud Region 2000 for taking the initiative to facilitate last-mile public-private partnerships by organizing critical information. This effort will surely become the template for similar efforts across the Commonwealth.”
 
“This project demonstrates our continued effort to increase the availability of broadband service for the unserved and underserved areas of Region 2000,” said Jonathan Whitt, executive director of the Region 2000 Technology Council. “It will help pave the way for new and existing Internet providers to deploy or expand service in the region.”
 
Bedford County Administrator Kathleen D. Guzi said the tools provided from this grant will help the business sector as well as local citizens because broadband providers will be able to more easily assess coverage in Bedford County and speed up deployment.
 
The Region 2000 Local Government Council will manage this nine-month project with the Virginia Tech eCorridors Program to develop a template and replicable model for a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of vertical assets within Region 2000 localities.
 
“We expect significant savings in terms of time and money for state and local officials by creating this web-based system that will be available to our communities, economic developers, and businesses,” says Gary Christie, executive director of the Region 2000 Local Government Council.
 
Christie will form a project team this month to develop detailed requirements for the project.
 
For more information about the Fund, please visit: http://www.pif.virginia.gov/index.html.