Visualizing Mobile Broadband

Federal Communications CommissionEric Spry, Acting Geographic Information Officer

Measuring Broadband America

Fixed: 12,000 participants

Mobile: nearly 100,000 installs for Android, and 50,000 for iOS

www.fcc.gov/measuring-broadband-america

Download This App

available in Google Play and iTunes App Store

"I like the idea of this app but it's not that useful when I can only see my data. I'm waiting to see if they release their heat maps & infographics of carrier performance in Nov 2014 like they promised... " -- Google Play Store Comment

Visualizing Mobile Broadband

How the Gov't normally releases info

There is a better way

Feeling Spatial

xkcd on Heat Maps

Hex Binning

Reference: http://indiemaps.com/blog/2011/10/hexbins/

Some early examples

Later Versions

(based on early draft data)

SQL approach was good for early investigation, but not for delivering a useful product to consumers.

Enter MongoDB

Architecting the System

MongoDB

"tests" : [ { "type" : "JHTTPGETMT", "timestamp" : "1398965279", "warmup_time" : "5323371", "target_ipaddress" : "4.71.185.62", "success" : "true", "number_of_threads" : "3", "transfer_bytes" : "6813952", "bytes_sec" : "453803", "datetime" : "2014-05-01T17:27:59+0000", "target" : "samknows1.nyc2.level3.net", "warmup_bytes" : "2627029", "transfer_time" : "15015192" }, { "type" : "JHTTPPOSTMT", "timestamp" : "1398965305", "warmup_time" : "5569560", "target_ipaddress" : "4.71.185.62", "success" : "true", "number_of_threads" : "3", "transfer_bytes" : "3569696", "bytes_sec" : "227745", "datetime" : "2014-05-01T17:28:25+0000", "target" : "samknows1.nyc2.level3.net", "warmup_bytes" : "1313376", "transfer_time" : "15674058" },

Importing the Speed Test Files

Aggregation

Validated Mobile tests are stored in a collection for aggregation.

$geoIntersects Operator is Used to Determine the Hexagons That Each Test is Contained By.

Aggregation

Now, Let's Make a Map!

Actually, let's make 36 maps!

Developing the API/api/carrier/verizon.json?lat=39.8&lon=-105&geo=hex10k

geo_find = {geometry: { $geoIntersects: { $geometry: { type: 'Point', coordinates: [lon, lat] }}}};

json, jsonp, geojson, and xml are supported

Developing the UISome inspiration from the Yahoo Weather App

Iterate the Design

Finish with something everyone is proud of

Putting it all togetherPlanned Release in Autumn 2014: Web application, API, Developer Resources, Data Download, and all source code released on GitHub.

Next Steps:Deploy the web applicationStart the next cycle.Get more data!

With Heartfelt Thanks

—Computech Team—FCC staffers —Sam and team at SamKnows, UK —MongoDB Support

Download the FCC Speed Test App from the Google Play or iTunes App Store and help us put the CROWD in crowdsouce.www.fcc.gov/measuring-broadband-america