Infrastructure Planning

Professionals contributing to infrastructure planning processes use both the Community Needs Assessment and Map Room to assess service needs and resource availability at the community level.

Infrastructure Planning with SparkMap’s Community Needs Assessment

Lane M., Pro Subscriber
SparkMap features used: Pro indicators

My city advisory board used SparkMap’s Community Needs Assessment to plan how we applied for and utilized funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to support broadband expansion in our area. SparkMap’s Community Needs Assessment provided us with up-to-date and reliable broadband data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) alongside self-reported broadband data from individuals who completed the American Community Survey. Having these two perspectives to assess broadband availability, feasibility, and affordability across the neighborhoods in our city made a highly-technical and high-stakes issue easier to tackle.

— Lane M., Broadband Advisory Board Chair, Pro Subscriber

Infrastructure Planning with SparkMap’s Map Room

Tim S., Pro Subscriber
SparkMap features used: Data Upload Tool

Our county has several aging bridges that need remediation in the coming years.

Our county commission was interested in identifying the age and location of each bridge, traffic density near the oldest bridges, and highlighting existing pedestrian safety concerns. We used the upload tool in the SparkMap Map Room to visualize local traffic data from our transportation division. We overlaid our local data with bridge locations from the National Transportation Authority (NTA), pedestrian mortality from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and walkability scores from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Having all these data in one place and sharable between commissioners made it easier to prioritize the bridge remediation projects and incorporate pedestrian safety considerations into our plans.

— Tim S., County Commissioner, Premium Subscriber