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Commonwealth Connection

Screenshot of the Commonwealth Connection Website developed by CGIT

Screenshot of commonwealth-connection.com
Screenshot of the Commonwealth Connection Website developed by CGIT

CGIT helped the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) by creating a new data submission process for all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Virginia. That submitted data was used to develop Commonwealth Connection for Virginia residents and government representatives to utilize. Funding allocation and decision making for broadband expansion is easier thanks to this powerful tool.

Vertical Assets and WiFi hotspots

WiFi hotspots and Vertical Assets in Lynchburg, VA shown from Commonwealth Connection.

Features and Layers

Several features from the Virginia Broadband Planning and Analysis project were integrated into Commonwealth Connection. Core features in Commonwealth Connection include comparing FCC Form 477 vs Virginia (CGIT) collected data; search by census block, locality, district, etc.; VATI funding and Community Anchor Institutions layers; statistics for census blocks and all the way up to district-level; and a speed test tool.

Submission Process

The submission process during the annual data collection from all ISPs throughout Virginia allows for safe and secure handling of the data and accurate display of the ISP-provided data on Commonwealth Connection.

Annual Collection

The submission process begins with DHCD communicating with all Internet Services Providers (ISPs) that provide broadband to Virginia. The broadband submission portal is opened up temporarily for all ISPs to submit their coverage data. That coverage data is automatically processed to have it reflect on Commonwealth Collection. The coverage layers are processed as are the statistics for every boundary in Virginia, which includes: census blocks, counties and cities, state house and senate districts, federal congressional districts, school districts, and tribal areas.