Jonathan Hodel, PE, GISP - Principal
There are thousands of Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) scattered across the U.S. A quick Google search will provide you with a broad range of estimates ranging from 1,200 to 3,000. As many of these ISP’s are located in rural areas, the demand for broadband services has only increased with more people working from home. So how do these small internet service providers handle customer engagement, maintain high-quality services, share information with other staff, all while still keeping good quality as-built maps of their underground cables?
One central Illinois provider, Heartland Fiber, has found the perfect solution in the ArcGIS platform for streamlining their workflows to maintain accurate mapping information for customer locations, planning build-out, and updating as-builts.
The company uses Cloudpoint Geospatial’s professional GIS services to maintain their broadband network within ArcGIS Online using configured light-weight map editing applications and dashboards. The editing apps allow for field crews to easily update customer information and fiber network components from the field using their mobile devices and ArcGIS Field Maps, while the dashboards are used to display that information in real-time to decision makers in the office. In just a few short years, Heartland’s staff has been able to move from hard copy plans and hand drawn maps, to a completely web-based interactive mapping solution that can be shared with all staff members.
As the company continues to grow and build out it’s network, they will look to take advantage of more advanced Esri solutions such as the ArcGIS Utility Network for fiber optic and broadband networks in the future.
Cloudpoint and Heartland teamed up to provide a recorded webinar which takes a deep dive into Heartland’s GIS components and setup using ArcGIS Online.
For more information on how your organization can benefit from using ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, or the ArcGIS Utility Network, please visit cloudpointgeo.com/contact or call our office at 877-377-8124.