National Hex Broadband Planning and Analysis Toolkit User Guide

: June 12, 2024
: National Hex

Table of Contents

National Hex Broadband Planning and Analysis Toolkit User Guide
Introduction
Quick Start
There’s More
Frequently Asked Questions
What other toolkits exist?
Troubleshooting
Read More About This Manual & Download PDF:
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

National Hex Broadband Planning and Analysis Toolkit User Guide

Introduction

This guide describes how to install and launch the National Hex Toolkit. One can be up and running at a basic level in 15 minutes.
Users are encouraged to read this “Getting Started Guide” in its entirety, to read the “Introduction” in its entirety and to visit the whitepaper section of BroadbandToolkit.com for additional insights: https://broadbandtoolkit.com/whitepapers

Quick Start

To getting started:

Download the National Hex Toolkit. You will receive an e-mail with a link immediately following your
Unzip the File. Unzip the contents and place the contents in a convenient location on your
Download and Install QGIS. The Visual Toolkit (part of the National Hex Toolkit) is an application built upon an open- source world class GIS You need to download and install a copy. It’s free and is available to support every major operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD).

Recommendation: download the “Long Term Release” standalone installer, 64-bit version. Long Term Release means that is extremely stable. Virtually every computer today runs a 64-bit operating system. It leverages the hardware capabilities of your computer.
https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download

Close Panels. When you install QGIS it opens two panels by default, “Browser” and “Layers”. It is recommended that you close the “Browser” panel (see Figure 1). It is not needed and it consumes valuable screen real estate. If you want to see it again you can easily enable it from the “View” pull-down menu.
Launch the Application. Go the the Visual Toolkit folder within your unzipped Toolkit and double-click on National Hex qgz to launch the Visual Toolkit.

There’s More

Spreadsheets. The “Excel Spreadsheets” folder includes a vast amount of data, largelymirroring the content of the Visual Toolkit.
Web Site Links. The folder Web Site Links includes links to important updates. It is likely that the Toolkit documentation will be updated and that the Toolkit functionality will be enhanced over time. This folder also includes links that describer third party data in greater detail.
Still Need Help? The Toolkit team is happy to answer quick questions by e-mail ( support@ BroadbandToolkit .com) or

Figure 1: Reducing Clutter by Closing Unnecessary Panels in QGIS

Frequently Asked Questions

How do versions of the Toolkit differ?
The National Hex Toolkit is an industry-transforming tool that unlocks the power of the FCC’s recently (11-18-2022) released Hex coverage data. The Toolkit enablesvastly improved resolution, relative to census blocks, in rural areas. The National Hex Toolkit includes much of the functionality
of the Infrastructure Essentials BEAD Toolkit and the Technology and Competition Module , seen through the lens of the FCC’s H3 Hex framework.

What other toolkits exist?

__ Several other toolkits exist with related functionality and data sets. Each was developed in conjuntion with a specific analytic need or with a past FCC auction or NTIA grant program:

The Infrastructure Essentials BEAD Toolkitand its associated Technology and Competition Module have been important planning tools for ISPs and state broadband offices anticipating Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of
Infrastructure Essentials Toolkit. This suite of tools, similar in look and feel to the Interest Essentials BEAD Toolkit, was developed to support participants in the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program of the NTIA in During this previous period the FCC definition of “qualifying broadband” was 25 Mbps / 3 Mbps, instead of 100 Mbps / 20 Mbps as it is under BEAD.
Tribal and Minority Community Toolkit. This suite of analytical tools, launched in connection with the 2021Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program and Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program,navigates through the complex rules associated with each of those programs. It also includes coverage data for native lands.
CBRS Toolkit. The CBRS Toolkit, launched in preparation for the CBRS spectrum auction, is a broad-based analytical tool with extensive demographic, economic, and competitive data It

equips the user to develop either mobile broadband or fixed broadband business cases.

The CBRS Toolkit is available in stateand nationalversions.

RDOF Toolkit. The RDOF Toolkit, launched in preparation for the RDOF reverse auction, enabled participants to assess eligible uncovered census blocks across the United States and to carefully evaluate the potential of
RDOF Location Analyzer. The RDOF Location Analyzer provides a robust commercial database of residences and

businesses to help auction participants assess buildout requirements and understand the relationship between different categories of prospective customers.
How does the Visual Toolkit (the GIS functionality) of the National Hex Toolkit relate to the Excel Spreadsheets?
A sophisticated user will eventually use both. The Visual Toolkit allows the user to zoom in and zoom out and navigate to different geographies and turn on an off different data layers. Every area (county, tract, block group, etc.) has a unique numerical code.
A user can look up a single code and get a complete data set for that area (including information not displayed visually).
Alternatively, the user can select an area using QGIS (that might include hundreds of tiny polygons) then save that list of areas to an Excel file then use the list to extract the corresponding data (by copying and pasting or via a lookup) from the Excel spreadsheet.
A business plan involving deployments in multiple cities might include selected geographies in each city and a corresponding P&L for each city.

Troubleshooting

How do I zoom?

The easiest way – by far – is to use a physical mouse with a zoom wheel. If you have a laptop with a mouse pad and don’t happen to have a mouse with a zoom wheel you will find that a small
investment in this important hardware accessory will make your life much easier, as you use the Toolkit and use GISapplications. Without a zoom wheel one can zoom in using the magnifying glass with a plus or minussign (buttons along the top) but using a mouse with a physical zoom wheel is much easier.
The tool produces lots of beautiful pictures but does not display any numbers.
If you click on the triangle icon next to each set of data you will see a check box that enables the data labels. If you check it each polygon will have an associated numerical
value. You should enable data layers when you are zoomed into a small area. As you zoom outlabels for small geographic areas are likely to become unreadable. In many cases their display is disabled by default
when the tool is zoomed out. The behavior / visibiliy of labels at various zoom levels is user configurable. Ideally one would turn on labels appropriate to the zoom level.
When I turn on additional layers of data it gets cluttered.
The Toolkit includes multiple layers of data. In addition, most users are likely to turn on some labels. Each layer is translucent,primarily to enable the user to see hints of the map below the data layer. The Toolkit is designed to display a single layer at a time. The simple solution is to turn off any existing data layers when you turn on a new one.
When I click the checkbox next to a data layer nothing happens. _
_The data layers are contained in “groups” (a.k.a. folders) to help users find everything in the Toolkit. A data layer will display only if each of its parent “groups” is enabled. If nothing is happening check to make sure that each of the parent “groups” is enabled with a check mark. I’m lost! How do I know what geography I’m viewing?
The Toolkit includes a number of features to provide context. These include state, county, tract, block group, and other polygons. Most of these can be displayed with numbers and/or names. You can also turn on roads or roads with labels. Finally, you can change the underlying map in the “Maps” section near the bottom to a map that includes local names and places of interest. Each map blocks the maps that are below it, so if you wish to try a different map make sure you turn off the default map.

I already had QGIS installed. Its not launching the Toolkit.
The Toolkit expects the current release of QGIS (Long Term Release version 3.10) or later.
Download and install the current “Long Term Release”. The Toolkit should then launch properly.
I downloaded the Toolkit and decided to rearrange all the file folders. Now I get a bunch of error messages when I launch the application.
It is critically important that “GIS Data” is in the same folder as the application icons and that the contents of “GIS Data” are not rearranged. The Toolkit needs to find and load each of these files.