Data-Driven Design: The Backbone of Your FTTH Project - Part 2

Whether your goal is to quickly evaluate a new network build project, or to fully engineer a network for the purpose of constructing it, a realistic design should be your starting point. However, initiating the design process is impossible without input data. The quality of a design can only be as good as the input data used to generate it.  

At Biarri Networks, we specialize in data-driven design, by collecting, generating, combining, and transforming various input data sources into fully engineered fiber networks. 

Throughout each part of this article series we will cover: 

1. Determining your data requirements: How design fidelity drives data requirements. 

1. Sourcing data: Understanding the data sources available as input to network designs. 

1. Data processing: A quick look at Biarri Networks’ sophisticated data processing tools and their applications. 

Today, in part 2, we will deep-dive into the second topic:

Sourcing data 

 To be successful in a fiber network design project, it is important to know which data sources are available, and how to use them.  

No-cost data sources 

Many open sources of data are freely available online. If you know how to use them, these free data options have the potential to kickstart any planning or feasibility project, as well as providing valuable input into a detailed design. Some examples include: 

• Roads and pathways 
• Buildings, bridges, railways, and other manmade features 
• Waterways and other environmental features 
• Boundaries describing land parcels, census blocks, government areas, and more  
• Coverage and quality of existing mobile and broadband services 
• Addressable and serviceable locations  

The availability of these data sources heavily depends on region and access to licensing. Some of these items are only accessible by government entities, or ISPs, for example. 

At-cost data sources 

High quality data products are available from a variety of vendors. These products help to supplement many of the free data sources listed above, providing more up to date and curated information than their no-cost counterpart. They can also offer datasets that would not be available elsewhere.  

Some examples are: 

• Addressable and serviceable locations with detailed property attributes (type, unit count, and more) 
• Buildings, parcels, and other property boundary information 
• Demographic information, historical property records, speed test data, and other insights to aid a market analysis 
• Topographical data describing the natural and manmade environment 
• Existing utilities, brownfields sites, and other information to guide design and permitting 

Many of these data sources have optionality about how they are delivered to you, whether that be a full delivery for the entirety of a geographic region on a regular basis, or as needed via an API. 

Asset owner records 

When it comes to sourcing data describing existing underground assets (vaults, ducts), aerial assets (poles, spans), OSP infrastructure (cables, equipment), non-fiberfiber assets (gas, electrical, and water), then obtaining data directly from the asset owner(s) is ideal.  

If it is even available, gaining access to this data is one of the largest challenges in the data collection stage of a design project. And even if it is accessible, the data is not necessarily digitized, accurate, or complete. 

Field data 

Field data collection is used to gather information about the physical environment, either when it cannot be easily sourced in another way, or when the actual conditions in the field are required to be known for design validation and make ready activity. It is also valuable for ensuring the most up to date view of the condition of the environment and the assets within it. It is critical for producing a construction-ready design.. 

Field data collection may involve: 

• Aerial asset locations and conditions 
• Underground asset locations and conditions 
• Address and other serviceable location data 
• Other physical and environmental information such as a curb and footpath locations, surface types, hazards, and anything else that may impact design and construction 

These days, field data collection doesn’t necessarily need to involve the mobilization of in-field resources. Many innovative technologies are available to capture, analyze, and interpret real-world data on shorter timelines and at a reduced cost. These include Lidar, high-quality imagery captured by vehicle or drone or aircraft, satellite imagery, and more.