FutureForward Blacksburg: New video demonstrates how Blacksburg would benefit from gigabit Internet

Story reprinted from Virginia Tech's eCorridors program page (see original article)

BLACKSBURG, Va., - Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg have recently submitted a joint application named "FutureForward Blacksburg" for Google's "Think Big with a Gig" experiment to build ultra-high speed fiber to the home networks in a number of locations across the country. As part of the Town of Blacksburg's submittal, Virginia Tech Geospatial Information Sciences prepared a video that illustrates a number of applications that citizens, students, government officials, and businesses in the Town would be able to use if a gigabit Ethernet were made available to them.

Blacksburg currently has connectivity to national Tier One networks including Internet2 and National Lambda Rail; however, this high bandwidth capacity does not reach residential areas and apartment complexes. If Blacksburg is selected, Google proposes to bring gigabit fiber to the last mile, providing these users with Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.
View Video

The video demonstrates how this extremely powerful Internet access could greatly enhance the town's planning and modeling capabilities, improve emergency response communications, and enhanced long-distance medical diagnosis. Virginia Tech and the Town communities could also receive shared benefits through next generation classrooms and teaching technologies, real-time online learning atmospheres, shared virtual reality environments for research and the arts, and 3-D routing and viewshed research.

Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger is featured in the video and commented how data rich environments and just-in-time information systems will be key to the success of Virginia Tech's new college that is currently being planned. He described it as, "highly experimental and will change the paradigm for undergraduate learning... We are going to change the way in which young people go about addressing and thinking about the problems they face in the future."

In his own video response, Rick Boucher, Virginia Representative and chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's technology and Internet subcommittee, spoke in favor of Blacksburg as a location for Google's project, "Blacksburg's accomplishments are compelling proof that they will make optimal use of this extraordinary infrastructure that Google proposes to build. I urge Google to give serious, favorable consideration to Blacksburg as the location for their fiber to the home testbed project."

The "FutureForward Blacksburg" video is available for viewing on Virginia Tech's eCorridors program You Tube page. The creators of the video encourage those interested in seeing Blacksburg selected as part of this experiment to make their comments known by posting a comment on the video's page. The video can also be easily shared with other social networks by clicking the share link.


About eCorridors and Virginia Tech Geospatial Information Sciences

The mission of the eCorridors program at Virginia Tech is to facilitate and promote the ability for every person, organization, and community in Virginia and beyond to have the capability, at a reasonable cost, to produce and access high volume information and services in the networked world.

Virginia Tech Geospatial Information Sciences is a geospatial initiative of Virginia Tech, a division of Information Technology's Strategic Partnership Initiatives and applies geospatial technologies and analytical methods in the areas of research and collaboration, safety and security, community broadband, energy and sustainability, health information technology, and lowering barriers to the use of GIS tools and data.


Related stories and links:

Watch "FutureForward Blacksburg" the video at the eCorridors YouTube page (http://bit.ly/drZ6Wh)

Watch Representative Rick Boucher speak in support of Blacksburg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpFxfxiHUSI)

Virginia Tech News story - Virginia Tech, Town of Blacksburg team up to attract Google (http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2010&itemno=144)

Learn about the "Google Fiber for Communities" experiment (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi)

Learn about the video creators at Virginia Tech GIS (http://www.gis.vt.edu/)

Test your broadband on the Virginia Tech Community Broadband Map (http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php)

Light the Dark Fiber in Blacksburg, Virginia

There is still time to nominate Blacksburg, Virginia for Google Fiber! It only takes a few minutes to complete the nomination form.

Read more (read the original post at the Town of Blacksburg website: http://www.blacksburg.va.us/Index.aspx?page=1202)

Google Fiber for Communities
Let’s Bring Google High Speed Fiber to Blacksburg

We Need Your Help

Blacksburg and Virginia Tech have teamed up to submit a joint application for Google’s recent push to build ultra-high speed fiber networks in a number of locations across the country. If selected, Blacksburg would be the recipient of Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.

Thousands of communities will be vying for Google’s attention, so we need your help to make Blacksburg stand out among the rest.

Go to http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options today and Nominate Your Community. The application only takes a few minutes. The first step to get started is creating your own gmail account. It’s free, quick, easy, and necessary to tell Google why they should choose Blacksburg.

The following sample templates will help you fill out the application. These are just samples, please nominate Blacksburg using the online form.

• Resident Template
• Businesses, Artists, and Community Organizations Template

FutureForward Blacksburg

FutureForward Blacksburg, Virginia from VirginiaTechGIS on Vimeo.

Support the cause! Add comments and rate this video on the eCorridors YouTube page (Click Here)

FutureForward Blacksburg is the name of the application submitted by the Town of Blacksburg, VA to Google for their fiber to the home experiment, "Think Big with a Gig". The video was prepared by the VTGIS group at Virginia Tech during the month of March 2010 and illustrates a number of applications that citizens and businesses in the Town can use gigabit ethernet for and develop innovations around.

Are you the next Steven Spielberg? Help bring Google fiber to Blacksburg

The following story was released on Virginia Tech News March 4, 2010. Click to visit full story on
Virginia Tech News

From: Brenda van Gelder, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives

Are you the next Steven Spielberg, Coen Brother, Stanley Kubrick or Alfred Hitchcock? You can be and bring Google fiber to Blacksburg too!

Blacksburg and Virginia Tech have teamed up to submit a joint application for Google’s recent push to build ultra-high speed fiber networks in a number of locations across the country. If selected, Blacksburg would be the recipient of Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.

Thousands of communities will be vying for Google’s attention, so we need your help to make Blacksburg stand out among the rest

The Town’s application to Google needs to be creative and reflect why Blacksburg should be chosen among every other community in the country. The Town government response will include a compelling You Tube video. Whose video shall it be? Check out the submission criteria and send them your best stuff.

We also need a fun, attention grabbing title for the application. Check out the submission criteria for the naming contest as well.

Entries must be received by 8:00 am on March 15. The winning recipients will receive a $100 Downtown Blacksburg gift certificate.

Read the related news story.

For more information, contact Brenda van Gelder at (540) 231-1853.

Governor's School students experience multidisciplinary research in a whole new way

The following story was released on Virginia Tech News March 3, 2010. Click to visit full story on Virginia Tech News.

By Patrick Fay

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 3, 2010 -- High school students from the Virginia Governor's School were recently treated to a unique experience of immersive virtual reality technology and how it is used in understanding and solving real problems facing the commonwealth and the country.

The group’s recent visit to Virginia Tech was hosted by the Center for Geospatial Information Technology and Advanced Research Computing. The students visited the VT-CAVE and attended a special presentation by Center for Geospatial Information Technology director, Peter Sforza, who demonstrated a variety of research and analysis methods applied across multiple spatial and temporal scales for a plant disease epidemic.

This complex systems example connected the scales through 3-D modeling and animation, molecular epidemiology, mathematical modeling of biotic and abiotic phenomena, remote sensing, and geospatial mapping.

“It is important that we inspire these high school students with a chance to learn first-hand about interdisciplinary research and to connect the dots between their high school education and possible future careers in research,” explains Sforza. “These encounters truly resonate with the students and builds upon their experiences in an exciting way.”

Sforza explains how immersive virtual environments afford students a glimpse into these possibilities. The VT-CAVE is a multi-person, room-sized, high-resolution, 3-D video and audio environment, which allows students, researchers and educators the opportunity to explore and learn about the relationships between properties and complex 3-D structures in many disciplines, including biology, biochemistry, architecture, veterinary medicine, fluid mechanics, interior design, art and art history, materials science and engineering.

Sforza’s example has demonstrated how this Advanced Research Computing technology can enable research and enhance the communication of complex information, and students are taking notice. “The presentation was very interesting and enlightening. The integration of two seemingly distant technologies into … a common purpose was something that I hadn't given much thought to prior to this presentation,” stated one of the visiting students. “I really enjoyed Peter Sforza talk about transformation in plants and plasmids. His map that showed the progression of temperature and seasonal changes in the U.S. and Virginia was great too,” remarked another student. “I would urge other schools should seize the opportunity to visit … It is an amazing project!”

According to Virginia’s Department of Education website, Virginia Governor’s Schools provide some of the state’s most able students academically and artistically challenging programs beyond those offered in their home schools. With the support of the Virginia Board of Education and the General Assembly, the Governor’s Schools presently include summer residential, summer regional, and academic-year programs serving more than 7,500 gifted students from all parts of the commonwealth.

The VT-CAVE project is operated by the Visual Computing Group, part of Virginia Tech’s Advanced Research Computing unit within the Office of the Vice President of Information Technology. The group provides an innovative and interdisciplinary environment to advance computational science, engineering, and technology at Virginia Tech and beyond. The Advanced Research Computing unit works closely with university research centers, with an aim towards accelerating scientific discovery. The CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) was invented at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Electronic Visualization Laboratory. CAVE is a registered trademark of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

IMAGE INFORMATION: The VT-CAVE project is operated by the Visual Computing Group, part of Virginia Tech’s Advanced Research Computing unit within the Office of the Vice President of Information Technology.

Contact Patrick Fay at pfay08@vt.edu or (540) 231-5624.

Blacksburg, VT team up to attract Google Internet speeds 100x faster than what most Americans have access to today

The following is an edited version of the announcement by Virginia Tech News and the Town of Blacksburg dated March 2, 2010. Click to visit full story on Virginia Tech News. This holds interesting prospects for High Speed internet.

Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech Team Up To Attract Google

Blacksburg and Virginia Tech have teamed up to submit a joint application for Google’s recent push to build ultra-high speed fiber networks in a number of locations across the country. If selected, Blacksburg would be the recipient of Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.

"Blacksburg was the first community in the world, through the Blacksburg Electronic Village, to explore how the internet could transform business, education, and community interaction," said Ron Rordam, Mayor of Blacksburg. “More than fifteen years later, we now have a population of citizens, university faculty and students who have demonstrated innovation and creativity as network producers, not just consumers, of high bandwidth applications and services. We believe this is exactly what Google is looking for with their gigabit to the home test bed project, and we are committed to working in partnership with them if Blacksburg is selected."

The local project team is calling on the community for their help. There are two steps to completing the Google Request for Information (RFI), the government response and the community response. Both are due by March 26, 2010. Residents, artists, businesses and community organizations are asked to fill out a short online form by visiting http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options and clicking on “Nominate Your Community”.

The form requires a name, city and state, and a paragraph or more explaining why you would like to have Google locate in Blacksburg. Reasons could include the need for increased broadband access for business, education, arts, entertainment, telemedicine, emergency services, etc. Aside from the current benefits a community such as Blacksburg could enjoy, Google is particularly interested in creative thinking and next generation ideas. A sample template response can be found at blacksburg.gov/google.

The community form includes optional fields that ask about broadband connections. Respondents can easily run a speed test on their connection by using the Virginia Tech Community Broadband Map found at http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php . The speed test will allow respondents to immediately obtain some of the information that can be used to fill in the Google form.

There is also an opportunity for the community to participate in a You Tube video contest and an application naming contest. The winning recipient of each will receive a $100 Downtown Blacksburg Gift Certificate. Details of the competition can be found at blacksburg.gov/google .

For additional information contact:
Brenda van Gelder
Director, Strategic Partnership Initiatives
Office of the Vice President for Information Technology
Virginia Tech
bvgelder@vt.edu
540-231-1853

Steve Jones
Director of Technology
Town of Blacksburg
sjones@blacksburg.gov
540-558-0726