FCC Market Boundaries for Wireless Licenses

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?
    Title: FCC Market Boundaries for Wireless Licenses
    Abstract:
    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been assigning area based radio licenses since the inception of Cellular Market Areas in 1982. Every area is an aggregation of counties. The Kentucky Public Service Commission took ten definitions of market boundaries and assigned each county in Kentucky to its appropriate area, using the Kentucky county coverage maintained by the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority. The following market areas are included: Cellular Market Areas, Basic Trading Areas, Major Trading Areas, Regional PCS Areas, Basic Economic Areas, Major Economic Areas, Regional Economic Areas, economic Area Groupings, VHF Public Coast Station Areas, and Public Safety Planning Regions.

  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Commission, Federal Communications , and Processed by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, 2002, FCC Market Boundaries for Wireless Licenses.

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -89.571205
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -81.964790
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 39.147732
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 36.497059

  3. What does it look like?

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Calendar_Date: 2002
    Currentness_Reference: publication date

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • G-polygon (121)

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.000000. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000000. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees.

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378206.400000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/294.978698.

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    FCC Markets
    FCC Market Boundaries for wireless telecommunications (Source: Federal Communications Commission: fttp://wireless.fcc.gov/geographic/fcc_areas.html)

    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI)

    Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

    Coordinates defining the features.

    CNTY_
    Artifact from County Coverage

    CNTY_ID
    Unique ID for County; Artifact from Coverage

    NAME
    County Name (Upper Case)

    NAME2
    C ounty Name (Upper & Lower Case)

    AREA_SQMI
    Area in Square Miles

    CMA
    Cellular Market Area Number: CMAs are used for licensing: Cellular Radiotelephone Service - 47 CFR § 22.909 (824-894 MHz: Blocks A-B); Interactive Video and Data Service (IVDS) - 47 CFR § 95.803 (Segments: A (218.0-218.5 MHz) and B (218.5-219.0 MHz)).

    CMA_NAME
    CMA Names

    BTA
    Basic Trading Areas (BTAs) are used for licensing: Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) - 47 CFR § 21.924 (2150-2162, 2596-2680 MHz: Channels 1, 2(2A), E1-E4, F1-F4, H1-H3); Narrowband PCS - 47 CFR § 24.102 (901-902, 930-931 MHz: Channels 25-26); Broadband PCS - 47 CFR § 24.202 (1850-1990 MHz: Blocks C-F); Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) - 47 CFR § 101.1007 (27.5-31.3 GHz: Blocks A-B).

    BTA_NAME
    BTA Name

    MTA
    The Major Trading Areas (MTAs) are used for licensing: Narrowband PCS - 47 CFR § 24.102 (901-902, 930-931 MHz, 940-941 MHz: Channels 18-24); Broadband PCS - 47 CFR § 24.202 (1850-1990 MHz: Blocks A-B); Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) 900 MHz - 47 CFR § 90.661 (896-901/935-940 MHz: Channel Blocks A-T).

    MTA_NAME
    MTA Name

    RPC
    Regional PCS Areas (RPC) are used for licensing: Narrowband PCS - 47 CFR § 24.102 (901-902, 930-931 MHz, 940-941 MHz: Channels 12-17); Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) 800 MHz - 47 CFR § 90.903 (806-821/851-866 MHz: Spectrum Blocks D-V).

    RPC_NAME
    RPC Name

    BEA
    Basic Economic Areas (BEAs) are used for licensing: General Wireless Communications Service (GWCS) - 47 CFR § 26.102 (4660-4685 MHz: Channel Blocks A-E); Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) 800 MHz - 47 CFR § 90.681 & 90.903 (806-821/851-866 MHz: Spectrum Blocks A-C); 220 MHz - 47 CFR § 90.761 (220-222 MHz: Channel Assignments A-E); Location and Monitoring Service (LMS) - 47 CFR § 90.7 (3 Spectrum Blocks (1) 904.000-909.750 MHz and 927.750-928.000 MHz; (2) 919.750-921.750 MHz and 927.500-927.750 MHz; and (3) 921.750-927.250 MHz and 927.250-927.500 MHz).

    BEA_NAME
    BEA Name

    MEA
    Major Economic Areas (MEAs) are used for licensing: Wireless Communications Service (WCS) - 47 CFR § 27.6; Paired Channel Blocks A (2305-2310/2350-2355 MHz) and B (2310-2315/2355-2360 MHz).

    MEA_NAME
    MEA Name

    REA
    Regional Economic Areas (REAs), also known as the Regional Economic Area Groupings for WCS, are used for licensing: Wireless Communications Service (WCS) - 47 CFR § 27.6; Unpaired Channel Blocks A (2315-2320 MHz) and B (2345-2350 MHz).

    REA_NAME
    REA Name

    EAG
    Economic Area Groupings, also known as Regional Economic Area Groupings for 220 MHz, are used for licensing: 220 MHz - 47 CFR § 90.761 (220-222 MHz: Channel Assignments F-J).

    EAG_NAME
    EAG Name

    VPC
    The VHF Public Coast Station Areas (VPCs) are used for licensing: VHF Public Coast Stations 47 CFR § 80.371(c)(1)(B).

    VPC_NAME
    VPC Name

    PSR
    The Public Safety Planning Regions were established in the National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) Proceeding in 1987 [see General Docket No. 87-112, Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 88-132, 3 FCC Rcd 2113 (1988), 53 FR 11849 (04/11/88)].The Public Safety Planning Regions were established in the National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) Proceeding in 1987 [see General Docket No. 87-112, Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 88-132, 3 FCC Rcd 2113 (1988), 53 FR 11849 (04/11/88)].The Public Safety Planning Regions were established in the National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) Proceeding in 1987 [see General Docket No. 87-112, Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 88-132, 3 FCC Rcd 2113 (1988), 53 FR 11849 (04/11/88)]. In general these regions follow state boundaries, although some states are subdivided. Kentucky is one PSR.

    PSR_NAME
    PSR Name

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Ruth A. Rowles
    Kentucky Public Service Commission
    GIS Manager
    P. O. Box 615
    Frankfort, KY 40601
    502-564-3940 (voice)
    502-564-1582 (FAX)
    rarowles@ky.gov

Why was the data set created?
The Kentucky Public Service Commission uses this information as a general reference.

How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: September 2002 (process 1 of 3)
    Downloaded 10 shapefiles from the FCC web page at <http://wireless.fcc.gov/geographic/fcc_areas.html>. The files were dated November 24, 1998.

    Date: September 2002 (process 2 of 3)
    Used label points of Kentucky County Coverage (1:24,000 scale maintained by Kentucky Infrastrucure Authority) to overlay each market area shapefile and did a spatial join to get assigned areas for each county.

    Date: September 2002 (process 3 of 3)
    Merged label points by County-id with polygons in order to create the FCC Market shapefile for Kentucky.

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

How can someone get a copy of the data set?
Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints:
The user should give credit to the Federal Communications Commission for the data, and Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) for processing it. The user must abide by the following data disclaimer. All information within the product is believed accurate but is not guaranteed without error. While attempts have been made to insure the correctness of the information presented, neither the Kentucky Public Service Commission nor any party involved in the creation and compilation of the data guarantees their accuracy, completeness, or suitability for a particular use. All critical information should be independently verified.

  1. Who distributes the data set?[Distributor contact information not provided.]

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    Downloadable Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?
Dates:
Last modified: September 17, 2002

Metadata author:
Ruth A. Rowles
Kentucky Public Service Commission
GIS Manager
P.O. Box 615
Frankfort, KY 40515
502-564-3940 (voice)
502-564-1582 (FAX)
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

Metadata extensions used:

Generated by mp version 2.7.3 on Tue Sep 17 16:37:25 2002

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Revised May 15, 2003