Challenge · Dead Zone Detective

We're tackling broadband blind spots with a live civic signal system, not a mockup.

Holmes now stretches beyond housing intelligence. This challenge surface ingests Philadelphia connectivity data, scores tract-level access risk, maps public Wi-Fi resilience, and gives judges an operational view of where digital frustration is likely to hit hardest.

Open Dead Zone map
Tracked tracts
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Wi-Fi sites
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Average risk
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Critical tracts
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Avg site speed
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Last refresh
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What We Added

Real challenge infrastructure

City tract vulnerability
Philadelphia tract-level broadband, device, and income indicators from the city ArcGIS layer.
Public Wi-Fi footprint
City Wi-Fi locations and site speeds surfaced as field-usable fallback infrastructure.
Risk scoring model
Holmes blends access gaps, device poverty, income pressure, and site density into a tract risk score.
Operational view
This challenge page turns the data into a real map, ranked queues, and plain-language actions.

Priority Queue

Highest-risk tracts right now

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Access stress

0.0% of households report no internet access.

Local fallback

0 mapped public Wi-Fi sites inside the tract.

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TRACT loading-1
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Access stress

0.0% of households report no internet access.

Local fallback

0 mapped public Wi-Fi sites inside the tract.

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TRACT loading-2
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Access stress

0.0% of households report no internet access.

Local fallback

0 mapped public Wi-Fi sites inside the tract.

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TRACT loading-3
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Access stress

0.0% of households report no internet access.

Local fallback

0 mapped public Wi-Fi sites inside the tract.

Demo Story

How we're tackling the challenge

Forecast where connectivity complaints are likely to spike, before an ops team gets overwhelmed.

Blend tract vulnerability with public Wi-Fi resilience so the map is actionable, not just descriptive.

Let judges move from the strategy page into a live Leaflet map with tract detail and site context.

Keep the experience accessible and explainable so both civic reviewers and field operators can use it.

Equity Pattern

Who gets left behind — and why

The neighborhoods hit hardest by vacant properties and housing blight are the same ones losing the connectivity battle. Abandoned buildings depress investment, shrink the tax base, and push out the infrastructure that keeps communities online. It is not a coincidence — it is the same disinvestment showing up in two different datasets.

Real public datasets

We ingest Philadelphia tract-level connectivity indicators and city Wi-Fi locations instead of using fabricated demo data.

Actionable map surface

The live Leaflet experience shows where access stress is concentrated and where local fallback infrastructure exists.

Equity signal

Risk scoring blends internet access gaps, device scarcity, income pressure, and site coverage so the map highlights who gets left behind and why.