Saturday, September 1, 2012

Google Tweaks its "Build by Demand" Algorithm

Google has a famously "data driven" culture, so it was not terribly surprising that Google is using a "build by demand" approach to its construction effort. Basically, Google has residents "voting" for Google Fiber by pre-registering and making a payment of $10. 

Each of of the potential "fiberhoods" then has a minimum threshold of pre-registrations that qualify the fiberhood for construction. 

Google has had to create different thresholds for different fiberhoods, and now has tweaked the algorithm just a bit to account for some inaccuracies in the databases Google built from a variety of sources about the actual number of potential residences in a fiberhood. 

So Google now adjusts the "potential homes passed" part of the algorithm to deduct vacant lots, abandoned homes and also adjust for large apartment buildings, as distinct from single-family homes.

The changes slightly affect 73 fiberhoods, boosting the percentage of sign-ups in some of the fiberhoods and therefore slightly increasing the likelihood that some fiberhoods will qualify for actual construction. 

Some 40 out of 74 fiberhoods now qualify. In Kansas City, Missouri while  75 out of 128 fiberhoods have now reached their goals as well. 



No comments:

Consumer Feedback on Smartphone AI Isn't That Helpful

It is a truism that consumers cannot envision what they never have seen, so perhaps it is not too surprising that artificial intelligence sm...