ImsoATL — Atlas True Link

Mapping the Future of Public WiFi Equity

Inspiration

Public WiFi is essential infrastructure for a smarter city — powering job searches, transit apps, telehealth, schoolwork, and city services.
Yet many communities, especially those with higher poverty rates, still lack reliable home internet and accessible public WiFi.

We built ImsoATL (Atlas True Link) to give cities, ISPs, and community groups a data-driven atlas showing exactly where new WiFi sites will have the biggest equity impact.
What normally takes weeks of surveys and GIS work now runs in about a minute.

We were also inspired by the phrase "I'm so ATL", which could mean Atlanta or About That Life.

What It Does

ImsoATL is an interactive mapping and decision-support tool that:

Scores neighborhoods by “WiFi Equity” using demographic, income, and connectivity indicators.
Identifies WiFi deserts — communities most at risk of digital exclusion.
Uses AI agents to pinpoint specific blocks/intersections where new WiFi or hotspots would have the greatest impact.
Renders everything in a Mapbox interactive map, where users can:
- Hover/click tracts for detailed scores and rationales
- Compare multiple candidate sites
- Export insights for grants, RFPs, and planning decks

Think of it as a digital urban planner:

“If I can only fund 10 WiFi sites, where should I put them for maximum equity and accessibility?”

How We Built It

Data Pipeline

Ingested public datasets (income, demographics, connectivity proxies)
Normalized all inputs into a unified geospatial layer
Calculated a composite WiFi Need Score for each census tract

AI Reasoning (Google ADK)

Orchestrated AI agents that:
- Interpret metrics for each area
- Generate grounded, non-hallucinated explanations
- Suggest optimal hotspot locations (libraries, schools, transit hubs)

The output isn’t just a score — it’s a ** narrative planners can use**.

Mapping & UI

Mapbox choropleth map
Next.js + React + Tailwind
Rich popups with scores, indicators, and AI recommendations

Backend & Infrastructure

Google ADK orchestrator
Python scoring & ranking algorithms
FastAPI backend
Snowflake for large geospatial data caching and queries
GoDaddy for domain

Branding

ATL — Atlas Transmission Link
A “connectivity atlas” that visualizes where WiFi investments will have the most impact.

Challenges

Unreliable government APIs → required caching, alternate data sources, and pre-downloading.
Geospatial mismatch → inconsistent tract boundaries, duplicated or missing polygons.
AI explainability → tuning prompts to ensure grounded, planner-ready explanations.
Partial integrations (Snowflake AI Search, Google Earth) still under development.

Accomplishments

Reduced weeks of GIS + survey analysis down to minutes
Created an equity-first prioritization model
Built a map that explains itself, not just highlights areas
Established a strong story + brand identity through the ATL concept

What We Learned

Connectivity gaps directly correlate with income and vulnerability.
AI is only as useful as the data foundation behind it.
GIS + AI transforms maps from static visuals into decision engines.
Civic stakeholders need transparency, not black-box algorithms.

What’s Next

Expand to additional cities with easy onboarding
Complete Snowflake integration for scalable multi-city datasets
Budget & ROI simulation tools
“If I can build N hotspots with $X, what’s the impact?”
Partnerships with ISPs, nonprofits, and housing authorities
Community validation workflows to incorporate lived experience