Google Fiber chased by 1,100 municipalities, Gigabit Philly site to relaunch

Updated 4/3/10 @ 8:59 p.m.: Planned, possible locations in Philadelphia
The application deadline for Google’s ultra-high speed broadband fiber experiment closed a week ago, but Philadelphia’s horse isn’t done riding yet.
Some 1,100 municipalities and thousands of individuals applied, according to the Washington Post, including a collaboration between Philadelphia city officials and community leaders, dubbed Gigabit Philly. Google says it will announce its “target community or communities” by the end of the year, so the Philadelphia group boosting the city’s application is still cheerleading.

Next week will see a relaunch of the local application’s Web site and, says coordinator and Philly Startup Leaders co-founder Blake Jennelle, “a true launch of the competition part of the Gigabit Genius Grant.”
As we reported earlier, PSL and others put up more than $8,000 to the best idea to use the Google experiment, as submitted to the Gigabit Web site.
“People will be able to post ideas and vote on ideas directly to a community driven site we have setup using Google Moderator,” Jennelle says. It may launch as early as Monday, he says.
Google said it would make the applications public. The company’s experiment is limited, asking to trial with at least 50,000 people but no more than 500,000. Leaders in Philadelphia’s application have talked about a selected portion of the city near the Delaware River, which includes both Web-native and lower-income residents.
Updated: Officials have also discussed a swath of the city encompassing West Philadelphia, says City Technology Officer Allan Frank.
See photos of the official press conference from the City of Philadelphia, announcing its application and Mayor Nutter’s support, as collected by Johnny Goldstein.
Below, the city’s Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank, who first announced the city’s application at Ignite Philly 5, talks Google fiber.
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