The Federal Communications Commission on Sept. 15 released the standards with which it will determine whether state broadband networks are interoperable with the National Public Safety Broadband Network. The FCC plans to assess states’ requests to opt out of FirstNet and use their own networks instead, through a two-pronged review system.

The Center for Data Innovation (CDI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, recently released “The Best States for Data Innovation,” a new report analyzing how states are using data to innovate and offer new services. Topping the overall list were Massachusetts, Washington, and Maryland. Rounding out the bottom were Mississippi, West Virginia, and Louisiana.

Several states have started weighing alternative plans to the First Responder Network Authority’s initial outlines to create and operate a broadband network that supports first responder groups. Here’s what Arizona, Colorado, and New Hampshire are considering.

The Federal Communications Commission last week approved guidelines it will use to evaluate network proposals for states that want to opt out of FirstNet, the wireless broadband public safety network that AT&T is developing. AT&T was awarded the $6.5 billion contract earlier this year.

During the process of creating the Colorado Trail Explorer, an interactive open data map providing information on 17,000 trails, Colorado’s Department for Parks and Wildlife sent out a call for information from all 221 of the state’s trail managers. The map, launched on June 2, contains data submissions from 90 of those managers.

AT&T was awarded a $6.5 billion contract to build and operate the nationwide network FirstNet. However, the legislation that authorizes FirstNet also authorizes a state to develop its own alternative on the spectrum carved out for the network, as long as the alternative is interoperable with the FirstNet core.

The Consumer Technology Association released the 2017 Innovation Scorecard, ranking states in four categories: Innovative Champion, Innovative Leader, Innovative Adopter, and Modest Innovator.

Denver’s crowdsourced data platform asking people to indicate traffic hazards has garnered more than 2,200 responses since its March 6 launch. Sixty-one people were killed in traffic-related deaths on the streets of Denver in 2016. To redress the issue, Denver is participating in Vision Zero, a program where cities use data analytics to prevent transportation-related injuries.

Mobile devices and geographic information system software were partly responsible for yielding a homeless person census in Aurora, Colo., that was more accurate than the previous year’s count, according to the director of the city’s homelessness program.