BroadbandUSA App Parser

This tool, parse.py, converts the BroadbandUSA.gov online application database into a more easily analyzable Tab-Separate-Value file that can be easily imported into Excel.

BroadbandUSA is the online portal to apply for broadband funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Summaries of applications that were submitted, as well as applications that were funded and the amounts of funding are available online in a cruddy html table. This parse liberates that data.

How to use it

1. Save the HTML of the BrandbandUSA applications to a file (a good place to put it would be in the /applications folder). You can acquire the HTML here: http://ssl.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/applications/results.htm (and click File -> Save As from the menu in your browser)
2. Edit the top of parser.py so that htmlFile = points to the location of your file (e.g. htmlFile = './applications/apps-1-28-11.html')
3. Run the parser and point its output to a file of your choosing; e.g. python parser.py > applications.tsv
4. Open the resulting file (e.g. applications.tsv) in Excel.
5. Celebrate!