Mapping the Data Center Boom: How to Use FracTracker's Open Tracker for Your Community

​As data center development accelerates across the United States, communities, researchers, and policymakers face a growing need for transparent, accessible information about where these facilities are being built, how they are powered, and what impacts they may have. FracTracker Alliance originally released its U.S. Data Centers Tracker in July 2025 — the first open-access, facility-level dataset and interactive mapping tool documenting the rapid buildout of AI and data center infrastructure across the country.

​The map has now been re-released as the Open U.S. Data Centers Tracker Dashboard, optimized for advocacy use. It brings together information on project status, energy demand, operators, and community resistance, allowing users to explore where development is occurring and how it intersects with local infrastructure, community demographics, environmental conditions, and governance.

​This webinar will highlight how the tracker can be used in practice — from identifying proposed projects before construction begins, to understanding regional hotspots like Northern Virginia and Georgia, to exploring how community resistance and policy interventions are shaping outcomes.

​Learn how to:

• ​Navigate the new Open U.S. Data Center Tracker

• ​Interpret key data fields such as project status and energy demand

• ​Apply the tool to local organizing, policy analysis, academic research, and advocacy campaigns

​The session will also cover broader trends in data center expansion, including the rise of hyperscale facilities, concentration of development among a few major operators, and the growing role of community resistance.