In this post we will provide a quick overview of the 4 options currently available for developing a mobile GIS applications. The most appropriate approach should be determined by your project requirements.
Mobile Web GIS Apps
Web technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. HTML5/Javascript is today the most popular client application technology. Helped by advances in browser technology, HTML5/Javascript now dominates the Web development space, sweeping away technologies like Flash/Flex and Silverlight. With a worldwide development community, 3D and offline are now part of the HTML5/Javascript landscape.
There are today many Javascript frameworks available for building mobile applications. Responsive design allows one mobile web app to automatically style itself based on the device being used.
New-tilities is a new term which refers to the changing world confronting electric cooperatives. Major technology trends are revolutionizing the electric utility industry. New opportunities are being created and threats to the old way of doing business. Electric coop are wrestling with change. GIS or geographic information systems is at the centre of these changes. New developments in GIS are making it easier for electric coops to better manage their organizations. In this article we will dig a little deeper.
New-tilities: GIS and Overcoming the Challenges faced by Electric Cooperatives
What is GIS?
GIS is a system which provides ways to visualize and analyse business critical data geographically. There are 3 core pieces to a GIS:
1. Centralized Authoritative Data
In simple terms GIS provides a central, single source of coop mission critical data. One place to look for asset data for example: poles, fuses, transformers, switches, substations etc
2. Maps
Maps provide an intuitive way to visualize, explore and search for organizational data. Maps are a key output from a GIS. Show me the location of pole x, share outage information for the public on a map etc. Below we have located an asset, the pop up shows the associated data.
Its time again to revisit maps. In the surprisingly popular blog post “Please stop calling me the mapping guy” I took exception at being pigeon-holed. I (we) are far more valuable to organizations than simply being seen as producers of maps. We are solution providers. Maps are simply a key output from our work: intuitive and easy to understand. In this post I will broaden the conversation.
Our GIS Emphasis Should be Business Outcomes not Maps
What are business outcomes? There are 5 key components:
1. Profitable growth
2. Customer engagement
3. Business sustainability
4. Productivity
5. Business agility
Five words: growth, engagement, sustainability, productivity, agility. Technology is a key driver behind business outcomes. Innovative organizations are looking for competitive advantages; how to do things better, more efficiently, faster. Business outcomes are not applicable just to private companies, all organizations are focused on improvement.
GIS should be one of the core technology drivers behind business outcomes. It should be a mission-critical business system. And yet adoption remains slow. Why?
Ok so I often say in this blog “we live in exciting times”. GIS is coming out of the shadows. Innovation is taking off. New thinkers are bringing fascinating ideas forward.
I became very interested in work being done by a UK based company called what3words. After meeting Chris Sheldrick the co-founder, we thought it worth spending time looking at their technology and ways to integrate it with ArcGIS.
Water utilities both big and small are faced with a range of different challenges. A recent American Water Works Association (AWWA) report listed but a few:
1. Condition of water/wastewater infrastructure
2. Water scarcity/supply
3. Drought potential
4. Customer/community relations
5. Emergency planning and response
6. Government regulations
7. Managing assets
New technology is today helping to provide solutions to these challenges. Key among these technologies is GIS.
Water Utilities: GIS has Changed Have You?
GIS is not new. It is a technology which today is undergoing dramatic changes. Changes which are making it easier to afford, access and use. So what are these changes?
GIS is widely understood to be mapping technology. Answering questions like “How do i get from A to B?”. It is true that maps are the common output from a GIS, but in reality the technology answers any and all location based questions. In the commercial sector these are often questions which today go unanswered. But, as we will discuss in this post, staying focused on and changing workflows is the key to commercial GIS success.
Changing Workflows is the key to Commercial GIS Success
Let’s start by discussing what we mean by workflows with some examples:
Property Listing in Real Estate
Workflow: “Today to list a new property on our web site or listings service, we first visit the property and make notes, take pictures. Next we input this information into a computer system. Once completed we update our web site with this new information, and share the listing with public property listing services.”
Challenge: Getting a new property listed so we can start marketing and selling can take up to a week.
Commercial real estate (CRE) has been slow in adopting new technology. The expense involved, and the time required to learn how to use the technology as well as incorporate it into daily operations are common reasons. But in an ever more competitive environment, those not looking to improve their workflows are rapidly being left behind.
Commercial real estate is about closing deals. The smoother the process the better. New technology is helping to provide dramatic improvements in process. There are signs that 2015 will be a watershed year in terms of new technology and CRM.
Digital mapping is becoming increasingly more popular across the real estate industry. The technology itself has been experiencing rapid evolution, and is now more user-friendly, accessible and affordable. With the popularity of mobile devices, new apps are becoming available which provide access to both digital maps and location based analysis to CRM agents, brokers and clients.
In this article we will discuss some of the applications of digital mapping technology in CRM.
With the 2016 elections just around the corner, we wondered how many organizations will be using maps and GIS (or location intelligence) to help boost their campaign. If you aren’t we will discuss in the article how WebMapSolutions are helping a number of different organizations boost their election campaigns.
Will you be using GIS and maps for your 2016 election campaign?
(GIS) can literally take dozens of pages of complex information and make a single, multicolored map that shows factors such as household density, family size, or racial and socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods along with their implied political and social attitudes where available from public opinion data” (Novotny & Jacobs)
GIS (can be used) to analyze fundraising patterns … and target areas that likely contained a large number of potential donors (Jardine, 2003)
I remember clearly the first music album I bought. Then we listened to vinyl LPS’s. I was 18, still living in England, and between school and University. The album was by The Tubes. One rather odd song stood out for me: What do you want from life?
At 18 it was a question I was beginning to ask myself. For me then my immediate focus was on geography. I never gave location or spatial a thought. Geography for me was about process. How was that wave cut platform formed? Intrigue over U shaped valleys. Marvelling at thunderstorms. On and on.
Mobiles are everywhere. Smartphones, tablets, even these new ‘somewhere in between’ phablets. They are cheap, come with amazing additions (GPS, camera, compass etc) and most importantly can be loaded up with an incredible assortment of apps. Go to the various app stores and the selection is amazing. Add to this those ever more popular Web apps, opened in your mobile browser, and things become almost overwhelming. Mobile technology has changed our world. Look around you and see how many people have their noses in a mobile.
GIS Transforming Data Collection
This post is focused on how location technologies like GIS in combination with mobiles are transforming how we gather and share data. We can split data collection into 3 distinct phases:
