Going Mobile with your GIS
Chris Regier UtiliCorp United 20 W. 9 th Street Kansas City, MO 64105
Mobility
What is mobile? If you can move your computer from one side of your desk to the other, it that mobile? If you can carry it down the hall to another desk, is that mobile? If you can take it with you around the world, is that mobile? Mobility is the ability to take a “system” and use it easily in the locations that people move to in their daily work. A system is not mobile if it cannot be used in a vehicle or in an adjacent building or from home. Mobility is about productive use of a system – not the mere fact that it can physically be moved from place to place. After all, a rock is mobile – well, a small rock is mobile. Types of Mobility Hardly Mobile, Barely Mobile, Sort-of Mobile Prior to personal computers, mobility was provided by mobile terminals. These terminals were mainly keyboards with thermal paper that provided the display capabilities and acoustic couplers to plug in the phone handset. Ages ago in the 1980s, personal computers were created. People started carrying these monsters around. These machines were known as portable. In today’s world, these would be considered hardly mobile. Luggable was the cute name applied to those that were privileged to have one of these machines at their disposal. The units were costly. Reliability was a problem. Processor capabilities were minimal. Computer memory was limited. Hard disk speed, size, and reliability were also problems. Limited Mobility Conquering the portability issues leads to the next major type of mobility – limited mobility. Limited mobility allows portions of applications to be taken mobile. Simple applications or standalone applications are what was rolled-out. System units were smaller and actually portable. Performance was improved. Disk storage was rapidly growing (larger disks for less money). GIS systems that went mobile were usually restricted by the amount of disk space and the limited processing power in mobile units. “Helper” applications and translators were built during this period to run on the larger but limited machines. Problems that remain to be solved:
Miniaturization and chip advancements leads to the current state of mobility – full mobility. Today, mobile processors are available to take the full GIS mobile – including supporting applications. The mobile processors are light, fast, and durable. These mobile platforms plug-in at the office and can operate as main workstations. Other smaller mobile platforms are now available that run versions of applications that are similar to GIS application but are not fully functional GIS. Problems that remain to be solved:
Workstation processor speeds have grown tremendously. Disk units are still increasing in density. Communications options continue to get better. In addition to higher-speed dial-up capabilities, cellular modems, satellite connections and other capabilities are being created. Units can be ruggedized or standard usage. What do you choose? For a fully mobile GIS, you will chose the maximum speed processor, lots of memory, and the largest available disk unit. You will need to decide if the system units will be banged up. If so, you need to also find a mobile system that can be ruggedized. Ruggedizing units are better protected from spills, drops, bumps, cold, heat, and general grime than a non-ruggedized unit. Communication support will also need to be maximized. The best current technology should be purchased to improved data transfer times. For a limited mobile GIS, you will chose a slower processor speed. You’ll still pack in all the system memory and disk that you can. A limited mobility unit is going to be focused on data transfer and compression. It will have to be able to move data up and down quickly. So, limited mobile units will be equipped with high-speed communication support cards. Software Technology GIS applications and “helper” applications are stepping up to replication, data reduction, and GIS data management. The interest and need for these applications to go mobile is obvious. GIS and software companies are pretty focused on getting their application mobile. Replication and data reduction are the key software technology areas that need additional focus. Replication means creating and managing information in a more local form. The GIS application must be able to know when the data was taken out and what changes have been made to both copies. The GIS application and “helper” applications must work together to make this synchronization work. Integrating changes from the field along with changes (if allowed) from the main application has to be done to keep the mobile application in synch with the main application. Data reduction is a way to reduce the size of your replicated data sets and databases. Most GIS systems have built-in compression – that’s not what this is. Data reduction is a way to eliminate bringing over excess data for a specific area. The smaller the data amount that has to be moved, the better. What do you chose? You choose a solution that you can get supported. Minimize the number of software companies involved. Lashing together a solution from multiple software companies creates complexity that is tough to manage. Because of the UtiliCorp United mobility heritage, a limited mobility option must also be deployed as well as a fully mobile option. Utilicorp's Mobile “Heritage” “Heritage” means what is installed now and why. UtiliCorp United implemented its first mobile application for Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD). This system was tightly integrated with a new customer information system. The hardware technology selected was a customized version of a ruggedized mobile computer. It had limited processor speed, limited memory, and limited disk storage. The CAD unit was also envisioned to be a pen-based unit. Going mobile has to include this “heritage”. Hundreds of these units have been purchased and will remain in use in the field for years. So, a method to get GIS data on them is needed. GIS integration was planned for that process at its inception. Getting maps to the field is a key element to UtiliCorp United success. Who uses Mobile GIS and what jobs do they do? Mobile GIS at UtiliCorp United will be used by:
Mobile Work Management will involve our construction crews and their supervisors. The GIS system serves as their mapping tool for job-site and job design drawings. Lead Operations Tech, Service Technicians, and Appliance Repair Technicians will use the Mobile GIS for maps of where they are now, when the are traveling to, what facilities exist in those areas. The dispatching functions will be using the GIS system centrally and communicating information out to the technicians in the field. Utilicorp's Mobile Direction UtiliCorp United is going to roll-out its GIS in a full mobile fashion for new users. For existing users that have CAD machines, UCU will be rolling out a limited mobility GIS. The roll-out will start with existing GIS users that are in the Construction Coordinator role. Operational Preparation The Construction Coordinators will be upgraded to robust, GIS-capable laptops. There are about 20 of these individuals in UtiliCorp United. The GIS will be stratified to so their assigned area can be replicated and downloaded to their local machines. Operational Flow Construction Coordinators will then use the fully mobile GIS to check and approve work completion, to design and estimate new jobs, and to create rough cost quotations for customers. Construction Coordinators will return to their office or home at the end of the day. They will plug their machine into either the network or the telephone to dial in. They will send their updates from the day into the master GIS application. They will synchronize their copy of the GIS database. They will post their updates to the database. Costs and Benefits The cost of the core GIS system is basically not affected by mobility. However, the replication support tasks will require at least a full-time person. And, it appears that the laptops will be upgrades to the workstations that the Construction Coordinators have today. Additional licensing fees will be paid to software vendors. The current go mobile with Construction Coordinators cost estimate looks like it will cost about $200,000 to $250,000. The payback time period on this cost is 1 ½ years. The biggest benefit is the elimination of the paper map update process that the field is doing now to verify work. The second biggest benefit is to be able to rough estimate jobs for marketing representatives. Tighter integration with mobile Work Management will increase the benefits gained. Mobile Work Management is not scheduled to begin until 2001. So, initial focus will be taking work requests to the field for design and bringing them back into the system after designed in the field. Protecting the Corporate Database The layering that will be done preparing to go to the field will protect the main, corporate GIS from harm. Each Construction Coordinator will be capable of bringing back their changes and putting them into the system. None of the corporate database will be exposed to the control of the mobile end-user. At this point, no lock-out will be attempted for end-users. GIS administrators will watch over the posting process and the data replication process for the Construction Coordinators. The corporate database is not exposed. The future pf Mobile GIS UtiliCorp United and other utilities will continue to push the development of mobile GIS technology. Full usage of evolving Internet and Intranet technologies will be the driving force. Technology improvements in software, networks, processors, and systems will be the springboard for improvement. Web-based, browser-delivered mobile applications GIS companies are actively developing their Web-based or browser-based applications. These applications will be tested and explored for suitability. Most people can use the Internet. The browser is the application that people use for the Internet. GIS applications today are in their first browser-capable versions of software. The next two generations of the applications will provide significant improvements to GIS technology. Processor size enhancements in mobile equipment Technology continues to leap ahead. Processor speeds have doubled in the last year. And, it looks as is they will continue to multiply. Mobile devices continue to improve as low-power processor versions continue to improve as well. Which of the devices that we see today will be successor of what we use today? GIS applications must remain flexible to accept these improvements in mobile equipment. Networking enhancements increase bandwidth More bits and bytes are flying through the air. Higher speeds and high throughputs can be counted on in the future. GIS applications will benefit from higher network performance. These speeds will allow more data to be moved through a network to keep the Mobile GIS afloat. Speed improvement also allows more data to be moved back to the main GIS database. Higher-speeds will be available to be dial-in and networked connections. Higher quality fiber optics are delivering better speeds. Enhancements in routers and other network devices will deliver high-quality, consistent performance. Increasing use if terminal server technology will also enhance performance while reducing bandwidth requirements. Be the Map Book – a Map Book in an electronic tablet For UtiliCorp United, the future of mobile GIS will be the Map Book. End-users, a large portion of UCU’s end-users, use a map book. And, that is what they need to be delivered by the corporate GIS application. These end-users don’t want to use computers at all. They need a reliable source of map information. They need to be able to mark-up errors or make notations. The map book must be usable regardless of the weather conditions or time of day. Map books must operate without network connection and in disaster conditions as well. The mobile Map Book is what most field users must have. Developing a tablet-like system unit is one possibility. Today’s limited mobility systems look tablet-like. But, the future system will have to have enhanced processor and flat panel display capabilities. These “tablets” will use high-speed, browser-based Mobile GIS applications. The tablet will keyboard, mouse and pen-based. Updates will be distributed to the “tablet” via the network in either a dial-in or docked basis. Red-line or mark-up information will be sent back to the main GIS database to be posted. Map books today are mobile. They go anywhere and can be used anytime. They are as accurate as a business cares to keep them. The future application must be as mobile, as easy to use, and as capable of being updated at today’s map books. To satisfy your field personnel, give them a map book that is current, easy-to-use, and never fails to operate. Will your business be the first to get this technology fully deployed? | ||
| © GISdevelopment.net. All rights reserved. |