Wireless GIS - Reasons and methods to create general access to enterprise GIS for field workers
Strite Potter
President and Founder
Links Point Inc.
1 Selleck Street, Suite 330
Norwalk, CT 06855
Abstract The cost of implementing and maintaining a GIS and landbase is significant. Delivering
the data available from the GIS to the field can provide significant efficiencies, reduced costs, and
increased operating profits. The period for the return on investment is short and the costs can be staged.
So why hasn’t everyone implemented wireless access to GIS data?
The answer to this question is that creating wireless access to the data is not a simple undertaking. The
biggest question is how to address bandwidth constraints. The wireless data transfer protocol with the
least cost, CDPD, only allows data transfers at a rate of about 9 kilobits per second. The wireless data
transfer protocol with the greatest coverage, satellite communications, is very expensive and the data rates
are even slower. New services with greater speed are here, but they are only found in a few major
metropolitan areas. And then there is the promise of the future
There are ways of providing access to the data mobile field workers need using the wireless networks
available, but it requires structuring how the data needed is identified and delivered. We will demonstrate,
through example, strategies for addressing the mobile worker’s GIS data needs.
Article text
The pressure to increase operating efficiencies is constant for both corporations and governments alike.
Corporations are constantly under pressure to seek increasing efficiencies as a means of competition. The
company that finds one or more ways of becoming more efficient benefits from a widening profit margin
or gains market share by lowering prices while maintaining profit margins. Governments are also feeling
the pressure to operate more efficiently due to increasing demands on financial resources without the
development of new revenue sources. While both sectors use technology to increase the operating
efficiencies of office workers, neither sector has significantly adopted information technology to increase
the productivity of field workers.
Most data utilized by field workers is analog, in the form of information printed on paper. It is ironic that
most of the companies building the next generation of communications networks, those networks that will
utilize optical fiber, are sending their workers into the field with work orders, equipment diagrams, maps
and installation instructions all on paper. Governmental agencies that perform most of their functions
through field workers in areas such as health care, police, fire, and regulatory inspection could and should
benefit from the use of use mobile information systems. The development and use of a mobile GIS
strategy would dramatically reduce operating expenses, allowing these institutions to do more with less.
The question begs to be asked: why has there been such a low adoption of mobile data systems from
institutions that have a significant portion of their work force in the field?
There are two reasons that many organizations have not instituted a mobile data system: complexity and
cost. Both of these issues can be addressed. Simple analysis of the mobile information system value can
demonstrate the return on investment. And, if implemented in a controlled, staged manner, the technical
risks associated with complex systems can be obviated. The key to developing a successful mGIS
implementation is in prioritizing and staging the features of the system. This allows the institution to
address both the complexity of the system architecture through a simpler initial implementation and
determine the value of each feature implemented.
