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Mobile Mapping and Virtual GIS
 Larry Diamond Vice President, GIS Solutions Division, Autodesk
GIS professionals worldwide are increasingly aware of mobile and web based GIS solutions. These professionals depend on today’s facts and not tomorrow’s predictions. So, why consider the future of mobile and virtual GIS? The answer is this: the Internet’s distributed computing environment is revolutionizing the way we do business by delivering compelling technologies that answer real needs. This distributed computing environment supports applications that quickly reduce operating expenses, increase productivity, and dramatically improve customer satisfaction and retention.
While no computing environment has been entirely eliminated (mainframe and workstation computing is still active), the industry has seen the rapid adoption of desktop and now distributed models. Distributed computing is a catchall term that includes other terms like mobile, Internet, intranet, extranet, the Web, and network-centric. Regardless of the terminology, the growing trend is to distribute computing services across a physical infrastructure of networked data storage devices and computer processors. Newer environments includes two, three, and n tier models where the physical locations of data storage and application processing are not on the same machine (or in the same country) as each other or the client interface. It is this migration from a workstation or desktop’s one-tier solution to a component and transaction based model that has reshaped GIS. Many end-users won’t receive GIS products in a product box any longer. Of course, there will still be thousands of GIS professionals who are creating data and applications using desktop software out of the box, but awareness of GIS exposure is increasing for the average citizen. In addition to applications and services offered to customers across the Internet, we are seeing GIS move to the field. Autodesk was the first major GIS vendor to lead this charge by putting data in the field with distributed and mobile GIS solutions; no matter what your data looks like, no matter where you are. For example, Australia’s leading telecommunications company, Telstra, is working with Autodesk and our partner, Geomatic Technologies, to equip its field engineers with mobile GIS software and data. These mobile applications provide precise engineering and mapping data integrated with work order management and customer service applications. Telstra is taking its GIS solutions into the field where technicians can mark-up the maps and send edits back to the office. This is integrated with the complete business process. This isn’t on the drawing board. This is a real application. The future is here now. GIS can be delivered today as a fast, reliable and secure service (not a standalone desktop) through a network cable as a hosted or mobile application across shared enterprise servers. What Is Called “New” Is Often Not Software vendors regularly announce new versions of their flagship products. As an example, Autodesk regularly improves its flagship product, AutoCAD. But in addition to these efforts, Autodesk has also invested heavily in products built from the ground up with distributed computing in mind. Indeed, we regularly integrate new features into Autodesk Map and Autodesk Civil Design that take advantage of distributed computing. These features help civil engineers collaborate with their entire construction team, including the government inspectors, builders, and material suppliers. But these products are still desktop mapping and civil engineering tools. Some software vendors have struggled with the new paradigm of distributed computing, trying to use their desktop, legacy products as mobile map or web map servers. The right approach for a the customer is built from the ground up for distributed computing. Even better, web and mobile technologies should work well with other GIS and CAD systems. As software vendors, we must be responsive to your business and to your data by building open systems. Autodesk is a great example. You may not be an AutoCAD user, but many of our happiest, most valued customers use our web and mobile software only. Our most recent release, Autodesk MapGuide 6, is a perfect example of a stable, proven technology built on the strengths of distributed computing. This software uses standard, open programming interfaces for developers and accepts virtually all standard design and mapping data formats without conversion. The computing industry is rife with victims of proprietary systems who chose to remain with a single vendor despite compelling, complimentary, and open architectures offered by other strong players. Make the right decision for your company based on the best available tools in the market. Insist to us, your vendors, that these tools work and play well with your existing environment. The Principles of mobile and virtual GIS Estimates suggest that for every single back office professional who manages data, there are between 6 to 10 front office or mobile field-based employees who need to use the same data. We can consider the 1980s and 1990s as the decades of data acquisition. This was the era when organizations were collecting and synthesizing vast amounts of geographic data. Having acquired all these data, our customers are looking for ways to leverage this investment by distributing it. The main driver for this is, of course, profitability. But profitability can be achieved in two ways. First, businesses are looking to improve process efficiency and reduce operational costs. Making faster, better decisions based on faster, better information helps businesses streamline their day-to-day tasks. If a field engineer for an electric utility company has the right information on the initial service call, the company will save money because additional trips back and forth to the office for better information are unnecessary. Companies with large networks and outside plant usually have large mobile teams to maintain and improve these networks. Much of these companies’ operational costs are in the field. These same companies are using digital design and spatial data to improve process efficiencies and reduce traditional costs. Having the right information at the point of work helps them achieve this. A second way to increase profitability is to expand market share, discover new ways to market and invent new products. Today, one place companies are looking to find new products is within their own spatial database. There is tremendous value in your organization’s data. Again, we’ll use the example of an electric utility. Quite often, there are communications companies that want to attach their new broadband network on utility poles that belong to an electric utility. If the electric utility can provide a quick and accurate description of their network, the electric utility can raise new revenue by leasing space on their outside plant. But a comprehensive pole and network inventory was not always easy to provide to a prospective customer in the past. A complete GIS database can make this service easier to aggregate and market to other utilities and customers. In order to achieve the goal of reduced costs, increased productivity, and improved customer satisfaction, the future of GIS will embrace the following principles.
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