Mobile GIS: using your enterprise GIS in the field
Today, the significance of GIS as a centralised information system – rather than simply being a useful cartographic tool – is much better understood and accepted. GIS is becoming a key component of business systems as a whole and is no longer restricted to the confines of geospatial analysts. An administrative role still exists, but rather than restricting operations to a specialised few on behalf of the organisation, the spatial analysis and cartographic operations of GIS are now carried out by the decision makers themselves.
Data is no longer restricted to a single machine in an organisation, but is widespread through the organisational network and, of course, across the ever spreading Internet for the wider global community to freely access, with increasing frequency. GIS reaches the same people that the institutional enterprise business system reach, but the management and operation of GIS is still generally restricted to those within an office environment. Field workers are still required to return to their office to utilise or modify data that is managed and maintained within the enterprise.
Moving forward, into the not too distant future, mobile GIS can be considered, very simply, as an extension of the existing enterprise GIS. The operations and data that decision makers use today will be made accessible to the entire workforce of an organisation in both the office and field environments.
The entire workforce will become knowledge-enabled, to the extent that they will no longer be dependant on others to assign tasks or to carry out spatial queries on their behalf. The field workforce will have access to the same information that everyone else in the office environment has made use of for many years now.
The expansion of the enterprise will take many different forms and will be used by a wide and varied audience, as depicted in Figure 1.
The Mobile GIS System
The technologies that are utilised by mobile GIS applications are generally well defined and consistent with an enterprise view of GIS, as depicted in Figure 2. The GIS engine, which still resides on a powerful, centralised server, carries out the main data management role and provides the underlying application development software for spatial analysis and query-based operations.
This GIS engine feeds the data into the organisational network for all who have access to the enterprise. The mobile field application is simply an additional connection into the enterprise. Accessing the exact same data as the rest of the enterprise, as and when needed. This connection is usually a physical connection, either directly into an office-based computer or through the Internet. The Internet is also used by the entire enterprise for the distribution of data throughout the organisation and, ultimately, from business to business.
The present situation sees the mobile field device operating its own resident application and working only with a copy of the data that everyone else accesses within the traditional enterprise GIS. As such, mobile GIS do not interact seamlessly within the structure of the network.
Moving forward, however, the seamless interaction of the mobile field device as part of the enterprise network itself will eventuate through the utilisation of wireless technology. Ultimately, we could see the field application operate as a web-browser, where its interface and analysis is carried out entirely on the GIS engine. But this scenario is still some way off. The application structure most likely is a small operational application and some resident base data being held on the field device, with the field device only interacting with the enterprise when data is updated or new data is viewed or queried. Even this scenario is some way away, with wireless technology not offering the bandwidth required just yet to make the transfer of data transparent enough for efficient operation.
Although wireless technology is useful in the operation of mobile GIS, it is not an absolute requirement. Mobile GIS operate today; it is just that their interaction within the enterprise utilises landline communication technology rather than wireless.
Whether wireless technology is used or not, the ability for the field application and device to be aware of its location is a significant factor in the ultimate success and acceptance of mobile GIS – for both spatial awareness and operational efficiency. This is considered in more detail later.
It is easy to incorrectly think of mobile GIS in terms of the mobile application component alone. Mobile GIS is a system. It is dependent on the underlying GIS engine – utilising its power in the same way as any of the other components within the broader enterprise. The field devices used within a mobile GIS are restricted, however, in terms of processing power and storage capacity, which means the mobile GIS operates in a different way to the rest of the access points within the traditional enterprise GIS.
Field Device Considerations
Operation in a field environment is what makes the mobile GIS different to the rest of the enterprise. Whereas the personal computer used within an office context is a fixed asset in a stable environment, the field device (or field computer) is a mobile asset in an unpredictable, or unstable, environment. The capabilities of the field device and knowledge of where the device is located become important considerations for mobile GIS operations.
Field Device Capabilities
The field device is the mobile worker’s personal computer. It must operate in environmental conditions that are harsher than an office environment. For each individual user these conditions will vary, but there are definite risks involved with equipment failure in any situation where equipment is being moved about. When consider which device is best for the environment it is going be used in, particular emphasis needs to be placed on the ability to view graphics and text on the screen and the impact a breakage to the field device has on the operation at hand – and the budget.
When the field device is dropped, it is important that new data is not lost should the device be damaged. Data must be retrievable even when the field device doesn’t operate for its intended use. The costs – both financially and in time – associated with data collection are often not considered, until data is irretrievable. When considering a field device, a device that uses non-volatile data storage is safer than one that simply uses RAM.
GIS is graphically intensive – so will be mobile GIS. For this reason, and because the mobile GIS system requires its own resident data storage (at least until wireless technology has sufficient bandwidth to manage the transfer of large data sets efficiently), the field device requires a relatively large memory capacity, a fast processor and well designed application software to manage the large datasets that will be used.
Finally, because mobile GIS is part of a system that spans between the office and field, the operating system and application software on the field device must be compatible with that used by the enterprise GIS. Without doubt, Microsoft’s Windows operating system is the de facto standard within an office environment. Microsoft’s Windows CE is also becoming the de facto standard for field devices. A standard operating system provides stability that encourages the development of commercial applications, which encourages growth within the industry. This in turn provides a wider range of selection for the consumer.
While few devices offer the complete solution, devices that have integrated components provide an ergonomically and functionally tidier solution – especially when the major hardware components are housed in the same unit.