{"id":3268,"date":"2014-09-24T08:36:14","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T15:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/?p=3268"},"modified":"2014-09-24T08:36:14","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T15:36:14","slug":"mobile-gis-never-heard-of-it","status":"publish","type":"insider","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/mobile-gis-never-heard-of-it","title":{"rendered":"Mobile GIS? Never Heard Of It!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Many Workflows are Best Served with Targeted Apps<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nI get this said to me all the time:  \u201cWe have this big GIS in the office. We use it all the time to make maps and export data into our outage systems or gas leak management system. It\u2019s great! <em>Can we put it into the field for the mobile workers<\/em>?\u201d<br \/>\nPeople <em>want<\/em> mobile GIS.  But I respond like a psychiatrist when they ask for it: Instead of giving them a straight answer, I ask them a question: \u201cTo do what?\u201d<br \/>\nTheir answers span a big gamut. They range from, \u201cIt\u2019s easier to get maps on a mobile device than to carry around paper maps,\u201d to&#8230;<br \/>\n<!--more-->\u201cThe mobile GIS would be more current, so I\u2019d get better data in the field,\u201d to&#8230;<br \/>\n\u201cWell, then I could access the entire electric or gas system with me!\u201d<br \/>\nAgain I ask the simple question: \u201cTo do what?\u201d<br \/>\nIn frustration, the common answer is, \u201cField work.\u201d<br \/>\nUgh! The more accurate answer is, \u201cWith mobile GIS, I could do all kinds of stuff: transformer inspections, pole inspections, damage assessment, customer surveys, staking, manhole cleaning, battery maintenance, meter testing, painting&#8230;\u201d The list goes on!   There may be hundreds of different workflows.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nMobile GIS Enables Countless Workflows<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/files\/2014\/09\/mobile_util.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3269\" src=\"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/files\/2014\/09\/mobile_util-300x162.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"162\" \/><\/a>The issue is that each one of these workflows requires a very limited set of information. So why load up field workers\u2019 mobile devices with everything they could ever want\u2013but really don\u2019t need\u2013on their ruggedized laptops? It\u2019s a classic case of one-size-doesn\u2019t-fit-all.<br \/>\nInstead, there should be no such a thing as mobile GIS at all. There should be an app for each workflow. We should be asking about a damage-collection app, a streetlight-replacement app, or a pole-inspection app. If my job is to do lamp replacements today for the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, then my app should show me only streetlights that need lamp replacements in Somerville. I don\u2019t need or want data on line switches, gas leaks, or dirty manholes unless the workflow requires it\u2013period.<br \/>\nSince the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/what-is-gis\" target=\"_blank\">GIS<\/a> is an information system, it has the ability to serve or publish just\u2013and only just\u2013the information field workers need to do their job. So the next time someone asks what your mobile GIS strategy is, answer this way: \u201cI give the field worker just the right information for just the right place at just the right time on just the right device to do the work at hand.\u201d<br \/>\nMobile GIS? Never heard of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[275862],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3268","insider","type-insider","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-focus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mobile GIS? 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