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Moving Mobile Forward at
MnDOT
Topics
1. Why mobile, why now?
2. Considerations and decisions
3. Doing mobile “right” means you need to take a
look at your overall enterprise architecture
4. What was proposed/built
Why mobile
• Reacting to:
– A large mobile and distributed workforce who wants access to
information anytime anywhere
– Many business areas pushing for mobile applications for field
data collection
• Asset collection, GSOC, EAB, ADA…
– Multiple technologies and approaches were being pushed
• Concerns about a maintenance headache
– Need to develop a common architecture for deploying mobile
apps
• Development of a “Mobile Framework”
Why now?
• Great new and powerful devices
– Smart Phones
– Tablets
– Ability to integrate with others systems
• Increasingly ubiquitous wireless broadband
– 3G/4G networks
– Hot spots and air cards for laptops
• Need for productivity gains
Decisions, decisions, decisions
• What kind(s) of applications?
– Mapping & business systems
– What are your business needs for mobile?
• Disconnected vs connected editing
– Data check-in/check-out?
• What kind(s) of devices and how many?
• “Phone apps” vs “Phone web apps”
• What accuracy of GPS?
• Existing Infrastructure
What kind(s) of applications?
On a phone, GIS/mapping may on the periphery
• Business systems?
– Email
– Timesheets
– Work orders
• Mapping?
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–
–
–
Direction finding
Field inspections
Access to asset information
Feature locating
What kind(s) of devices?
• Phones
– Are you prepared/able to standardize?
– iPhone, Android, RIM, WinPhone
• Tablets
– iPad
– Android
• Laptops & GPS Devices
“Phone apps” vs “Phone web apps”
• Pure phone, e.g., “iPhone app”
– Takes better advantage of phone
hardware
• Camera, GPS, accelerometer, etc.
– But, requires standardization on a
single phone
• Or, building a different app for each
phone
“Phone apps” vs “Phone web apps”
• Phone-based web-app
– Relies on the phone’s browser app
– Web pages, HTML5, JavaScript
• Can be optimized for small screens
• “Adaptive design”
– Good access to GPS; camera not
yet supported (but coming)
– Examples of “minified web pages”
http://Maps.google.com
http://Touch.Facebook.com
What accuracy of GPS?
• Phone & car navigation systems:
3-10 meters - Commercial
• GPS devices, cards for laptop/tablets:
1 foot - 3 meters – Mapping Grade
– <1 meter with post processing or
real-time correction services (e.g. OmniStar)
• Dedicated, high quality GPS devices:
Sub-foot – High Precision
– Established base stations and RTK
Disconnected vs connected editing
• Connected = direct edits to the server
• Disconnected = “synching” with server
• Will you always be connected to the internet?
– If so, then web-based forms are possible
– If not, need a mechanism to work while disconnected, and then
synch with server “later”
– Support for connection disruption (i.e., “mostly connected”)
• Support for fully disconnected editing
– Data check-out/check-in
– Synchronization upon return to the office
– Non-trivial and Esri provides good tools
• But some strings are attached
Mobile apps require a solid server and
data management foundation
• In short, to effectively take your data into the field you
need to have your back-end in order
• Mobile applications should interface with your
“enterprise infrastructure”
– Enterprise GIS
• Base maps
• Business layers and their attributes (e.g., parcels, utilities)
• Web services (both cached and dynamic)
– Business systems
• For example, work orders, asset management, CAMA, etc.
Mn/DOT Mobile project
5 deliverables
1. Business requirements document
–
10 workshops
2. Mobile data framework v1
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Including a data model and app dev guide
3. Two prototype applications
a. ArcGIS Mobile Framework-based ADA application
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Inventory sidewalk features (e.g. ramps) for ADA compliance
Built by partner firm, CDM
b. Proof of concept phone-based web app
4. Device matrix
Observations from the business
requirements
• There are LOTS of requirements
• GIS/mapping is not necessarily the driver; great need for
business system access and timesheets
• Mobile application development is different than enterprise
application development
– Need for flexibility and agility
– Need to deploy rapidly
• You may have a field crew (or interns) waiting for the tool
– Need to be able to readily make adjustments to the app
• You learn how the app needs to change once you’re in the field
Mobile framework and data model
• One app framework /one data schema – many apps
– App to build an apps – create an app
– Add inputs to apps – identify data fields you want to collect
– App builds itself in browser based on inputs
– Add features to apps- collect data
• All data from all apps goes
into one database schema
– Geometry data,
it’s just another field
• OGC simple features
Conceptual view of mobile
framework (aka The Green Box)
Enterprise
Enterprise
Enterprise
Integration
Integration
Guide
Guide
Framework
Framework
Management
Management
Guide
Guide
The Green Box
Database Tier
Enterprise
Integration
Services
Enterprise
GIS Data
ArcGIS Server
Consumable Services
Legacy
Business
Systems
Consumable Services
Application Tier
Interface
Interface
IIS Web Server
Interface
Decision Matrix
Business
Requirements
Interface
Application
Application
Development
Development
Guide
Guide
Business
Business
Requirements
Requirements
Building a phone app
Test_app
ADA - Sidewalk Inventory
Traditional app that uses Esri ArcGIS v10
mobile framework
Allows for disconnected editing, and sync’s data
back to the database for quick access back in the
office.
Using the app
Support of multiple platforms
Can run in full
browser mode on a
PC, or on a phone
Pick-list
widget adjusts
for phone
browser
Project Status
• Finished the ADA app
• Completing recovery from government shutdown
• Completing the build-out of the proof of concept
mobile web-app
• Working to perfect and deploy an initial version of
the mobile framework
Conclusion
• There are huge opportunities to capitalize on mobile GIS
technology and applications.
• There will be increasing volume of activity
• Mobile is different and takes some thought and planning
for the best approach for your organization
• This is something we think can be used elsewhere