The Map Genie

What about access to your Geographic Information System (GIS) files by field personnel?  Could this benefit the organization?  What operations within your structure could use wireless access to GIS information?  I picked this topic (it doesn't appear on the chart I published last week) because it supports many organizational software uses of the wireless system.

Suppose for a moment, you are looking through a mystical portal into the not to distant future and you find yourself watching a Water Department repair crew just clearing from a previous call for service.  The Forman receives an urgent assignment via his laptop computer for a broken water main at the intersection of Main and First Streets, about the busiest intersection in town.  Before the crew truck begins to roll, the Forman pulls up the GIS on the laptop to the intersection of the call and selects the water distribution system overlay.  He is looking at all the distribution pipes in the immediate area and determines that only one could be the cause.  He places his curser on the pipe icon on the map and "left clicks his mouse".  This action brings up the nomenclature of the 20" main including brand, when installed, expected life and repair kit requirements.  The Foreman then activates his asset management system to reveal the availability of the needed repair kit in the Water Department warehouse.  Finding none in stock, he orders one to be drop shipped from a neighboring City.  This is all accomplished as the crew leaves the location of their previous call...pretty slick huh?

Upon arrival to Main and First, the excavation begins and the break is revealed.  Rather than traveling to the scene, the Water Department engineer has the Forman activate a wireless Internet capable camera to walk him "virtually" through the break and discusses requirements for the repair of the pipe.  In the meantime, the repair kit arrives, the repairs are made and the engineer approves the work through another "virtual" assessment of the repair.  The hole is covered, the road repaired and water service restored, all within the same working day!

This example of field access to GIS files can be repeated throughout the organization.  The more information made available to field forces through GIS improves their efficiency many fold.  The combination of a GIS system, an asset management system (CMMS) and a work order management system is a real time saver and waste killer.  Many cities are currently working to establish this combination with wireless access and some have already achieved the ultimate.

Leonard Scott