Mobile GIS

Mobile GIS

Mobile GIS is the expansion of GIS technology from the office into the field. A mobile GIS enables field-based personnel to capture, store, and update, manipulate, analyze, and display geographic information. Mobile GIS integrates one or more of the following technologies:

 

1. Mobile devices

 

2. Global positioning system (GPS)

 

3. Wireless communications for Internet GIS access

 

Traditionally, the processes of field data collection and editing have been time consuming and error prone. Geographic data has traveled into the field in the form of paper maps. Field edits were performed using sketches and notes on paper maps and forms. Once back in the office, these field edits were deciphered and manually entered into the GIS database. The result has been that GIS data has often not been as up-to-date or accurate as it could have been.

 

ESRI’s developments in mobile GIS have enabled GIS to be taken into the field as digital maps on compact, mobile computers, providing field access to enterprise geographic information. This enables organizations to add real-time information to their database and applications, speeding up analysis, display, and decision making by using up-to-date, more accurate spatial data.

Firefighters, police officers, engineering crews, surveyors, utility workers, soldiers, census workers, field biologists, and others, use mobile GIS to complete the following tasks:

 

Field Mapping— Create, edit, and use GIS maps in the field.

 

Asset Inventories— Create and maintain an inventory of asset locations and attribute information.

 

Asset Maintenance— Update asset location and condition and schedule maintenance.

 

Inspections— Maintain digital records and locations of field assets for legal code compliance and ticketing.

 

Incident Reporting—Document the location and circumstances of incidents and events for further action or reporting.

 

GIS Analysis and Decision Making—Perform measuring, buffering, geo-processing, and other GIS analysis while in the field.

 

 

Mobile GIS Application Areas and Industries

	Industry
Task		Government	Utility and Infrastructure	Environment	Public Safety
	Field Mapping	1.     Recording Building Footprints 2.     Right-of-Way Mapping 3.     Based Mapping	1. Centerline Review and Mapping 2. Facility Mapping	1. Forest Boundary Mapping 2. Trail Mapping 3. Geochemical Mapping 4. Volcanic Deposit Mapping 5. Wetlands Delineation	1. 911 Address Mapping 2. Minefield Mapping 3. Military Fieldwork and Mapping
	Asset Inventories	1.     Street Sign Inventory 2.     Municipal Assets Inventory (GASB 34) 3.     Tree Survey 4.     Census Data Collection 5.     Housing Condition Survey 6.     Cemetery Inventory	1.     Recording Installations 2.     Storm Water Inlet Inventory 3.     Storage Tank Mapping	1.     Toxic Inventory 2.     Mineral Exploration 3.     Vegetation Survey 4.     Wetland Survey 5.     Archaeological Site Survey	6.     Aerial Survey 7.     Fire Perimeter Mapping
	Asset Maintenance	1.     Road Condition Survey 2.     Streetlight Survey 3.     Patient Registration	1.     Power Pole Maintenance 2.     New Equipment Installation 3.     Pavement Condition Assessment	1.     Crop Management 2.     Vacant Land Condition Management 3.     Timber Harvest Management 4.     Drainage System Management	1.     Locating Buried Infrastructure 2.     Recording Avalanche Observations 3.     Facility Maintenance Survey
	Inspections	1.     Road Pavement Management 2.     Code Enforcement 3.     Health Inspection 4.     Housing Condition 5.     Water Rights Enforcement	1.     Meter Reading 2.     Septic System Inspection 3.     Documentation 4.     Compliance Monitoring 5.     Dam Safety Inspection	1.     Habitat Studies 2.     Weed Abatement 3.     Well Sampling 4.     Wildfire Sightings	1.     Damage Inspection 2.     Tracking Violations 3.     Street Sign Inspection 4.     Flood Risk Assessment
	Incident Reporting	1.     West Nile Virus Incidents 2.     Public Nuisance Surveys	1.     Locating Outages 2.     Regulatory Compliance	1.     Animal Migration Tracking 2.     Oil Spill Assessment 3.     Radioactive Contamination Tracking	1.     Damage Buried Infrastructure 2.     Recording Avalanche Observations 3.     Facility Maintenance Survey
	GIS Analysis	1.     GIS Data Validation 2.     Routing to Locations 3.     Property Records Management	1.     Locating Customers for Meter Reading and Billing 2.     Routing to Locations 3.     Trading Network Outgas	1.     Agricultural Statistics 2.     Vegetation Boundary Validation	1.     Locating Customer Addresses for Investigations 2.     Emergency Identification of Affected Areas 3.     Navigating to Accident Locations