Is Mobile the Future of GIS?

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Is Mobile the Future of GIS?

• Matt Sheehan
• WebMapSolutions

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About Matt Sheehan

• Principal developer WebMapSolutions
• Company formed in 2006
• Location focused Web and Mobile Application
  Developers

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Agenda

• Background
• - Internet to Web 2.0 to mobile
• - Geospatial history
• Mobile
• - Mobile Demystified
• - Geo-Mobile applications

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Background
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History - Internet to Web 2.0 to Mobile

• Lynx, Mosaic HTML
• Javascript
• 2004 Web 2.0 Web as Platform
• Flash (2004)
• AJAX (2005)
• Flex (2006) and Silverlight (2008)
• Mobile Flex, HTML5, Objective-C, Java

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GeoSpatial History

• 1960-75 - Harvard Laboratory For Computer
  Graphics And Spatial Analysis
• 1969 - Environmental Systems Research Institute
  (ESRI) - built on Harvard Graphics developments
• 1970 - Intergraph Corporation IBM spin off
• 1996 MapQuest launched
• 1997 ESRI launch MapObjects IMS
• 2000 ESRI launch ArcIMS
• 2000 2006 MapServer and GeoServer are released
• 2002 ESRI launch ArcIMS
• 2005 Google maps is released
• 2005 OpenStreetMap founded
• 2007 Yahoo, Microsoft offer mapping sites and
  APIs
• 2008 - First GPS enabled smart phone
• 2012 Mobile Maps, GIS LBS

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Mobile
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Mobile Demystified

• Mobile is confusing!
• - Hardware - Smartphones Tablets
• - Platforms iOS, Android, Windows ..
• - Software Web v native v hybrid
• - Languages Mobile Flex, HTML 5,
  Objective-C, Java

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Hardware

• Smartphones
• - Screen size 2.1 4
• - Good for routing, check-in apps etc
• Tablets
• Screen size 7 10.1
• - Offers the possibility of richer more
  complex apps

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Mobile Apps

• Web
• - Javascript/HTML 5 most mobile browsers
• - Flash, Flex Silverlight not Apple iOS
• Native Installed apps eg. Objective-C (iOS)
• advantages performance?
• disadvantage built for one platform
• Hybrid - Installed apps eg. Adobe Mobile Flex
• advantages runs on most platforms
• disadvantage performance?

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Applications of Mobile Technology
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Location Focused APIs

• Maps and more Google, MapQuest
• GIS ESRI
• Other location service
• Foursquare, Facebook, GeoLoqi
• - GeoMarketing, GeoFencing, GeoSocial

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Available Mobile GIS Apps

• ESRI Free app iOS Android. ArcGIS.com
• ESRI ArcGIS Online templates
• WebMapSolutions GeoMobile for ArcGIS
• Free app iOS, Android, Blackberry

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Sharing your GIS Data

• ArcGIS Server dynamic, tiled, feature lyrs
• ArcGIS Online web maps
• Shapefiles
• Other GeoServer, Mapserver

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Visualization

• View your data as layers over basemaps fields,
  soil type etc
• Both static and dynamic data

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Management and
Coordination

• Tracking and coordinating field workers
• Live data updates from the field

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Query Search

• View feature attributes. Query for features with
  specific attributes

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Tools

• Geospatial tools for specific work flows
  buffering, measure, routing

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Data Collection

• The end of pen and paper
• Adding updating features field fertilization

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Updates, Editing,
Annotation

• Feature and Attribute Editing.
• Updates done in the field sent to central server

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Mobile GeoSpatial Applications Online/Offline

• No Wi-Fi . no problem!
• Caching data on the mobile device

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Is Mobile the Future of GIS?

• Mobile Opportunity
• Context
• New users
• New tools
• New markets

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Questions

• Should we re-label ourselves - location based
  solution providers?
• Is this the end for Trimble?
• Will be start also looking to Google etc for
  (GIS) solutions?

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Thank You - Questions?

• Website and Blog www.webmapsolutions.com
• Twitter
• www.twitter.com/flexmappers
• YouTube
• www.youtube.com/webmapsolutions
• matt_at_webmapsolutions.com