Satellites, GPS Tracking, Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Technologies

My good friend J.D. Axford, a civil engineer and hero of all ducks for his wetlands work, sent me a very interesting (if you are into GPS tracking, GIS, mobile technology, artificial intelligence, accelerometers, etc.) article he wrote on how the physical is meeting the digital in the world of construction and engineering today.  I am including it here for your pleasure and education.

Compaction, in heavy construction, is the application of energy to soil, crushed rock, or asphalt to increase density by driving out air, which enables the finished, compacted material to support buildings, roadways, and other structures. Compaction is specified as a percentage of the maximum dry density determined in the lab.

During construction, compaction is most often measured using a nuclear densitometer. Other reliable methods include the use of sand cone (ASTM D-1556) and rubber balloon (ASTM D-2167) methodologies; less formal tests used in the field include soil probes (a pointed steel rod pushed into the ground to gage penetration resistance and therefore estimate compaction), proof-rolling with loaded dump trucks while observing deflection, and even boot-heels. These all are necessarily spot-checks; consistency is sought by controlling the compaction process.  This requires the roller operator’s ability to track speed and passes over each section while estimating compaction, leading to both over- and under-compaction. Near-constant inspection is usually needed, and even so, compaction is a frequent source of job site disagreement.

Intelligent compaction (IC) is a system growing in use which combines on-board GPS, computers, and axle-mounted accelerometers to provide continuously-controlled compaction. The accelerometers measure stiffness, and indirect measurement of density, and feed that information to the computer, which uses GPS to produce a color-coded map of the working area; the colors are used to provide an intuitive depiction of areas already meeting specifications, and those needing more compaction. For asphalt work, IC systems (there are approximately eight US equipment vendors developing and selling IC), infrared sensors measure (and the computer maps) the asphalt temperature, a critical data set in ensuring timely compaction as the material cools.

As is normal, a test zone is compacted at the start of the overall compaction effort to determine the number of passes and speed the material requires to meet specifications. That information is entered into the on-board IC system as the baseline against which future work areas are compared and mapped. This eliminates guesswork, eliminates overwork, and improves the homogeneity of the finished product, saving money for the contractor and improving the service life of the compacted product.

Intelligent compaction, requires mobile technologies, GPS tracking and artificial intelligence to calculate all kinds of accelerometer and speed data, location and project requirements.  This is another example of how the physical is meeting the digital and improving processes.  You can learn more about how artificial intelligence is being integrated into field services by ClickSoftware here.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Using Artificial Intelligence in Health Services Requires Real-Time Enterprise Mobility

I am intrigued by the increasing use of artificial intelligence in areas like field services management and home healthcare services.  I read a use case (http://www.clicksoftware.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/KinCare-Case-Study.pdf) this morning about KinCare and ClickSoftware in Australia.  KinCare provides all kinds of home and healthcare services across a wide geography in Australia.  They are one of the largest providers of in-home care and assistance in Australia and they get paid by providing documented services compliant with government regulations.  There are designated fees for each service and there are little to no margins for errors. It is very easy to screw up and to lose a lot of money in this kind of operation.

Let me provide an example of KinCare's services:

• Nursing care
• Personal care
• Domestic assistance
• Social support
• Respite care
• Transportation
• Case management

Some of their clients need all of these services.  These services are often provided by different people at different times.  Let's image tens of thousands of clients, care givers and service providers located all across Australia.  All of these participants and their appointments must be scheduled and coordinated.  Does that sound like a big enough challenge for you Mate?

The only way to run this kind of operation efficiently is to make sure the care givers and service providers are connected (via mobile devices) to an intelligent software system (using artificial intelligence and context aware systems) to understand how to most efficiently provide and schedule hundreds of thousands of services.  In addition, must also make sure each care and service provider is qualified, available and in close proximity.  Also it is important to note that these services are critical to a persons health and welfare.

The mobile devices are used as mobile data collection devices, sensors (GPS) and reporting systems in the service delivery process. Mobile devices feed real-time data to the real-time analytics and artificial intelligence systems that schedule all parties across the country.  Since all of these participants are mobile, it takes very careful and fast analytics to ensure all parties can meet in the right places, deliver and receive services efficiently, document services and invoice for those services.

Smartphones and tablets, broadband internet connectivity and ultra-fast artificial intelligence capabilities integrated with human resource, talent management, scheduling, case management, patient and service management, billing and dispatch systems are all required to make this work.  Wow!  Speed and artificial intelligence systems are revolutionizing these kinds of operations today.

When I am out teaching mobile and SMAC strategies to large companies the topics of speed, context aware and artificial intelligence comes up every time.  These are the game changers today.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Supporting GIS and Mapping Solutions on Muddy Tablets

J.D. Axford, P.E. CESCL

I want to introduce you to a long time friend of mine J.D. Axford.  He is a civil engineer with all kinds of acronyms after his name (P.E., CESCL, etc.), who has worked for most of his career in the Northwest of the USA in and around water and mud.  He is a hero among the duck population for his many years working with wetlands.  He is you may say, an expert in outdoor field data collection.

I can remember a time about 25 years ago when J.D. and myself were perched above a waterfall along the East Fork of the Lewis river in Washington state measuring water flow and collecting data together.  It was, in fact, cold and muddy work.

He shared with me recently the list of things he typically carries in his service backpack to collect data:

• bubble levels
• incline-ometers
• rangefinders
• GPS accurate enough to serve as an inspection-level pre-survey grade checker
• wet papers
• job reports
• field notes
• redline drawings
• change orders

He is a big fan of finding ways of reducing the items in his backpack by utilizing mobile apps.  In this article J.D. shares his insights on data, data collection, mobile devices, GIS and how they are all used in utilities work.

Collecting data is a big job.  Utilities both generate and demand tremendous amounts of data. They are designed and operated with the use of a lot of geospatial and asset data.  Maintenance and repair work generates data, which is of particular importance in predicting future staffing needs, maintenance costs, and for the management of risks. In the distribution side (in electrical utilities) data is generated that is used to predict economics parameters, consumer demand, and other trends essential to profitability.

A lot of data is also generated by field crews which come from tasks related to vegetation control, drainage and other similar items. This work and the data generated are of increasing importance as infrastructure ages and budgets tighten. The information must be captured accurately by field staff and uploaded to geospatial databases and document management systems and then be made available to all the stakeholders.

All of this data collection, especially the outdoor data collection, benefits from mobile devices. Think about the environment. Maintaining a utility grid requires working remotely, often in multiple locations per day and on a variety of different projects and issues.  A lot of data is collected in rugged, cold, damp and muddy locations.  In these environments, tablets are very useful as they are light-weight and offer the simultaneous ability to capture, store, query and process data.  Tablets can significantly reduce the time and effort needed to manage data if you can keep them from being damaged.

As important as tablets have become to many engineers and utilities, they still have limitations as memory is limited, the service environment can be harsh and connectivity lost. There is also the challenge related to different tablets using different operating systems.  Some GIS and mapping applications only support one operating system. Many of these limitations, however, can be solved by the right software.  Vendors like We-Do-IT of Australia have developed tablet-based GIS software solutions made to operate online and offline, on a wide variety of tablets and operating systems while integrating with most GIS and ERP systems.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

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Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Importance of Spatial Data for ERPs and Enterprise Mobility

In field services, construction, engineering and other work in rugged environments there is a lot of data to be collected, stored and analyzed in order to complete a job and get paid for it.  This data has traditionally been collected using rugged laptops and other specialized data collection devices, but increasingly devices like consumer grade iPads are being utilized.  It is important to note that eighty percent of this data has a spatial component.

When collecting data, as in journalism, the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How matters. Those are the questions needed to complete work accurately, document and invoice it. That collected data often includes spatial data that is used by various solutions including CRM, CAD, engineering and surveying tools which are integrated with GIS, spatialNET, and other spatial software solutions.  Once the data is processed by these solutions it is shared again with those in the field using mobile devices. 

All of the contractors and sub-contractors working on projects in the field need data that accurately depicts the built environment; especially the parts buried, hung, or routed out of site.   As a result, any software UI (user interface) needs to intuitively connect the user to engineering drawings, spatial databases, and administrative forms. A construction and maintenance crew’s profitability is not measured by how much data they acquire and manipulate, but rather their metric of success is the built environment. 

Whatever software is in their tool kit must be able to access the databases used to model the built environment and provide complete office-to-field GIS, ERP and DMS integration without adding the burden of tedious training. It must also provide mobile and off-line functionality; as utility crews will need their data the most when connectivity is down.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

GIS Data and Modern Mobility Solutions

I found this quote in an article titled "ESRI Takes Its Deep Mapping Software Online To Help Developers Become More Like Geographers" over the weekend, "The future is that developers will become more and more like geographers and cartographers as they increasingly work with real-world data.” ~Amber Case, ESRI.

I found that quote to be particularly enlightening as the more developers work with The Internet of Things, the more they must know about the physical world.  This has not always been the trend.  For  years developers seemed to be developing a different world, a virtual world far removed from dirty dishes, oil changes, child care and landscaping.  However, today, our virtual and physical worlds are quickly merging and developers are back into getting their hands dirty.

The rapid expansion of The Internet of Things or M2M (machine-to-machine) solutions mean many different kinds of sensors are being attached and embedded in equipment all around us.  This effort collects data and digitizes the physical world.  This data, and what it really means, is now available to developers.  For example, developers are working on understanding how real-world weather data impacts logistics delivery models.

Here is one of the most interesting concepts from the article, "ESRI sees itself blending its GIS (geospatial information systems) software to create relationships about where things are and how they are connected."

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

American Sins, GPS, GIS and Mobile Software Applications that Show It All

I wrote an article that was published on the Ulitzer site yesterday that was very fun to write. Just read the title and you can understand, American Sins, GPS, GIS and Mobile Software Applications that Show It All.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobile Strategy, Sales and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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M2M, Route Optimization, Handhelds and Business Intelligence

Recently I wrote about mobile software applications physically moving objects such as unlocking car doors. I have also seen interesting scenarios where mechanical objects activate mobile applications. One example is the PTO on a snow plow activates the GPS to track the routes being plowed, sprayed with deicer or sanded and this information is wirelessly updated in real-time to GIS system to view coverage areas.

Another scenario is a mini-inventory management system or a M2M (machine to machine) scenario whereby a snack vending machine wirelessly notifies the vending machine owner of current inventory levels.

I can envision a scenario where 1,500 vending machines automatically and wirelessly update the central office ERP with their inventory levels. The ERP checks inventory in the central warehouse and automatically creates shipping orders and replenishes low warehouse inventory through automated ordering rules with preferred vendors.

Business intelligence software predicts the demand for specific products for each location and vending machine based upon sales and date and time stamps. This prediction is used to load the route vans.

Next the route optimization software creates the most efficient routes for the drivers and synchronizes this with the driver's handheld computer.

M2M data synchronization is being added to more and more equipment these days.

If you would like to discuss this topic in more detail please contact me.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobile Strategy, Sales and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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