Welcome to our spring edition of Field Views - I hope that the field workers amongst you have been making the most of the early summer sun that we’ve had recently!  Since our last edition, we’ve been very busy getting to work with some of our new customers, both here in the UK and overseas in the US, as we continue to grow the business.

As we look forward to the new financial year, we are planning for further expansion as demand for our GeoField solutions continues to grow.  We are busy recruiting new staff to add to the team, and we look forward to introducing you to some of our new faces in the coming months.

You may have seen our work with Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions (BBUS) featured in the press recently. On our front page you can read more about how GeoField will help BBUS efficiently deliver their project to replace the Beauly-Denny transmission line.

In the world of tablet PCs, new devices continue to enter the market on a weekly basis.  We are looking forward to the arrival of Windows 8 later this year, and the introduction of powerful new tablets targeted to deliver the latest Microsoft platform within the enterprise.

We are always keen to meet you whilst out and about, so please pop along to our stand at the Highway Maintenance 2012 show in Derby on 30^th May to say hello and see some of our latest GeoField data mobilisation developments in action.

Best wishes

Paul Reid | Managing Director

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GeoField is helping Balfour Beatty deliver one of the biggest projects in the UK

‘We appointed Sigma Seven because of their impressive data mobilisation expertise. Their product, GeoField, will be integral to the efficiency of this project.’

Andy Smith, Pre-construction Manager at Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions

One of the largest public infrastructure projects in the UK is now underway, which will significantly enhance Scotland’s power network.

We are delighted to announce that Sigma Seven has been appointed to provide software solutions for the project, to help it run as smoothly and effectively as possible.

Our client is Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions, who were recently awarded the £290M contract to deliver project development and design, including material provision, installation of the line and road construction, all due for completion in 2015.

This is not just one of the biggest projects of its kind in the country, but it is also one of the biggest public infrastructure projects that Sigma Seven has worked on to date.

It also represents a few significant ‘firsts’ for us: our first contract win within the construction and engineering sector and our first major project for Balfour Beatty, who have an excellent reputation as one of the best-known construction companies in the UK. 

The project we are assisting with is the replacement of the electricity transmission line between Beauly in Inverness-shire and Wharry Burn, near Denny, in the Central Belt. 

The replacement line, which is due to be in place by 2014, will bring power south to the main UK grid from renewable energy generation facilities in the north, including hydro-electric and solar power.  The line is also necessary for connecting Scotland to continental European power supplies. 

It is a massive undertaking.   The project development and design includes the installation of 200km of overhead transmission line, the construction of 154km of temporary access roads and the upgrading of 124km of existing roads, the equivalent in distance from Glasgow to Inverness. 

Balfour Beatty is using our GeoField Workflow software for a number of tasks on the project.  One of the ways it will help is by bringing data together from a number of sources. 

Much of the work will take place in remote and rural areas and GeoField will allow field workers in these locations to speedily access files, collect and manage data, organise tasks and record information directly onto digital maps.   They can then share this information quickly and effectively with their colleagues at the company’s office in Derby. 

Its accuracy in recording data will also be of particular benefit, as much of the work will take place in hard to access areas, which involves the cost of transporting staff and heavy plant. Using GeoField will ensure that field workers do not have to visit more than once, reducing costs.

Our software has the ability to operate in remote areas without mobile communication access, which will also ease workflow by producing reports on site and automatically updating valuable information about site conditions. 

GeoField has created significant savings for many Sigma Seven clients over the years - in some cases hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

It is expected that GeoField will also create significant time and financial savings on this prestigious project by speeding up and streamlining the collection and sharing of information.  It will also reduce the impact of field visits on the environment, as no paper is involved and fewer journeys will be required. 

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How fast can you get a new passport? Senior Developer Joe Brock broke all the records to make sure he could join MD Paul Reid and Project Manager Fraser Kirkpatrick on the latest adventure for Sigma Seven.

Having developed a strong presence in UK and Ireland, the logical next step for our growing business was to expand outside these shores.

The perfect opportunity arose at the end of 2011 when we were selected by Iberdrola USA to tender for a really interesting project. The goal of this venture is to provide electric and gas distribution and transmission field network designers with a graphical design tool that integrates with both SAP Work Management and GIS applications for electric and gas utilities.

We were delighted to win the commission against strong competition and so this March our team  travelled to Augusta in Maine to deliver a series of workshops to start this important new contract.

The workshops were a great success and all being well, 137 electricity and gas designers in three Eastern USA companies will be using GeoField by the summer.  The team have made a great start to our first USA project, we hope the first of many.

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So if Raspberry Pi can create a new generation of top developers , that’s got to be great news for us, the industry and the UK as a whole. Pi’s suppliers are getting 700 enquiries a second so there’s a real buzz.

Sneaky leaks
Struggling to make your smartphone battery last all day? Some recent research has revealed that up to 75 per cent of the energy used by free versions of Android apps is spent doing things other than running the program.

Abhinav Pathak, a computer scientist at Purdue University, Indiana, and colleagues analysed apps' energy usage. For many popular apps they found that only 10 to 30 per cent of the energy used was spent powering the core software.

In one free game 45% of its energy is spent powering avoidable GPS processing and data downloads over a 3G connection. The 3G link stays open longer than necessary, wasting another 28%. Pathak blames the energy leakage on inefficiencies in third-party code.

Windows 8
Microsoft made its new OS available to the public on 29^th February with the release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Amidst all the hype and debate some important facts are emerging.

Microsoft has published exacting hardware requirements to get the best from Windows 8’s new Metro touch interface. Few current devices make the grade – Microsoft recommends the best for trials – but many more are promised.  Buyers are urged to make sure their new kit is Windows 8 certified.

Expected to ship in October, the new OS will come in four versions:  Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and Windows RT. The first three options are designed for PCs and tablets running x86 processors; Windows RT is for mobile devices built on ARM processors designed to compete with iPad and Android.

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Going digital makes field data collection easy… now what?

When you hear the word ‘curator’ it probably brings up images of fusty museum back rooms. It’s an old-fashioned word that may have fallen out of use were it not for the sudden boom in ‘social curation’ sites driven by the explosive growth of ‘Pinterest’ and similar services. Suddenly curating is cool.

As well as having a new lease of life online, perhaps the new curating tools and techniques have something to teach business? There’s been a similar boom in high quality field data enabled by the new mobile technologies. Mobile systems such as GeoField have transformed field work. Digital field data collection is now easy and efficient  - and much more accurate.

Mobile systems encourage flexibility and rapid deployment. Even small project teams can quickly amass a lot of digital photos, forms, notes and sketches. Because mobile projects are often new, even experimental in the eyes of the IS department, that valuable data can end up in temporary repositories outside any corporate information system.

This can result in data not being stored in a structured or accessible way. We may have brought quality data in from the field but if that field data is not being used promptly to inform business decisions, policy etc, then it is just expensive disk space.

So our advice is to build data management into your mobile plan. We can help. Either make sure that your new mobile process is plugged into your enterprise systems. Or put structures and processes in place as soon as possible to tag, index and file your new data correctly or it might never  get under control. Even get a mobile advocate on your IT standards and policies committees. It is not easy, but making new silos of field data will not give you full value.

Pinterest seems very different, but some of the concepts behind voluntary ‘curation’ are helping to put meaning on the vast chaos of the internet. In time many of these new consumer technologies will come to play a role in business data management. Could simple online tools make it easier and rewarding for the team that creates the data to help their colleagues make the most of it?

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It seems the stylus is stylish again. We’re not surprised

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: the first electronic handwriting input to a computer was the Stylator tablet demonstrated in 1957. For the origins of the stylus you’d need to go back a few millennia more.

Not long ago in the development of touch screen devices it was common to hear criticism of the stylus as evidence of a failed mobile operating system – “It’s not truly mobile if it needs a stylus” . When Apple launched the iPhone and then the iPad, fingers were the future. 

Yet within a year clumsy stylus adaptors were appearing for the iPad. They did not work because successful pen input requires deep hardware integration. At CES and Mobile World Congress 2012 we saw a resurgence of tablets with a stylus such as the Fujitsu  Q550 Tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Here at Sigma Seven we weren’t convinced of the pen’s demise. Tablets are making their way into business by the consumerisation back door, but only a few slate devices are aimed specifically at the business world. The consumer boom in tablets is undoubtedly influencing the design – and user expectations – of  devices for business. This influence and innovation is welcome in many ways; but professional field work requirements are different and the tablet pen is a good example.

Finger input, even multi touch, is great for many applications, especially in consumer devices. But  when you need precision on the screen  to locate on a map, or for accurate drafting, a pen is essential.

People want to write on their slates too. The handwriting recognition on Microsoft Windows 7 is remarkably good and many of our customers routinely collect free hand script as part of their field processes. Fingers are OK for doodling and the odd note, but if you want to draw or write, you want a pen.

Business tablets are also used to access corporate software, much of which was not designed for touch. Organisations are not going to re-engineer complex and costly systems just to indulge consumer fashion. Nor should they miss out on the benefits of mobile because the tablet interface is a bit fiddly for a few users. Tablet solutions that really add value must be designed to meet business needs.

The pen is simple, familiar and works anywhere. Sigma Seven is all about providing the right tool for the job. In our experience the demand for tablet precision, inking and handwriting is growing.  We think the success of the tablet is why the pen is making a comeback. Apple and others must have their eyes on that cross-over “BYO” market. Who knows, maybe the iPad4 will have a iPen?

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Ross welcomes the opportunity to be creative in his day to day duties, as he explains: 'My main task is to develop GeoField according to business requirements and I really enjoy the design aspect of my job.'

'I love the challenge of creating new functionalities and seeing it all come together successfully. It's always great to hear clients are happy with the end product.' 'That gives me a buzz too,' he adds. It's not just the tasks that give Ross job satisfaction. He also appreciates working with like-minded people: 'There's a good atmosphere at Sigma Seven,' he says: 'There's lots of banter, the people are friendly and everyone is ready to help each other. We're a good team.' In his spare time, Ross is sporty and likes to keep improving his game: 'I play squash regularly and have achieved my ambition of playing for my local squash team,' he reports. Ross enjoys football too and his next goal is for Sigma Seven to field a competitive five-a-side team, which he hopes will be in the near future: 'Sigma Seven is growing fast and we're hiring more people, so with luck we should be in a position to do this soon,' he concludes.

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Welcome to our winter edition of Field Views – wow, where did the year go?!  Time certainly flies when you’re having fun, and we’ve had a busy year helping blue-chip customers improve field worker efficiency.  We’ll be talking more about these projects in our Spring edition.  We’ve also been busy adding to our mobile expertise with five new staff joining us this year and more in 2012.

Reports of bleak economic conditions are unavoidable these days and worse is forecast for next year.  So we thought this would be a good time to focus on return on investment. Mobile solutions continue to be a rare ray of sunshine in stormy skies, and anyone looking to get the most from a squeezed budget can be confident that investment in mobile working pays back a lot more than you spend.  We hope you find the stories of how others made their business case useful.

We’re also expanding into new markets with very encouraging starts in emergency services and construction. To underpin our growth in enterprise data management we’re investing in new technology partnerships to enhance GeoField’s integration with the asset management, ERP and CRM systems our customers use. It is great to have IBM as a new partner, adding to our Microsoft, Ordnance Survey and Esri credentials, and we’ll be announcing more next year.

Merry Christmas & best wishes for 2012. We look forward to working with you in the year ahead.

Paul Reid | Managing Director

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PDG Helicopters got their bonus payback from more collaborative customer relationships, winning more business and a reputation for improving data quality and value for their clients.

In general GeoField has huge potential to repay investment simply in better data. From public sector to engineers and utilities data quality is firmly back on the agenda. We’ve heard the same stories: giving field staff the right tools transforms the data cycle. As well as speed and accuracy, GeoField frees locked knowledge, captures information that was otherwise lost and rewards staff by swiftly updating the maps and reports they rely on.

What we’ve learned is to get that business case over the line, benefits can be so much more than cash. Keep it simple and run a trial to get the evidence. We’ll be happy to help.

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SEPA is Scotland’s environmental regulator charged with protecting and improving the nation’s 78,000 square kilometres of land, which includes 25,000 lochs (lakes) and more than 125,000 kilometres of rivers and streams.

Nearly three-quarters of the country’s land is in agricultural use, and the most significant environmental problem is diffuse pollution from agricultural operations. This is especially true of Scotland’s waterways. While 63% of them are rated as being in good condition, under the European Union’s Water Framework Directive the Scottish government has committed to raising this figure to 98% by 2027.

SEPA has identified 102 ‘priority catchments’ – waterway regions that need remediation under this ambitious plan. And the first step is to identify and classify pollution types and sources along every kilometre of the waterways involved. That will require some serious field work: SEPA staff will walk the entire river network surveying each catchment, and will also perform farm-scale inspections nationally.

The first 14 priority catchments are scheduled to be completed by 2015. But all this work must be done within a current climate of severe public-sector spending cuts, which include a 20% reduction in staff.

Reviewing the project’s data collection requirements, Dr Jonathan Bowes,  Senior Data Analyst/Modeller for SEPA, recognised that the process would be extremely labour-intensive. An enormous volume of field data would all have to be logged manually, recording 55 types of non-compliant agricultural practices, as well as other details.  The data would then have to be organised and entered by hand onto SEPA’s central computer system. 

 The project has attracted a great deal of attention across SEPA as this concept of paperless field work is applicable right across the board. Potentially it could revolutionise major parts of SEPA’s business

As a specialist in GIS, Dr Bowes also recognised the advantages technology could bring, to streamline this process.  The result was the pilot project to trial hand held computers, equipped with software which would eliminate paperwork for field staff.  The South Esk priority catchment was selected as the pilot area for evaluating digital data capture technology alongside the existing pen and paper method. Finances are extremely tight in SEPA so investment in such projects must deliver value for money.

Sigma Seven was chosen to provide the system for the project and the team used tablet PCs, equipped with a customised GeoField solution, to gather the data required.

On reviewing the results of the pilot scheme, it was clear that technology had enhanced the process and the quality of the data collected.

SEPA noted that typos, errors, illegibility and the adverse effects of weather on paperwork were eliminated.  The information was gathered in real time and quickly uploaded onto the agency’s systems, which then automatically generated reports and maps, ensuring a full audit trail was available.

Clearly, the technology had made the process easier, faster, more accurate and more secure.  These improvements alone were of significant benefit to the project.   The bottom line, though, was the crucial benchmark. 

When the team compared the outcomes of this pilot scheme with the paper based processes, the differences were substantial. 

The comparison used a base of 400km of waterways walked and found that the paper based processes took 45.5 days to complete. However, the scheme using mobile technology took only eight days, saving over 37 man days on one small area. 

This 80% reduction in workload translates to a massive saving of £708,000 for the first 14 catchment areas and even bigger returns projected for the full 102 catchments. 

Unsurprisingly, SEPA has switched to a GeoField system for the project, using GeoField forms, workflow and data management software, in conjunction with Algiz 7 mobile tablet PCs all integrated with SEPA’s databases. 

It’s safe to say that SEPA’s initiative has proved to be a very successful one, financially as well as operationally. The result is that Scotland’s waterways are now being assessed much more quickly and efficiently, as well as much more cost effectively.

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Sigma Seven has over a decade of experience in providing dedicated mobile software solutions.  In that time we have worked with many different organisations and adapted GeoField to a wide range of customer requirements. 

We are always looking to expand the reach and application of GeoField. One area we are becoming particularly active in is that of emergency services. 

Due to recent legislation and guidelines, providing front line staff with high quality operational information, such as detailed geospatial, address and risk data is becoming mandatory within this sector.   As a result, emergency services organisations are adopting mobile technology, to ensure data is collected and managed more efficiently, in order to boost data accuracy, integrity and quality. 

GeoField is ideal for their requirements and we are already working with several fire and rescue services to help further improve the efficiency of their data collection processes. 

To help keep other emergency services organisations informed about the advantages of our state of the art mobile technology solutions, Sigma Seven exhibited at the recent Emergency Services Show in Coventry.  The Show is viewed as the leading event for emergency planning, response and recovery professionals, both in the UK and abroad and it was attended by more than 4000 people. 

This was a very successful event for us, as our stand attracted many visitors keen to find out more about GeoField.  We demonstrated how it can help create efficiencies in mobile data management for fire & rescue services, the police, NHS and any other area within this sector, where the accuracy, integrity and timely delivery of operational information is paramount. 

Visitors were also interested to hear how GeoField can help emergency services by mobilising valuable data  relating to community safety, address management, hydrant inspections and hazard spotting. 

In addition, we explained how it  allows users to go beyond mandatory requirements, enabling best practice and efficiency savings within field based data management workflows, all on one simple to use system. 

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More and more organisations are benefiting from GeoField and we’re pleased to report another satisfied new customer, the Central Scotland Forest Trust (CSFT).

The job of the Trust is to improve the landscape of Central Scotland, for the benefit of all living there.  One of their tasks is to locate and record wildlife habitat areas and we have been able to help them make the process faster and more efficient.

The CSFT had identified the need for GeoField for a number of reasons.  They had GPS recorders in use, but they were becoming obsolete and the Trust recognised they needed more up to date technology.    They were also keen to make their back office process more efficient, especially by improving consistency of data collected.  It was being recorded manually into the GIS system and the Trust saw the value of removing the manual element and automating this part of the process instead. 

We tailored GeoField to the Trust’s specific requirements, to create the ideal software solution for the job.   One of the benefits is that they can now view OS Mastermap®, Ordnance Survey’s most detailed digital map, on their new Algiz 7 tablets.  This enables much more accurate recording of location.  On screen GPS assists with this too. 

All in all, we provided a ‘one-stop-shop’ solution, including mapping, geospatial editing, GPS capabilities and a camera, all available on one device. 

This has helped the Trust improve the value of the information collected, as it ensures that none is missing. Inconsistencies are ironed out as well.  The trust have found they have saved time too - 25% of their time to be exact.  Their team no longer spends as much time on processing the data, now that manual transcription of field collected information has been removed from the process and replaced by automated updates by GeoField. 

Most surveys are now taking less than half a day to undertake, whereas previously a full day would have to be allocated.  This frees up staff time, providing the organisation with more flexibility when bidding for and working on other field projects.  

The previous collection process required field workers to take an A3 paper map with them for reference and they would write up at least 4-5 pages’ worth of a notebook, in recording the necessary information.  Now, field workers no longer need to take a notebook or a map.  They can easily enter all the data they need, straight onto their tablet and GeoField takes care of the rest. 

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LightSquared vs GPS

There’s a major industry spat in the USA barely getting a mention here. In an increasingly bitter dispute,  a hedge-fund backed start-up called LightSquared has spent billions building a new national wireless broadband network. Good news you’d think but LightSquared plans to use frequencies reserved for satellites which, the US Government reports, will jam 75% of GPS receivers. Unsurprisingly the GPS industry and users are up in arms. This isn’t just about SatNav they say - LightSquared’s plans threaten a system at the heart of everything from agriculture and surveying  to aviation safety and marine navigation. The US FCC is due to rule this month. The story has intrigue, claims and counter-claims of leaks, fraud, corruption, insider dealing and political bias. Who said GPS was boring?

Galileo off the ground at last

The much heralded EU answer to GPS – Galileo – has finally got off  the ground with the launch on 21^st Oct of the first two satellites of a 27 satellite constellation that will make up the navigation system promising cheaper and more accurate location data across Europe. Roll on 2015.

Switch off, turn on

Around the world, TV services that have been broadcasting for decades are being switched off. Old analogue signals are being cleared from the airwaves and replaced with more efficient digital TV signals.

The result of this means that lots of the radio spectrum is being freed up. New services can take advantage of the space that is coming available. This part of the TV spectrum is also highly desirable since it covers frequencies that travel well over great distance and through solid objects such as walls. In the UK Ofcom will auction this space in 2012.

Mobile phone operators are the most keen to use the new frequencies to increase provision of mobile broadband for smart phones and tablet PCs. They have seen an explosion in demand for mobile services mainly driven by new consumer devices.

Studies show mobile broadband delivers the greatest economic and societal benefit. It’s still a long way from a ‘guaranteed everywhere’ service many businesses need, but systems such as GeoField will be able to take advantage of improved connectivity and bandwidth for data updates.

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‘My responsibilities in this new position within Sigma Seven are to grow the utilities business and develop our presence in the UK telecoms sector. This is a new area for the company and our solutions translate well to the requirements of the telecoms industry. I will also have an active role in the company’s international expansion.’

A key component of Sigma Seven’s GeoField is the ability to integrate with existing enterprise software applications through GeoField Exchange. Data can be extracted from a number of corporate systems to create pre-configured, spatially-enabled mobile workflows for operational field use, independent of office location and enterprise connectivity.

‘There’s some very sophisticated software engineering happening within GeoField, says Jonathan, ‘my focus is on helping customers realise the benefits of that great technology throughout their business, such as improved quality of corporate data, streamlined work processes, increased productivity, reduced costs and enhanced customer service.’

‘This is a fantastic time to be joining Sigma Seven and I am excited by the opportunities ahead. The company has well established solutions, supported by a very strong software engineering and executive management team and I look forward to being part of their future success.’

When not engaged in commercial activity, Jonathan divides his leisure time between his eight-month old daughter, hiking, scrambling and cycling.

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It feels like it’s been a long winter but spring is finally in the air. This means more sunshine, longer days and, for many, the start of the field surveying season. After a successful trial in 2010, we are looking forward to working with SEPA to implement a GeoField solution for their River Catchment Walk and Farm Assessment teams, who will be using Handheld Algiz 7 ruggedised tablet PCs to electronically capture the results of their field survey work. GeoField’s SEPA solution will provide direct delivery to the enterprise GIS and document management systems and far greater efficiency over the existing paper-based process.

Springtime may seem like the perfect environment for outdoor work. But for many mobile workers, the job continues no matter what the weather. This is especially true in the utilities and emergency service sectors. Recently, we’ve enjoyed interesting new GeoField projects with Wales & West Utilities, ScottishPower, Scottish Water and Bristol Water, meeting the changing demands placed on utility field engineers. We are also looking forward to working with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue helping to ensure that their field planning and risk assessment are second to none.

We’re out and about ourselves in these spring months – some of you may have visited our new stand at the BAPCO annual conference in early April, while others can catch up with our latest news and product demonstrations at the Esri UK Annual Conference in London on May 16th-17th. We look forward to seeing you out on the road.

Best wishes

Paul Reid | Managing Director

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Working in association with the Health and Safety Laboratory, Sigma Seven have developed a GeoField incident reporting tool

‘Our work with GeoField is helping us unlock the potential of our geospatial data. With Sigma Seven, we are building mobile applications which will allow us to better understand workplace environments, reduce risk, increase the accuracy and speed of our field reporting and allow our experts to work more efficiently away from the lab.’ - William Holmes of HSL

The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) is an agency of the Health and Safety Executive and Britain’s leading industrial health and safety research facility. They provide an independent, expert source of science and technology solutions to industry, public and private sector customers globally.

Working with HSL’s Geographical Information Systems Team, Sigma Seven have developed a version of GeoField to improve site incident reporting. Previously, reports were based on written transcripts from field exercise books coupled with photography and measurements from other instruments. These disparate data were difficult to correlate, manage and analyse, especially the positioning and location information.

The solution is the HSL Incident Reporting Tool. Utilising Sigma Seven’s flexible feature palette, HSL have been able to create a set of data recording tools based upon their own in-house symbology. This is combined with forms, data fields and terminology commonly used in field reporting.

The Incident Reporting Tool has also unlocked the power of HSL’s geospatial datasets, with OS MasterMap®, address, and population data providing even more detailed context to a field incident reporter.

By deploying on sophisticated ultra-mobile PCs, HSL have been able to seamlessly geocode and record photographs against their reports. Coupled with powerful external GPS receivers, the positional accuracy of the collected data will be improved even further.

Sigma Seven’s selection as the solution provider was based on our track record of project and solution delivery and our experience in handling secure data connections. Data security is a key factor for HSL and their experts were satisfied that Sigma Seven could deliver a secure solution.

HSL are now working with Sigma Seven to perfect the solution and widen its use. The coming twelve months look to be an exciting and expansive time for field working at HSL.

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In the last edition of Field Views we announced that we were working with Wales & West Utilities, the gas distribution business for Wales and the South West of England, to mobilise data and workflow to 1000 field engineers.

The contract was signed the week before Christmas, and we are pleased to announce that their GeoField solution was delivered into User Acceptance testing in March. The roll-out will start from the end of April and is expected to be completed by the end of July.

‘There is a real excitement within the business at using GeoField,’ commented Nick Hancock, WWU Project Manager, ‘and this will provide a great platform for us moving forward.’

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Did you know the word slogan is originally Scottish? It comes from the Gaelic sluagh-ghairm meaning ‘battle cry’. We weren’t really looking for a slogan in our reader competition last issue but we were interested in hearing what people thought of GeoField.

We enjoyed reading the many witty and creative entries, some of which would make very good battle cries for Sigma Seven. So thank you to all who entered. The winner was Oisin Kelly from Landscape Planning Group for whom GeoField means ‘Maps, data and decision support integrated from field to office’. A close second was Adam Crick of PDG Helicopters who said ‘GeoField makes mobile data capture simple, cost effective and fast!’.

Oisin wins the Viliv N5 Go-Anywhere PC, and Adam will soon be sporting a natty pair of FIVEPOINT conductive gloves. Both were delighted with their success. Oisin joked he felt a ‘Gwyneth Paltrow moment’ coming on. We hope he’s recovered his composure by now.

The judges also wanted a special mention for Dr. Ed Wallington for his neat summary of GeoField as being like ‘having the entire company knowledge and support in my pocket’. We hope you enjoyed this little diversion. We won’t wait ten years to do it again.

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Paul Reid asks what cloud computing means for field work

Over the past five years cloud computing has moved from being the domain of early adopters to providing mainstream systems architecture for major corporations. 

The benefits of remotely hosting and serving business applications and services via the internet ‘cloud’ continue to be debated in organisations around the world.

Those in favour stress the cost benefits that can be realised by renting server capacity from a third party hosting service. Those against raise concerns about the security and reliability of infrastructure that is not internally controlled.

Critics of cloud computing had a field day this April when a failure in Amazon’s EC2 Cloud Services platform forced a number of businesses that rely on this technology to put up closed signs while the Amazon engineers figured out how to get systems back online. 

Regardless of your take on the technology and how it fits yourspecific organisational needs, the event has highlighted both the inherent risks associated with building critical business processes around online services and the need for proper contingency planning.

When building solutions for your mobile workers, reliability is key. The very nature of field work usually means that staff don’t have access to the same level of support as their office-based colleagues. And if your core mobile working solutions are unavailable for any length of time, it may not be possible to simply move on to the next task; the system may not be able to tell what or where the next job is.

‘Work Anywhere’ is a phrase we use to describe one of the key design principles of our GeoField solutions: the core toolset must function reliably regardless of communications availability and the status of your office-based infrastructure. From day one, GeoField has been engineered to work independently of your enterprise systems, with core operational datasets stored locally on the mobile device and updated when a connection becomes available. With GeoField, your field workers will always be ready for business.

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We’re launching a free evaluation version of GeoField to let people explore new Ordnance Survey maps

There’s been a revolution in UK digital mapping thanks to the opening up of Ordnance Survey (OS) data through the government’s Making Public Data Public initiative. As well as free maps in OS OpenData™, OS have also launched useful new scale products such as VectorMap™ Local.

And with the launch of the Public Sector Mapping Agreement, public sector workers now have access to Ordnance Survey products right up to OS MasterMap®. Mobile working with maps has never been easier, cheaper and – with cost and competitive pressures everywhere – more important. These developments mean that many more organisations can now use digital mapping to streamline and enrich their fieldwork; increase the efficiency and accuracy of mobile data management or try mobile working for the first time.

So how do you use these great new maps? How do you get them into the field? Without specialist software, digital maps are just big data files. You shouldn’t be tied to your desk or need an expensive GIS to take advantage. The whole point of free data is to maximise the appeal of digital mapping and allow everyone to benefit. 

We want to help people make the most of the map revolution. So this month we are launching a free evaluation version of our leading mobile work management, field mapping and data collection tool, GeoField.

Much more than a field map viewer, this feature-rich evaluation version also allows users to explore GeoField’s data capture, survey and map mark-up tools. We think it is a perfect way to explore the new OS products, try working paper-free or evaluate a full fieldworker efficiency project.

Launched in May in conjunction with OS, GeoField Evaluation Version will be initially bundled with a sample of OS VectorMap™ Local and OS OpenData™ layers. All you need is a tablet, laptop or UMPC and a simple OS licence agreement. Watch out for our new link on the OS websites and from our website. We will be watching the response carefully before deciding how best to expand the service. If you are interested, or you know someone who might be, please pass on the good news or get in touch in the usual way.

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