Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/43993
help target multiple devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, etc.) when building an application. Operational awareness is another major trend in mobile cloud-based computing. One of the best ways to ingest a view of a common operation picture is with a map. With common mobile devices now having cameras, video recorders, bar-code scanners, GPS and RFID scanners, field data can be captured easily by the masses and uploaded to the cloud for viewing and analysis. Whether it's crowd-sourced data reporting such as accidents and weather events or citizen requests such as potholes, reporting location-based data to the enter- prise and viewing it in a common operational picture has provided many benefits to many organizations. Custom Solutions, Occasionally Connected It's frustrating to spend hours, days or months in the field collecting data without ever seeing results in a report or on a map. It's equally frustrating for managers or col- leagues to not be able to visualize data. Visualizing field data in a Web-mapping application on top of aerial photography, related map services or an organization's GIS data is key. With custom solutions, an organization can solve business problems while improving data flow from the field to decision makers. One of the biggest trends in mobile data collection today is the support of occasionally connected devices. Users shouldn't and can't always expect to have a cell signal to transmit data back to a server or cloud. lSmartphones can be used to collect attributes and locations for treatment data. If users have a cellular signal, the data will be transmitted back to the cloud-based data store. If a cellular signal isn't present, the data will be stored locally on the device and transmitted to the cloud when an Internet connection is available. In these cases, users need to be able to continue to collect and enter form data and then have the data transmitted when a cell signal is available. Supporting the occasionally connected scenario translates into workers being able to work in rural and remote areas as well as inside some structures. And more hardware is being built into smartphones and tablets. Mobile applications need to support access of cameras, video, bar-code scanners, microphones and RFID readers. Most everyone can appreciate the value and trends of Web-based mobile applications. However, reality often sets in when an organization realizes that it probably can't pull off an end-to-end solution, including a custom Web application and a mobile application that's supported on multiple devices, with their current budget. This bud- getary challenge presents a final trend in mobile data collection and viewing: "use what you got." An advantage of hosting data in the cloud is that it lField users can quickly sketch drawings representing a landowner assessment as well as assign and spatially track funding/cost sharing to the engagement via the cloud. 24 GEO W ORLD / SEPTEMBE R 2O11 can be consumed and shared by clients that already are freely available, such as Google Earth, ArcGIS Explorer, ArcGIS.com and licensed software such as ArcView and ArcMap, which all can consume KML network links Data Issues