Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/62129
are synched directly into a central database, eliminat- ing the need for sorting, delivery and manual entry of paper tickets. By incorporating into the software a series of intuitive menus and buttons, tickets are less open to individual interpretation by officers. Photo capture increases the enforceability of a ticket. Photos are included on ticket printout and are supplied to a judge at the appeals process. An RFID- scanning component allows officers to associate a business with a dumpster that's in violation, for exam- ple, by reading an affixed RFID tag that's distributed to each business with a dumpster license. Finally, a user- friendly software design enables officers to quickly issue a ticket, resulting in less time spent per violation and an increased number of tickets written. A powerful aspect of the SWEEP system is that tickets are "spatially aware." GPS technology and an onboard map cache offer users the ability to associate a real-world point location with each ticket. An officer can tap a property on a digital-map touch screen and have instant access to ownership information as well as violation history to aid in ticket creation, querying a Microsoft SQL Server mobile database. Violations subsequently can be projected in any GIS application for use in map output or project reports. Let there be LED Light In a later project, the Philadelphia Streets Department deployed similar mobile technology to a different group. The Traffic Division was commissioned to replace every one of the 70,000 incandescent traffic- signal bulbs within the city with energy-saving LEDs. The project was made possible due to collaboration among the city of Philadelphia, PECO (the local utility company) and the U.S. Department of Energy. Not only was the project completed at minimal cost to city taxpayers (thanks to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, and the PECO Smart Ideas Program), but it actually saves $1 million in electricity costs per year due to the energy efficiency of LEDs. Before the project began, however, there were some basic requirements necessary to get the project off the ground: a logical system had to be devised to store the collected data and employ a capture method that would yield accurate results at the intersection level. Mobility to the Rescue Again the decision was made to implement a mobile solution, so traffic work crews were outfitted with the Intermec CN3s. Using custom-designed software integrated with Esri ArcGIS Mobile, workers' portable devices track and maintain the city's GIS street-pole inventory. By scanning barcodes affixed on LED bulbs during the replacement process, workers can associ- ate a replaced LED light to a street pole at a fixed time and location. Through a nightly data synch and reconciliation of the SDE mobile edit version to the SDE default version, the central ArcSDE street-pole database is updated with each work crew's daily repair efforts. Each night, a new mobile map cache is synched to each worker's device, including the bulb-replacement efforts of all the previous day's work crews. Post-processing takes place later in the central GIS office to associate multiple poles with a single intersec- tion control box. Also, the field supervisor completes a final data quality-control process using a custom ArcMap application. The central street-pole database then can be used by the central business office for generating status reports, which are key to reducing the energy bill, saving real money for taxpayers. A SWEEP officer uses a CN3 in the field to log a code infraction. 20 GEO W ORLD / AP R I L 2O12 Comparison of Uses Both projects utilize custom mobile applications set in a mapping environment integrated with Esri software, and both projects use GPS for positioning. But the similarities end here. The SWEEP application uses the mobile-map cache for reference only, while the LED application allows Mobility/GPS Special Issue Government Applications