Telogis Apps for iOS Transform the Lives of Mobile Workers

From its annual Telogis Latitude business conference, Telogis, Inc. is revealing its new lineup of iOS apps that bring innovative functionality and fun to the mobile business environment. The user experience (UX) enhancements to Telogis' award-winning connected vehicle and mobile workforce apps take advantage of the unique tools and features available on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Apple recently announced it is working with a select group of business software and solution providers, including Telogis. Telogis software connects its customers' vehicles, equipment and people, and automates processes that once required pens and clipboards -- or worse, clunky, dash-mounted hardware. Apps such as Telogis Compliance ensures the accuracy of government-regulated driving hours (Hours of Service) and mandated vehicle inspections while Telogis Navigation provides specialized truck-specific directions that keep drivers safer and more well-informed, ultimately improving overall job satisfaction. Telogis' ground-breaking gamification app for drivers called Telogis Coach invites friendly competition by scoring the driving behaviors, safety or productivity metrics, and also allows drivers to be identified and recognized for doing well and setting great examples for teammates."Working directly with Apple to build extraordinary user experiences into apps like Telogis Coach brings our customers a level of ease, familiarity and functionality that makes work on an iPad, iPhone or Apple Watch more productive and more fun," said David Cozzens, chief executive officer at Telogis. "The mission-critical nature of connecting everything in a business to the Internet of Things

-- vehicles, people and customers is a given, and we continue to innovate by delivering the same high-quality iOS user experience to enterprise customers that they expect on the consumer side." Telogis connected vehicle apps for iOS represent a mobile extension of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based platform that includes a comprehensive suite of applications that enable companies with fleet vehicles, equipment and large numbers of people who work outside the four walls to stay connected to the company in order to improve safety and productivity while identifying areas where gains in efficiency can be made.Over the past few years, Telogis has partnered with some of the world's largest vehicle and equipment manufacturers -- including Ford, General Motors, Hino, Mack, Volvo, Isuzu and Manitowoc Cranes -- to connect vehicles and equipment and the people who use them for work by building its software applications in at the factory level.Telogis Latitude is an annual gathering of some of the world's most well-known mobile enterprises, Telogis' automotive OEM partners and other industry executives taking place this week at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, Calif.About TelogisTelogis, Inc., the platform for connected intelligence, is dedicated to enhancing the value of its customers' businesses through intelligent integration of location technology, information and services. Telogis was established in 2001 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., with offices in Europe and Latin America as well as development centers in Austin, Texas; Toronto; and Christchurch, New Zealand. Telogis' products and services are used and distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide. 

To learn more about Telogis, visit www.telogis.com,
follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Telogis, like us on Facebook or call toll free at 866-TELOGIS (866-835-6447).

Source

The role of Wearable Tech and Internet of Things in Geomedicine

By Muthukumar Kumar

A few years ago, Bill Davenhall, who was ESRI’s Global Marketing Manager for Health and Human Services Solution on Geomedicine at that time gave an insightful TED talk “Your health depends on where you live“.

Since the TED talk back in 2010, National agencies across the world have understood the importance of having location information tagged together with health records and Geomedicine as grown in importance ( Geomedicine: Can Geographic Information keep you healthy?).

When you think about it, having your place history together with your health record makes a lot of sense, it helps identify potential health issues due to environmental reasons and lets you be aware of your choices and their impact on your health.
But in the era of Internet of Things and Wearable tech, is place history the only piece of geotagged information that we can use?

Some of the most interesting use cases for Internet of Things has been in environmental monitoring, there are many applications that utilize crowd sourcing and IoTs to get data on air pollution, noise levels and even monitor light pollution. These apps typically use a map to visualize the information, helping create awareness about the impact environment has on human health. (Read: HabitatMap & AirCasting: Internet of Things, Maps & Environmental Monitoring).

Most fitness bands and Smartwatches have an 3-D accelerometer and a heart rate sensor. Some of them even have a GPS or synchronize with the smartphone to get GPS data. All this data is then used to let you know the route you used to walk/run/cycle, the calories you burned, your resting heart rate, etc. Similar information from smartphones have already helped map the places where people choose to run, walk or bike (1.5 Million Walks, Runs, and Bike Rides from RunKeeper mapped on Mapbox).

Combine the Internet of Things environmental monitoring together with these Wearable Tech/Smartphone fitness data and we already have two layers that can be used to inform people about whether, it is a good idea to run in that region, at any time of the day. Simple, basic GIS that can help people make healthier choices. Maybe urban planners can utilize this data to see if people really like to run along the jogging paths they created, etc. Add algorithms that finds the most beautiful route between A and B to the mix and already we have a better interest in getting out there on the bike. Most certainly there are a million better ideas out there that already look to utilize Internet of Things and Wearable tech for Geomedicine.

In some sense, the whole idea might sound like a complication of a simple problem – how to be healthy? For every factor that is in our control (being active, eating healthy, etc.) , there is another that isn’t really in our control (environmental pollution, etc) . If a complex computer application that crunches lots of spatial data and mines patterns to help lead healthier lives, maybe it’s not useless complication.

We already know, Geographic information can keep us healthy, many studies have help solve that question, the next question that needs to be explored is “How best to utilize Wearable Tech and Internet of Things in Geomedicine?”

Geomedicine is an idea whose time has come. – Bill Davenhall

Source

HabitatMap & AirCasting: Internet of Things, Maps & Environmental Monitoring

One of the most famous applications of Geographic Information Science is the 1854 London Cholera Map by Dr. John Snow. A map that helped him figure out that Cholera spread through water. (How often does a map change the world). Interestingly, GI Science started off as an aid to a Doctor. GIS has come a long way since those days. Here is an interesting example of how GI Science in its version 2.0 is helping understand the impact of the environment on our health.

HabitatMap, a non-profit, environmental justice group based out of New York, utilizes online maps and social networks to raise awareness about the impact the environment has on human health. 3 days ago, they successfully crowd funded (via KickStarter) their new $200 wearable air quality monitoring device “AirBeam” that maps, graphs and shares your air pollution exposures in real time.

AirBeam draws air through a sensing chamber where light from an LED scatter off the particulate matter in the air. The scattered light is measured by a detector, which enables the estimation of PM 2.5 (particulate matter that is harmful to our health); The data is then shared via bluebooth to your Smartphone and to the community via the AirCasting platform, which is an open source platform for recording, mapping and sharing health and environmental data using your smartphone. You could also download their Android app – “AirCasting Android App“. Here’s everything the AirCasting app can do (information from the AirCasting)

• Sound levels recorded by their phone microphone;
• Temperature, humidity, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations recorded by the Arduino-powered AirBeam;
• Temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas concentrations recorded by the Arduino-powered AirCasting Air Monitor;
• Heart rate, heart rate variability, R to R, breathing rate, activity level, peak acceleration and core temperature measurements recorded by the Zephyr BioHarness 3; and
• Heart rate measurements recorded by the Zephyr HxM.

The results of the AirBeam device recording will enable us to make better choices to improve our health by either deciding to travel when the pollution levels are lower or take an alternative route or in the worst case scenario, understand the risks that we are facing and take necessary precautions for a healthy life. Since the AirCasting platform is open source, it is possible for many of the current Noise monitoring applications to coexist and cooperate. Remember, the open source NoiseTubeapplication. Might be an interesting idea to develop a method to combine these two great services together.

Some of us might have our concerns about the Internet of Things and Sensors that collect data, but this is definitely not one of those cases. Considering that air pollution is one of the serious forms of pollution and often the one that we hardly notice, it is a great initiative.

Source: Gigaom