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<P><FONT SIZE=2>The UI is the most important thing, agreed.<BR>
<BR>
The most important thing in our UIs is the Map. It's hard to have a useful UI for a map to replace paper on a device that is 1/8 the size of the paper.<BR>
<BR>
And, the economics of CE that drove its creatuion 10 years ago are not the same today. A useful iPaq is $600 and a useful - some would say more useful - laptop $700.<BR>
<BR>
--- Original Message ---<BR>
From: "Mateusz Loskot" <mateusz@loskot.net><BR>
Sent: Thu 7/27/06 10:26 am<BR>
To: "discuss@mail.osgeo.org" <discuss@mail.osgeo.org><BR>
Cc:<BR>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Mobile GPS data collection...<BR>
<BR>
Gary Lang wrote:<BR>
> We've been talkiing about this at Autodesk, this is because in<BR>
> general users don't want to work (I'm not talking about consumers)<BR>
> with maps through a tiny keyhole of a screen. We see much more<BR>
> interest in the 'Toughbook' form factor.<BR>
><BR>
> And for that I think that we have what people want to use for their<BR>
> work.<BR>
<BR>
Hi,<BR>
<BR>
I've been developing mobile GIS applications for Windows CE<BR>
platform for last 5 years.<BR>
In Poland, the mobile GIS started to become very popular especially in<BR>
forestry. So, the Forest Department decided to buy hundreds of mobile<BR>
devices with GIS apps.<BR>
The GIS app is used as a real GIS system with forest inventory<BR>
database + GPS connection for navigation and data collecting (small<BR>
surveying with accuracty lower than that used in geodesy, but sufficient<BR>
for the application in forestry).<BR>
<BR>
The evolution of usage of mobile devices in this field started with<BR>
bussines class devices, forest ranges used iPAQ's.<BR>
Everyone knew it is not a good device to use in field, but costs are<BR>
very low for start-up.<BR>
During recent months, more rugged and professional devices are promoted<BR>
like Mobile Mapper CE or Symbol devices.<BR>
<BR>
At first, we had doubts about small screen, no keyboard, etc.<BR>
But I have to say, those small mobile devices was really usable.<BR>
And, what was very important, the battery was working for whole working<BR>
day (7-9 hours).<BR>
<BR>
Tablets seem to be good or even better, bigger screen etc. but holding<BR>
2-3 Kg device for 6-7 hours when walking through forest in mountains or<BR>
other difficult terrain could be very hard. Such situations are very common.<BR>
<BR>
Another interesting thing was that people had troubles with using ESRI<BR>
ArcPad. This program was too complex for them, with not very<BR>
intuitive UI and ... lack of polish language documentation, what was<BR>
very important.<BR>
<BR>
IMHO the most important thing is a UI. It should be clean, simple and<BR>
configurable (for example, support switching to kiosk,<BR>
fullscreen mode, etc.)<BR>
Next, good mobile application should provider automation of most of<BR>
tasks (with suggesting default values, etc.)<BR>
and support of hardware elements of the device.<BR>
For example, our application supported catching GPS points on the layer<BR>
manually using hardware keys, high/low PDOP was signaled by sounds,<BR>
GPS activity was signaled by LEDs available in particular device, etc.<BR>
<BR>
I'd say such facilities caused those programs succeeded in hundreds of<BR>
forest ranges in Poland.<BR>
<BR>
Note, when I was working in mobile bussines, we did not do any research<BR>
to find Open Source mobile GIS. We did not considered OSS area for this.<BR>
<BR>
Best regards<BR>
--<BR>
Mateusz Loskot<BR>
<A HREF="http://mateusz.loskot.net">http://mateusz.loskot.net</A><BR>
<BR>
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