MB&G Upgrades MobileMap App for GIS Data Organization

Mason, Bruce & Girard Inc. (MB&G), a natural resource consulting firm, has released version 2.0 of its mobile mapping application, MobileMap.

MB&G MobileMap provides GIS capabilities to field staff. It focuses on supporting large datasets and integrating information from diverse sources. The app provides data visualization, analysis and editing while operating in disconnected environments.

MobileMap supports an unlimited number of base maps and feature types, and allows users to quickly switch between data by turning layers on and off. Version 2.0 of MobileMap provides flexibility in how data is organized on a device, and by supporting Esri’s shapefile format, users can define the map symbology of shapefiles.

By targeting the Android platform, MobileMap takes advantage of a large range of device options as well as capabilities unique to Android such as support for MicroSD cards, which greatly enhance storage capacity while dramatically reducing data transfer speeds for large datasets.

A major component of this release is improved data sync capabilities. MobileMap leverages enterprise GIS technology from Esri by enabling seamless sync with ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online feature services. Users will always have data that is backed up and up-to-date. By establishing a Wi-Fi connection, data can be synced to a secured service. In order to provide greater control over this process, MobileMap allows users to separate sync into separate upload and download tasks.

According to MB&G, MobileMap 2.0 provides improved measurement and navigation capabilities; users can now measure both distance and area of features and can choose the appropriate map units for each parameter.

MobileMap 2.0 displays the distance and direction to any selected feature, allowing field staff to navigate to management areas, survey plots or specific assets. Another new capability is the ability to perform offline search of features. While other mapping tools use internet connections to search for relevant data, MobileMap supports the ability to search offline data to identify where particular attributes or conditions exist in the landscape. When features are discovered, they are highlighted and the map zooms to their extent. These capabilities provide field staff with a valuable tool for discovering data and locating areas of interest.

MobileMap’s data capture also has been improved. Previous versions supported GPS tracking of a travel path and the ability to define new features using GPS coordinates, or by tapping to create points or vertices in lines and polygons. Users now can collect lines and polygons by tracing the desired shape in a single motion.

Data entry has been improved by supporting additional business rules, such as range domains and required fields. Data managers can carefully specify data integrity rules using Esri data models, and MobileMap will respect and enforce those rules in the field. This functionality helps to ensure that MobileMap users will collect high quality data thereby minimizing the need for data editing back in the office.