Data Collection Firms Count On Tablet PC Technology, Pen-Enabling Software

The Background: On the Road
Road and highway departments hire GRAM Traffic Counting Inc. (GRAM) to collect data in order to make engineering decisions when planning new roads or improvements to old ones. Along with traditional traffic counts, GRAM administers three- to six-minute roadside questionnaires to drivers.

The Challenge: Eliminating the Extra Step
GRAM employs many temporary workers to conduct roadside surveys, and needed to find an easy way to make those workers as efficient as possible.

GRAM employees conducted surveys with paper and a pen, and then entered the data into the computer back at the office. Re-keying this substantial amount of information led to errors, and was time consuming.

In addition, GRAM staff often diagrammed working locations with pen and paper to show clients diagrams of intersections. The staff wanted to eliminate the extra step between their original paper drawings and the computer-generated diagrams produced back at the office.