Case Study: Tracking Efficiency With Mobile GIS

The 25,000 residents of South Windsor, Conn., are enjoying better service from their local government because of technology that tracks town operations like snowplowing and leaf removal.

South Windsor is using smartphones to track the locations of public works crews in real time, enabling increased productivity and reduced operational costs. This is made possible by the combined use of BlackBerry smartphones, Freeance applications and existing GIS data.

Public Works managers now deploy a BlackBerry with each piece of equipment. The devices let managers track crews during the day and monitor their progress. The technology tracks such tasks as leaf removal, lawn mowing, sidewalk inspections, zoning enforcement and, later this winter, snowplowing.