The Fulcrum Focus

Offline data collecting from the field is an essential task across many industries, and recent advances have made it easier than ever.

Professionals across many industries — utility, engineering, and construction, especially — are giving up their antiquated pen-and-paper processes and switching to mobile forms, and for good reason. Taking inspection forms that have been filled out in the field and manually entering them into a computer is a slow and cumbersome process that takes otherwise productive hours out of the workday. With mobile forms, the information is entered just once on-site and gets synced to the cloud, where it is immediately available to clients and stakeholders. Even better? Switching to mobile forms is easy! With Fulcrum, you can create a custom mobile inspection form in 15 minutes or less. In this post, we’ll show you how.

As we mentioned in a recent post, adding a spatial dimension to your field data vastly increases the value of your efforts, whether you’re collecting information for the purpose of tracking sales or fighting malaria. And all geospatial data collection starts with a basemap.

In the last few posts, we’ve talked about the benefits of collecting and analyzing field data. Information gathered from the field gives businesses and organizations a unique advantage. It provides a foundation for more informed decision-making and helps them allocate resources more effectively.

The term “data collection” may sound esoteric, but the practice is actually quite broad. Data collection is a vital process that every business conducts regularly, even if they don’t call it that.

Collecting field data can be a complex process, requiring time, money, and people. That’s why logistics are important. A successful project design will save you from wasting time, energy, and resources, and ensure the most reliable data possible.

In our last post, we explored how and why businesses gather and use information from the field. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into some of the different methods for collecting data.

As more security breaches and data thefts by hackers come to light, consumers are demanding increased transparency and responsiveness from companies that process or store their data. In response, the European Parliament approved the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to protect EU citizens and residents from privacy and data breaches.

Data that is captured in the field is some of the most valuable information available to a company. It provides a clear picture into what’s happening at a job site or point of transaction, giving managers and other executives the insights they need to make informed business decisions.

We recently wrapped up our spring “All Hands” week, the semi-annual event when the entire staff descends on SNI headquarters in St. Petersburg, FL, for presentations, planning, and team-building. (And So. Much. Eating.)

Globally, more than 2.3 million people die each year as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases — that’s more than 6,300 deaths per day.

Successful enterprise asset management is key to reducing costs and increasing productivity and profitability for any organization.

 Field data collection is by no means limited to the confines of terra firma! NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary has been successfully using Fulcrum to help city, state, and federal agencies in offshore data collection, accessing, and sharing marine enforcement data across California.

Successful data collection starts with a good survey. How you design your questions will have a tremendous impact on the way data is collected, processed, and analyzed. We’d like to share some of our best advice on building a proper field data collection survey.

You have probably noticed that many companies have switched from paper to mobile forms, whether it was while checking in at the doctor’s office on a tablet or signing for a package with a stylus.

We’re fans of keeping it simple when it comes to data modeling. While Fulcrum is flexible when it comes to making changes, it’s always helpful to start simple and add complexity as you need it when building your apps. One common and powerful use case for data relationships is creating lookup tables for common datasets to be referenced in your apps. Fulcrum’s Record Link data type allows you to establish these relationships across apps to maintain consistent, standardized data for lookup fields.

We’re out at the SaaStr Annual again this year, a yearly gathering of companies all focused on the same challenges of how to build and grow SaaS businesses. SaaS really came into its own as a style of software in the early to mid-2000s with the rise and expansion of the internet as a new vector for delivering software to users. Salesforce was probably the earliest and best-known example of a new model of hosting software on behalf of customers (now known as “the cloud,” then it was an “ASP”). While it’s no longer considered new to deliver software as a hosted service, the benefits of Software as a Service, such as cost savings, scalability, and ease of use, are still surprisingly poorly understood by many buyers of software.

As a geospatial intelligence and technology company, Spatial Networks is dedicated to advancing geographic literacy in education. This commitment aims to enhance students’ understanding of our rapidly changing world.

When we initially launched our integration with DroneDeploy on its App Market, we had other plans for expanding it. Our goal was to make drone imagery more accessible for fieldwork and ground-truthing through Fulcrum.

What is human geography

Human geography has been around as long as, well, humans. But our study of “human geography” as a concept is relatively new, especially among the geospatial/GIS community.

Since we introduced Fulcrum in 2011, the team at Spatial Networks has worked continuously to improve the platform and scaling Fulcrum to become the industry leader in field data collection, as well as to mature as both geographers and software developers. We like to think we’re succeeding on both counts.

At Spatial Networks, we strive to be your go-to source for geospatial data and the industry leader in mobile data collection technology. We continue to improve the Fulcrum platform and help our customers all over the world discover new ways to save time and money and streamline their business processes.  With another exciting and productive year in the rear-view, it’s time to take a look back at Fulcrum 2017 highlights while we review the last 12 months here at Spatial Networks!

At our core, Spatial Networks is a geography company. From building geospatial technology products to collecting, organizing, and analyzing geodata, we eat, drink, and breathe geography. It’s sobering to learn that, for many of our customers, Fulcrum often provides their first exposure to the wonderful world of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

We just concluded our 2017 All Hands week, a semi-annual event where every Spatial Networks employee meets up at the company’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida for a fast-paced week of projects, teamwork, and planning for the future.

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria caused widespread destruction across Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Now, engineering faculty and students from several U.S. universities are using this disaster as a learning opportunity.

Earlier this month, we held our first-ever user conference, Fulcrum Live 2017. At this event, we hoped users could come together to share their experiences and learn from new ways organizations are using Fulcrum to streamline business processes. Judging by the feedback we received, it was a resounding success! It took our team many months to plan and coordinate the event, so we are grateful to those that came. We had nearly 100 attendees descend upon the city of Boston for a day of talking, storytelling, networking, and enjoying great food. We especially want to thank our speakers for taking the time to share their stories with the audience.

Most people understand that the ability to use a piece of software doesn’t equate to the ability to build that piece of software. Using a computer has been an essential skill in the modern workforce for some time, but the ability to make a computer useful by programming it to do what you want is an entirely different skillset. Computer programming is a language and like any language is best learned when you are young. So why aren’t we doing a better job of combining kids and coding – the primary language of the tools that we work with?

Fulcrum Live is an all day event co-located with the International Conference for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G). Join Team Fulcrum, our partners, and user community on Tuesday, August 15th in Boston, MA for a full day of presentations, case studies, technical talks, and networking! Located at the Boston Seaport and World Trade Center, this fast-paced single day event runs the day before the FOSS4G sessions and is free for conference attendees!

Mobile widgets on Fulcrum

The latest updates for both iOS and Android bring support for Fulcrum mobile widgets! Widgets allow you to quickly access frequently used Fulcrum apps on your device. While they function slightly differently between mobile platforms, widgets help to streamline your workflow for faster field operations.

Poachers beware! Counter-poaching organizations have a new app at their disposal to identify, track, and destroy elephant poaching networks thanks to Fulcrum.

In the software business, a lot of attention gets paid to “shipping” as a badge of honor if you want to be considered an innovator. Like any guiding philosophy, it’s best used as a general rule than as the primary yardstick by which you measure every individual decision. Agile, scrum, TDD, BDD — they’re all excellent practices to keep teams focused on results. After all, the longer you’re polishing your work and not putting it in the hands of users, the less you know about how they’ll be using it once you ship it!

We are thrilled to support the FOSS4G 2017 Conference as a Gold Sponsor this August in Boston! The annual Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) brings together the largest global open-source geospatial software global community. This event gathers developers, users, decision-makers, and observers for a week of immersive learning and networking.

This year was a great one for Fulcrum. Since 2011, it’s been our mission to make communications and data capture more seamless between the office and the field, and the growth in diversity of our customer base has proven that it’s a challenge worthy of solving — that organizations in many verticals are faced with poor back-and-forth process with field operations.

With Black Friday behind us, it’s officially the holiday gift giving season! Do you want to give a unique gift to your favorite maphead or geo geek? We know that finding gifts for map geeks can be quite tricky. So, a few of us on the Fulcrum team have compiled a holiday gift guide that your geo geek is sure to love. Ranging from $15 to $300, we’re sure you’ll find something within your price range that will be treasured for years to come.

Last week at Columbia University, hundreds of scholars, policy makers, environmental researchers, and geographers sat down to discuss how geography can be used to solve major world problems at this year’s Geography2050 Conference. The theme for the conference, “Envisioning a Sustainable Planet,” focused on the use of GIS tools, data, and novel approaches to aid in the protection, preservation, and conservation of our planet for future generations.

This is part 3 in our series about feedback loops, improving data quality, and reducing the time between response and action. In this part, we’ll identify ways to directly improve feedback loops and highlight various tools which can help you communicate information into actions that will help you achieve your goals.

I had the opportunity to represent Fulcrum at the inaugural DroneDeploy Conference in San Francisco, CA last week. One of the goals of the conference was to “focus on real-world drone deployments across industries driven by people”. The conference had people in attendance from an array of industries including end users, software providers, and developers interested in folding aerial survey data into applications.

Being productive requires having the right thought process, as your mental state plays a crucial role. In fact, it is even more important than the tools you use to accomplish tasks. However, many productivity resources focus heavily on the toolbox itself, rather than on how to apply these tools effectively. This week we’ve got a few links on ways to think differently about workflow productivity. Enjoy!

Geography has never played a more critical role in our lives than it does today. The long-standing traditions of map-making and understanding physical environments remain essential to how we organize our world. Additionally, modern advancements such as GIS, GPS, and geospatial analysis now permeate nearly every aspect of daily life.

Coleman McCormick speaker notes – IAOO 2016

Thanks for visiting! These are the notes and links from my talk at IAAO 2016 — Automating Field Data Collection. Below you’ll find links referenced or mentioned in the talk, the slides for download, and contact info to get in touch.

In the days of pen and paper, organizations collected, transcribed, and stored data in physical file cabinets. These cabinets retained information for a minimum of five years to comply with potential audit requirements. With advancements in digital data capture, organizations use forms software, spreadsheets, or sensors to gather information. However, many have not updated their processes significantly, limiting progress in effective data management. Now, the physical file cabinet has been replaced by outdated spreadsheets or an aging Access database. Organizations often accumulate large amounts of legacy data, justifying costs based on operational requirements. Due to the complexity of data management, organizations frequently re-collect the same data unnecessarily. This redundant collection results in added expenses without delivering any real benefits to the organization. Once entered into corporate systems and used initially, much of this data becomes forgotten and unused.

I recently came across an essay entitled The Servitude Bubble, by Umair Haque, regarding technology and the booming “Sharing Economy.” The author makes an interesting argument, emphasizing that the tech industry focuses excessively on trivial app development. Moreover, these apps primarily create systems that rely on armies of servants to perform menial tasks. Haque refers to this trend as the “Servitude Bubble,” highlighting its growth in on-demand labor services for the privileged. Additionally, he argues that this phenomenon represents a significant waste of human potential at its worst.

Recently IFAW sponsored the tenBoma project, an effort to improve reporting, tracking, and enforcement to counter wildlife crime in Kenya. Fulcrum is playing a key role on the ground to help the Kenyan Wildlife Services (KWS) catalog events associated with poaching activities. For the last several months, KWS personnel have been using Fulcrum for on-the-ground event tracking and counter-poaching investigations. During a recent trip to Voi, Kenya, near the Tsavo East National Park, I had to pleasure of working with KWS personnel and a team from Agile Analytics Group to assist in workflow development and field collection process. During the trip we refined the Service’s workflows, and how Fulcrum could better be used to support operations.

We’ve worked very hard to design Fulcrum so that it’s as easy as possible for our customers to use. In doing so, we’ve managed to “hide” a lot of the complexities around form & database design that many other platforms expose their users to. By dragging and dropping fields in our form builder, users are essentially creating a complex database without even being aware of it. Here are five important form building tips, in no particular order, that can assist new users when building their first form.

Engineering is the art of building things within constraints. If you have no constraints, you aren’t really doing engineering. Whether it’s cost, time, attention, tools, or materials, you’ve always got constraints to work within when building things. Here’s an excerpt describing the challenge facing the engineer:

Next week I’ll be in Raleigh for the 2016 AASHTO GIS for Transportation Symposium. The conference is an opportunity for government transportation departments, private industry, technology creators, and analysts to discuss the latest in GIS mapping for transportation and traffic purposes. We have hundreds of users with Fulcrum deployed for transportation use cases including asset management, construction monitoring, inspections, traffic studies, and more. It gives us a great chance to hear about the latest industry challenges.

Speaking at conferences is a great way to think about what you know in your industry and how you can share that information. A couple weeks ago, I was invited to speak at O’Reilly Fluent Conference in San Francisco, where I talked about web map libraries and emerging GIS technologies. Here are some few discoveries and thoughts I had about the experience.

When working with our customers, we talk a lot about pain. That is, the sorts of pain your business deals with right now that we can help resolve. We make software for business productivity, so people come to us with some form of pain, hoping that we can help them get to the bottom of it and fix their problems. We focus on understanding the root pain points of business process.

Some great new spring funding opportunities in the GIS world were just published on the Grants.gov website. We republished a few of them here, so feel free to take a look and share with your colleagues. If you know of any new opportunities you’d like to share with our readers, send us a message at info@fulcrumapp.com.

According to IFAW in their 2013 report, Criminal Nature: The Global Security Implications of the Illegal Wildlife Trade, worldwide industrial trade in illegal wildlife is estimated to be $19 billion. That”s equivalent to the price Facebook paid for WhatsApp, or nineteen times what it paid for Instagram. What makes this even more problematic to reconcile, not to mention counter is that this illegal activity is commingled within legal wildlife trade, estimated to be over $323 billion, globally. What further compounds the concerns about illegal wildlife trade is that this $19 billion supports the same bad actors over the same smuggling routes, the same logistical and finance supply chains and leveraged by other criminal organizations and terrorists to procure, transport and sell illegal narcotics, weapons, counterfeit merchandise and most disturbing, the trafficking of humans for modern slavery & prostitution. Each of these illicit activities are also multi-billion dollar global industries, interwoven into the fight against illegal wildlife trade.

Last week I attended the GIS CAMA Technologies Conference in Savannah, hosted by URISA and IAAO. The event was a meeting-of-the-minds for tax assessors, property appraisers, and the GIS / technical staff for the industry writ-large to discuss the latest in tech and trends for the assessors community.