The Apple iPad is a phenomenal multimedia consumption device. Looking to leverage the public’s fascination with these trendy computers, we recently began to explore ideas for allowing users to benefit from geospatial technology on their iPads. We began brainstorming different situations in which an iPad app could be used to discover, disseminate mission critical geospatial information (GI) and also provide a platform for other businesses to extend their products offerings using Intergraph | ERDAS products. We considered iPad apps that could work with ERDAS APOLLO to:
- Empower government agencies and first responders to consume geospatial content, share data and make informed decisions in the field for security or disaster response management.
- Send notifications to a data provider’s customers when new data becomes available in their region of interest (ROI) so they can then quickly view the data, submit an order, and download it using ERDAS APOLLO’s Clip-Zip-Ship workflow.
- Mash up spatially aware social media from services such as Twitter and USGS GeoRSS which are currently shaping world events and becoming an increasingly powerful communication platform during disasters.
Based on these thoughts, an idea was born - the "GeoNexus" iPad (iOS) app. GeoNexus streamlines the decision-making process in the aftermath of disasters, improving availability to current information in the field by providing access to geotagged or georeferenced unstructured data such as images, photos, video, and documents that are collected in the field and cataloged in ERDAS APOLLO. The system is designed so that after a disaster, such as an earthquake, the search and rescue workers deployed on the ground can constantly upload photos, videos and documents to ERDAS APOLLO on the Cloud. GeoNexus is used to view the different resources being uploaded to ERDAS APOLLO on the Cloud as a GeoRSS/Atom feed and offers a mashup with the USGS Earthquake Atom Feed to keep track of aftershocks. Personnel in the field offices can then analyze the events via aerial images, photos, video and reports, and plan the best course of action.