A Guide to Mobile Mapping

Buzzy enables a variety of mobile Geographic information System (GIS) workflows which can help improve positioning and tracking accuracy, efficient field data collection, real-time mapping, ground truth validation, location intelligence and decision support. However, mobile GIS workflows face several challenges such as a small screen for data visualization, limited bandwidth and high costs of networks for transferring data, battery consumption, CPU and storage capabilities.

Since mobile devices only have limited resources, data is mostly stored and rendered on the server side . However, Buzzy can leverage both client and server side storage, and the app will manage the flow of data between server and client. The client side database is especially useful for performing tasks when offline.

The following are a few strategies to help mitigate issues down the road:

• Sync Only as Needed - Don’t allow for a complete sync of all of your enterprise data, instead, only allow staff to sync what is absolutely necessary.

• Avoid displaying cluttered data - Limit the number of items at each zoom level to what can be clearly seen on a mobile screen. The mobile device has limited CPU and screen space.

• Reduce complexity - A polygon with thousands of points is not useful on a mobile device. Consider thinning the polygon and polyline data at it’s source.

More information can be found in Optimize