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"The workplace has been quick to adopt iPad and Android tablets. Today, it\u2019s near commonplace to find tablets in the hands of doctors, real estate agents and retail employees. However, if you really want to see the future of tablets in the workplace, you have to look in unexpected places.\n1. In Garbage Trucks\nOn a list of places you wouldn\u2019t expect to see an iPad, inside the cab of a garbage truck would have to be near the top.\u00A0 But you\u2019ll find dozens of iPads in O\u2019Fallon, Mo., just west of St. Louis.\u00A0 Drivers use the iPads to spot residents who haven\u2019t paid their trash bills, but who put their cans at the curb anyway, trying to receive free service.\u00A0 \nAt first, the city of O\u2019Fallon printed lists of cutoff accounts, but it was easy for busy drivers to forget which addresses to avoid.\u00A0 Next, they tried high-end GPS receivers with custom maps created by the city\u2019s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department.\u00A0 As a driver pulled up to a house, he checked the map; a green dot on the address meant pick up, a red dot meant skip it.\u00A0 The program worked great, helping to recover thousands of dollars in unpaid bills every month, but there were a few drawbacks.\u00A0 \nFor one, in order to update the GPS units, an employee had to plug each device into a desktop PC and sync for new account data.\u00A0 The process only took about five minutes per device, but 26 total units needed to be synced every day.\u00A0 In addition, at a cost of about $3,000 apiece, the units were expensive to replace.\u00A0 \n\n\u201CAt first, the iPad wasn\u2019t really a viable option because we had no way of installing our custom maps,\u201D says Kevin Kingrey, GIS Manager for the city of O\u2019Fallon. But that changed when ESRI, creators of ArcGIS, the industry-leading GIS software, released an ArcGIS app for iOS and Android.\u00A0The app interfaces with ArcGIS Online, a GIS mapping site that can read data uploaded to the cloud or directly from an organization\u2019s own GIS server.\u00A0 Now, instead of syncing data every day, garbage truck operators simply use the iPad app to access a secure map on arcgisonline.com, where account status changes are available instantly.\u00A0 \n\u201CThe iPads also allow drivers to send information back to us in real time,\u201D reports Kingrey.\u00A0\u201CIf they see a broken trash can, they can indicate that on the map.\u00A0The office will see it and schedule a replacement can delivery, possibly for the same day.\u201D\nThere\u2019s another bonus, too. \u201CEven with 3G service, we can buy four or five iPads for the price of one of the GPS receivers,\u201D says Kingrey.\u00A0\u201CIf an iPad lasts a year, it\u2019s paid for itself multiple times over.\u201D \nGarbage trucks were just the tip of the iPad iceberg for O\u2019Fallon.\u00A0Kingrey says, \u201CWe have a lot more departments using them now. Water and sewer, streets, building code enforcement is getting them soon; everybody sees how useful they can be in the field.  The more information employees have at their fingertips, the better they can serve our residents.\u00A0 The iPads make that possible.\u201D\n2. In Police Cars\nWith the new PolicePad app from Zco Corporation, crooks will have nowhere to run from the long arm of the law.  Developed in cooperation with the Lowell, Massachusetts Police Department, the iPad app is a mobile information center for officers on patrol.  \n\u201CBasically everything accessible on the desktop PC is now available in a small, reliable, relatively inexpensive and easy to use device,\u201D says Officer Craig Withycombe, the man in charge of LPD\u2019s information systems.\nPolicePad features a map with real-time 911 call locations and information, registered sex offender addresses and even the current whereabouts of other squad cars, all at the touch of large, tap-friendly icons.  Once an officer answers a call, photos, text messages, and streaming or recorded video can be sent to HQ or other PolicePad users, and just as easily attach to an electronic case file as evidence.  The officers can access warrants, mugshots and legacy case files, as well as see the history of calls for a specific address if they\u2019re going into a hot spot.  \nIn conjunction with other apps, such as email, calendars, word processing and web browsing, a $600 iPad can virtually replace the $5,000 cruiser laptops found in many police cars, says Withycombe.  \n\nHe adds, \u201CIn my over 30 years in dealing with technology \u2014 18 with LPD \u2014 I believe these devices, tailored with the right software, will have a revolutionary impact on law enforcement.\u201D\nZco Corporation\u2019s director of marketing Katie Meurin reports that PolicePad's launch is set for the upcoming International Association of Chiefs of Police conference, and will be available in Q4 2012.   \n3. At a Construction Site\nIf you need steel-toed boots and a hard hat at work, bringing an iPad seems like a bad idea.  Nevertheless, that\u2019s just what employees at Parkhill, Smith &amp; Cooper (PSC), an engineering and architecture firm in Lubbock, Texas are doing, thanks to the PunchList app from Newforma.\nIn case you don\u2019t wear a tool belt every day, a punchlist is an inventory of projects that must be contractually finished before a building is considered complete.  A punchlist can include tasks as minor as putting on power outlet covers, or as major as putting the crown molding in the kitchen.  The punchlist gets its name from the tradition of punching a hole in the paper next to the item to show it has been finished.  \nAccording to Sheri Mullins, project assistant at PSC, creating a paper punchlist used to be a two- or three-day process.  Inspectors would either hand-write or tape record items for the list, which would then be typed up and given to the engineer for approval. The final list would be emailed as a PDF to the contractor. \n\nThanks to the PunchList app, an inspector uses an iPad to add items directly to an electronic project file, which can include photos and videos for added clarity.  As soon as the list is published, it\u2019s instantly available to the engineer back at the office, through Newforma\u2019s project management network.  When the engineer approves it, the list is assigned to the contractor, who uses PunchList to mark off items as they\u2019re completed.  The path from inspector to contractor can now take as little as 30-45 minutes.  Mullins estimates they save approximately 40% of actual punch time and 90% of editing time by using the app.\nNewforma\u2019s David Wagner, senior product manager of construction solutions, reports that mobile apps like PunchList are a top priority for the company.  Although many components of the project management suite can already be accessed via the web browser on a PC or tablet, Newforma is looking to create more apps optimized for tablets and smartphones by Q1 2013.   \n4. In Utility Trucks\n\nWhen a thunderstorm rolls through the area, residents depend on the Wake Electric Membership Corporation. Hundreds of the rural North Carolina co-op's 35,000 members call in to report power outages; therefore, things can get pretty hectic.  But thanks to the Outage Management System (OMS) app, dealing with power interruptions has gotten a whole lot easier.\nThe OMS app from National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC), a leading software developer for electric co-ops, is a tablet interface for NISC's own iVUE OMS, part of the popular iVUE Suite of desktop programs. The app maintains the core functionality of iVUE OMS, including the ability to create new outages, edit existing ones and assign open outages to repair crews, but it is streamlined for a more intuitive mobile experience.  Using the app, dispatchers who would normally need to manage even small power outage events from the office, can now do so from anywhere, even at home on the couch.     \nBut the real advantage of the app, according to Matt Vernon of Wake Electric Membership Corporation, is that it can be used in repair trucks.  \u201CFeedback from the guys in the field is positive \u2026 [The OMS app] cuts down on talk time via radio and mobile phone [which] allows [the crews] to respond faster to outages, especially in the middle of the night.\u201D  \nThe key is two-way communication between the app and the iVUE OMS desktop program.  Traditionally, a dispatcher had to relay information to the trucks, but now, that information is at the crew\u2019s fingertips.\nBy tapping on an outage, the map zooms to the interruption location and displays affected power lines.  From here, driving directions from the truck's current location, as well as the whereabouts of other trucks in the vicinity, are easily accessible.  In addition, more data can be found in an outage pop-up box, including comments from dispatch and callers, affected electrical phases, and the feeder and substation where the line originated.  Once the power is back, the crew marks the outage \u201Crestored,\u201D removing it from the list of active outages in the app and in iVUE OMS, and simultaneously updating the map for all users.  \nAccording to Todd Eisenhauer, vice president of engineering and operations, the OMS app is just the beginning of mobile solutions at NISC.  Eisenhauer says programmers are already working on tablet interfaces and mobile adaptations of more iVUE Suite programs, with some apps expected in late 2012.  He adds, \u201CFor an industry that is in rural America \u2026 we are doing some neat things.\u201D  Surely the 35,000 people who rely on Wake Electric Membership Corporation would agree.\nImage courtesy of Flickr, Johan Larsson"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/tablets-unusual-workplaces/>