Applications | Page 26 of 62 | Locus Technologies

EHS&S in the age of blockchain technology

Blockchain is a highly disruptive technology that promises to change the world as we know it, much like the World Wide Web’s impact after its introduction in 1991. As companies look to the blockchain model to perform financial transactions, trade stocks, and create open market spaces, many other industries are looking at utilizing blockchain technology to eliminate the middleman. One sector well-positioned to benefit from blockchain technology is the data-intensive Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability (EHS&S) space.

In particular, I see three major ways that the EHS industry can utilize blockchain technology to change how they manage information: 1) Blockchain-based IoT monitoring, 2) emissions management, and 3) emissions trading.

My belief is that blockchain technology will help to quantify the impact of man-made emissions on global warming trends and provide tools to manage it. One cannot manage what one cannot measure!

Imagine this: every emissions source in your company, whether to water, air, or soil, is connected wirelessly via a sensor or another device (thing) to a blockchain ledger that stores a description of the source, its location, emission factors, etc. Every time that the source generates emissions (that is, it is on), all necessary parameters are recorded in real time. If air emissions are involved, equivalent tons of carbon are calculated and recorded in a blockchain ledger and made available to reporting and trading entities in real time.

Blockchain ledgers may exist at many levels. Some may record emissions at a given site. Others at higher levels (company, state or province, country, continent, etc.) may roll up information from lower level ledgers.

Suppose that emissions are traded so that they are not yours anymore. In that case, someone else owns them, and you do not need to report them again, but everyone knows that you were the generating source. The same logic can be applied to tier 1, 2, and 3 level emissions. Attached to the emissions ledger are all other necessary information about the asset generating those emissions, financial information, depreciation schedule, time in service, operating time, fuel consumption, operators’ names, an estimate of future emissions—the list goes on.

To learn more how blockchain technology will impact emissions monitoring, management, reporting, and trading click here.

Salt River Project selects Locus SaaS for waste information management

Locus Platform provides “out-of-the-box” configurable software to streamline SRP’s Waste Management compliance tracking and reporting

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 27 February 2018 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in EHS, sustainability, and compliance management software, is pleased to announce that Salt River Project (SRP) selected the multi-tenant SaaS Locus Platform to streamline its waste management and tracking, as part of its ongoing environmental stewardship and sustainability initiatives. A key factor for SRP was the “out-of-the-box” configurability of Locus Platform, plus the ability to perform their own data migrations and build APIs to integrate with internal tools, such as their LIMS system.

“The scalable, easy-to-use configuration in Locus Platform will allow us to standardize our waste management and reporting process, and integrating with Locus Mobile will simplify data collection and container management at our waste-generating facilities,” said Noah Manwaring, environmental systems development lead at SRP.

”Locus Platform will help our Waste Management resources to more effectively track, manage, and report information to regulatory agencies, facility managers, and corporate staff, and we can completely customize the solution using the built-in Configuration Workbench tool.”

Locus Platform’s Waste application allows waste-generating facilities to manage waste cradle to grave—including waste streams, processes, detailed profiles, container details and weights, and storage locations—and to produce various report outputs like labels, manifests, and LDR generation.

At the enterprise level, powerful dashboards and reports show users how each facility is generating and managing its waste, and built-in labeling and tracking streamlines workflows to create a full EHS compliance solution.

“By taking our existing Waste application and adding in their API integrations, SRP is combining the advantages of off-the-shelf software with Locus Platform’s powerful configuration tools. This means SRP will get exactly the software solution they need to fit their business processes,” said Wes Hawthorne, President of Locus.

Locus Technologies receives the prestigious EBJ Award for innovation and growth for 12 consecutive years

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) recognized the firm for record sales and innovation in automating compliance and sustainability at enterprise level

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 8 February 2018 — Locus Technologies, a leading provider of multi-tenant, SaaS-based EHS software, was awarded its 12th consecutive award by Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) for growth and innovation in the field of Information Technology. EBJ is a business research publication providing high-value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry. Locus received the award for reporting record sales of its multi-tenant, SaaS-based EHS software as an independent company, while most of its competitors were bought out, merged, or disappeared.

In 2017, Locus launched a SaaS financial management application on Locus Platform for Honeywell International, a long-term customer of their Locus EIM and ePortal products. The app will help Honeywell to better manage their environmental liability risk management and purchase orders associated with environmental projects. Locus also released an upgraded Sustainability app for Locus Platform, which allows XML submission to multiple climate programs and tracking/reporting of sustainability indicators.

Locus’ products are evolving to support the future of EHS software, which will inevitably comprise AI, IoT, and virtual reality applications. The company intends to revolutionize the way its EHS software is automating compliance and sustainability at the enterprise level.

“We are honored to receive the EBJ Information Technology award once again, and we shall continue to build robust solutions in the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management and EHS compliance,” said Wes Hawthorne, President of Locus Technologies.

Along with Locus Platform, Locus’ flagship Environmental Information Management (EIM) software service continues to grow with new customers in the mining, water utilities, water engineering, and US DOE environmental surveillance sectors.

The world’s most sustainable companies

One notable difference among attendees of the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos, Switzerland last month was the presence of Chief Sustainability Officers in much larger number than ever before.

This makes sense given the themes of many of the discussions. None more than a panel that focused on integrating sustainability risk into enterprise risk management.

This is an important evolution for the sustainability community—one that we welcome at Locus and are working with our clients to achieve using our fully-integrated, multi-tenant software platform.

Just in time for the World Economic Forum, an annual assessment of the world’s most sustainable companies emerges, highlighting large firms from around the world whose sustainability in various categories puts them in a league of their own.

The report, now in its fourteenth year of publication, is compiled by Corporate Knights, a Canada-based financial information company and magazine with a focus on how business and societal and ecological benefits can go hand in hand.

In compiling its report, Corporate Knights looked to publicly-disclosed data—financial filings, sustainability reports, etc.—from some 6,000 financially healthy companies across the globe, in all industries, with minimum annual revenue of $1 billion. Key factors Corporate Knight included in its analysis included energy use, carbon, waste, and clean air production. Top 900 companies were contacted for data verification before the results were boiled down to a final 100.

Topping the list this year was Dassault Systemes, a French firm that designs engineering software to assist organizations in waste reduction.

Behind Dassault is Neste, a Finnish company that deals in renewable diesel and other petroleum products. Within the next five years, according to Corporate Knights, more than half of its revenue will come from renewable fuel and bio-material.

Overall, the U.S.-based companies held 18 spots in the ranking.

Thinking of buying configurable EHS software? Make sure to focus on the right questions

As most people researching EHS software know, the words “configurable”, “multi-tenant”, and “platform” are being discussed everywhere. There are plenty of other great discussions on Platform as a Service (PaaS) and multi-tenancy. Let’s look at some tips for getting the most out of configurable software.

Ask yourself “What sets us apart?”

A key question to ask (as soon as you start thinking about configurable software) is “what sets my company apart?” What special challenges or circumstances make your EHS needs more nuanced or complex?

Are you in an industry or segment of the industry that may have unique tracking and reporting needs? Maybe you are an organic milk producer or only manufacture snacks from sustainable sources following global fair-trade policies. These more specialized practices may require additional or unique reporting to maintain accreditation.
Do you handle non-standard materials in highly regulated environments (such as radioactive materials, for example) that impose additional handling, tracking, disposal, and reporting requirements?
Are you a global enterprise with highly variable reporting needs in multiple jurisdictions? Or are you operating in a location with demanding local regulations?
Are you operating in an uncertain regulatory environment?

These are just a few of the things that could set EHS customers apart. The more unique or specialized tracking and reporting needs you have, the more you will value the ability to have software easily configured for requirements that are typically not supported in “off-the-shelf” solutions.

Most modern software handles the “basics” very well, but when you have unique or emerging needs—including future needs that you don’t even know about yet—having a configurable option really pays off.

When needs change, configurable software can be updated easily and quickly by the vendor or even your own in-house staff, saving time and avoiding the agony of “waiting for the next release”. And, best of all, those changes can be done by trained configuration staff, without the need for software developers and the cost and time usually associated with software development.

Follow best practices and engage with industry peers

Learning and internalizing industry best practices, a hallmark of the EHS professional association NAEM and its outreach events, can help any software buyer make better choices and evaluate software features, platforms, and key differentiators. Check out the excellent library of resources, including publications, newsletters, and webinars from industry peers. By taking advantage of shared industry knowledge, you can dramatically streamline and expedite your search for the right solutions.

One word of caution: many industry publications can be influenced by sponsors. This is not only true in the EHS domain, but in all industry expert reviews. That’s why actually talking and comparing notes with industry colleagues is an invaluable resource to get beyond the reviews and hear about real-life experiences with the EHS domain itself and the software options that others have actually used.

If you’re looking for advice on how configurable software may be used to address your EHS needs, talking to actual software users will help. Locus, along with many other vendors and hundreds of EHS professionals, routinely attends NAEM’s EHS and Sustainability Software and Data Management Conference in order to meet with potential customers and dive into any questions you may have.

Know the boundaries of configurability

“Configurable” means something different to each software vendor. Some will say “everything is configurable”—for a price. Others will tell you that you can change report names and add a few fields to outputs, and they call this being “configurable”.

Ask the vendor to explain in detail exactly what can easily be configured—and what is “off limits” and requires actual development effort (i.e., additional cost). You might ask:

Are application workflows easy to change, along with associated notifications and audit tracking?
Can I change my forms to add five new sections with new lookup values? Will the update be automatically reflected on my mobile forms?
Can I create an entire new application for tracking volume of green recycling vs. plastics (or anything else you need to track)? Will the new application show up on the mobile app, or is that a separate configuration?
Can the user interface look different based on the user’s role in the application? For example, could I streamline the interface for my technicians so they only see what is relevant for them?
Can I change the filter selections on my dashboard reports? How about the charts? Can I add new charts?

By knowing the software’s limitations, you can make better choices on the best fit for your current (and future!) needs. Your software vendor may also identify new configurable features that you hadn’t considered before, but that would greatly improve the usability of the software. Even if you don’t need these options now, knowing you have access to them in the future is critical when selecting software.

Beware the illusion of “the perfect fit”

As we’ve established, “configurable” software can mean anything—from a total blank slate and empty platform, to changing a title of a single data entry field, and everything in between. A “blank slate” may excite more technical people who love to tinker in software programs. For others, the thought of building their software from the ground up might elicit general fear and discomfort.

Most customers want something off-the-shelf that perfectly meets their needs. Honestly, who can disagree? That is the gold standard and what everyone wants. In reality, this solution is hard to find—especially for customers with unique need—and often the software tools that address those unique needs are so focused on a particular niche that they neglect some of the other, more basic EHS needs you might have.

The good news is that configurable software provides almost unlimited options for customers, and it can make a huge difference in how the software fits into your EHS workflow. With some solutions on the market today, you could choose to build one application from a blank slate and make minor tweaks to another pre-built application in the same software.

One of the common pitfalls that EHS professionals frequently encounter in selecting a software solution for a specialized need is the tendency to narrow their options down to limited set tailored to their specific industry. For example, if your organization has requirements for refrigerant handling, you might feel constrained to selecting a solution with specific “out-of-the-box” capabilities for that need. Considering the configurability of the software may allow you to consider new and more robust options, and some simple configurations to an existing chemical inventory application could address your refrigerant reporting needs even more accurately, within a single EHS platform.

Change is inevitable—make sure your software can handle it

Many customers will buy existing applications that meet their general needs, but eventually realize they need another form, a mobile solution, or changes for new regulations. Anyone in the EHS industry knows this is the norm rather than the exception.

According to Forbes, federal departments, agencies, and commissions issued 3,853 rules in 2016, while Congress passed and the president signed 214 bills into law—a ratio of 18 rules for every law. That’s just at the federal level. It’s not hard to imagine the amount of change when you factor in state and local rules and requirements.

Over the anticipated implementation life for your EHS software, you can be reasonably assured that the EHS requirements for your organization are going to be changed in some way. Some of these changes you can anticipate, but not all. Given such routine change, you can safely assume that the more configuration options you have, the more prepared you’ll be for those changes. You’ll be in a better position if you know you can configure your software quickly, rather than waiting for a scheduled vendor update that may be out of your control.

Develop a vision of success—for today and tomorrow

Configurable software can be an effective, sustainable long-term management and reporting solution that integrates smoothly into your existing EHS workflows, but it does require you to do your homework.

You can set yourself up for success with some initial reflection and examination of your organization’s unique needs, a few conversations with industry peers, a healthy skepticism of seemingly perfect “out-of-the-box” solutions, and a willingness to ask tough questions of potential software vendors. Think ahead to the future challenges and regulatory changes that might impact your organization, and make sure your potential software vendor has provided evidence that you’ll be able to handle these changes through configuration. Take the time to truly imagine your perfect application and EHS workflow, and ask the vendor to show how it can be possible through configurability. And finally, don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

About guest blogger— Marian Carr, Locus Technologies

Ms. Carr is responsible for managing overall customer solution deployments and customer relationships with Locus’ government accounts. Her career at Locus includes heading the product development team of the award-winning cloud-based environmental ePortal solution as well as maintaining and growing key customer accounts with Locus’ Fortune 100 enterprise deployments. In addition, Ms. Carr was instrumental in driving the growth and adoption of the Locus EIM platform with key federal and water organizations.

Multi-tenancy is the latest buzz in EHS software, but what does it really mean?

In this infographic you will learn the key differences between single-tenancy and multi-tenancy, how to gain a competitive advantage with cloud computing, the reasons why returning EHS buyers look for multi-tenant software, how to spot a fake cloud, and much more.

Click image for larger version

Interested in learning more about multi-tenancy? We recently published a detailed white paper on multi-tenant architecture. It is available as a free download.

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Locus is here to help simplify your fenceline regulatory reporting!

US EPA fenceline monitoring data collection officially begins on January 30, 2018. We have put together an infographic to show you some of the ways Locus EIM can help you streamline, consolidate, and take control of all your important environmental information using maps, data reports, formatted outputs, charts, and more!

Click image for larger version

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Celebrating 55 years of GIS-based EHS data insights

GIS Day was established in 1999 to showcase the power and flexibility of geographical information systems (GIS). In celebration of the 55th birthday of GIS, we’ve compiled a brief history of the evolution of this powerful technology, with a special focus on how it can be used in EHS applications to make environmental management easier.

Not only is GIS more powerful than ever before—it is also vastly more accessible. Anyone with Internet access can create custom maps based on publicly available data, from real-time traffic conditions to environmental risk factors, to local shark sightings. Software developers, even those at small companies or startups, now have access to APIs for integrating advanced GIS tools and functionality into their programs.

Origins of GIS

Before you can understand where GIS is today, it helps to know how it started out. This year is the 55^th anniversary of the work done by Roger Tomlinson in 1962 with the Canada Land Inventory. We consider this the birth of GIS, and Mr. Tomlinson has been called the “father of GIS”.

The original GIS used computers and digitalization to “unlock” the data in paper maps, making it possible to combine data from multiple maps and perform spatial analyses. For example, in the image shown here from the Canada Land Inventory GIS, farms in Ontario are classified by revenue to map farm performance.

An early GIS system from the Canada Land Inventory, in Data for Decisions, 1967
Photo: Mbfleming. “Data for Decisions (1967).” YouTube, 12 Aug. 2007, https://youtu.be/ryWcq7Dv4jE.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

In 1969, Jack Dangermond founded Esri, which became the maker of, arguably, the world’s most popular commercial GIS software. Esri’s first commercial GIS, ARC/INFO, was released in 1982, and the simpler ArcView program followed in 1991. Many of today’s most skilled GIS software developers can trace their roots back to this original GIS software.

Back then, GIS work required expensive software packages installed on personal computers or large mainframe systems. There was no Google Maps; all map data had to be manually loaded into your software. Getting useful data into a GIS usually required extensive file manipulation and expertise in coordinate systems, projections, and geodesy.

While the government, utility, and resource management sectors used GIS heavily, there was not much consumer or personal use of GIS. Early GIS professionals spent much of their time digitizing paper maps by hand or trying to figure out why the map data loaded into a GIS was not lining up properly with an aerial photo. This may sound familiar to those who have been in the environmental industry for awhile.

Esri’s ArcView 3.2 for desktop computers (from the 1990s)
https://map.sdsu.edu/geog583/lecture/Unit-3.htm

The Google Revolution

How much has changed since those early days! After the release of OpenStreetMap in 2004, Google Maps and Google Earth in 2005, and Google Street View in 2007, GIS has been on an unstoppable journey—from only being used by dedicated GIS professionals on large computers in specific workplaces, to be accessible to anyone with an internet browser or a smartphone. High-quality map data and images—often the most expensive item in a GIS project in the 1990’s — are now practically free.

Just think how revolutionary it is that anyone can have instant access to detailed satellite images and road maps of almost anywhere on Earth! Not only can you perform such mundane tasks as finding the fastest route between two cities or locating your favorite coffee shop while on vacation—you can also see live traffic conditions for cities across the globe; view aerial images of countries you have never visited; track waste drums around your facility; and get street level views of exotic places. Back in 1991, such widespread access to free map data would have seemed like something straight out of science fiction.

Traffic conditions in London, 3:30 pm 10/16/2017, from Google Maps

South Base Camp, Mount Everest, Google StreetView

Mashups in the cloud

Obviously, the amount of spatial data needed to provide detailed coverage of the entire globe is far too large to be stored on one laptop or phone. Instead, the data is distributed across many servers “in the cloud.” Back in the 1990s, everything for one GIS system (data, processing engine, user interface) needed to be in the same physical place—usually one hard drive or server. Now, thanks to the internet and cloud computing, the data can be separate from the software, creating “distributed” GIS.

The combination of freely available data with distributed GIS and the power of smart phones has led us to the age of “neogeography”—in which anyone (with some technical knowledge) can contribute to online maps, or host their maps with data relevant to their personal or professional needs. GIS no longer requires expensive software or cartographical expertise; now, even casual users can create maps linking multiple data sources, all in the cloud.

Google’s MyMaps is an example of a tool for easily making your maps. Maps can range from the playful, such as locations of “Pokemon nests,” to the serious, such as wildfire conditions.

Google MyMaps of Pokemon Nest Locations
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1anyDs-H7hOtGQaxaTwuLjulUrVM&hl=en&usp=sharing

These online maps can be updated in real time (unlike paper maps) and therefore kept current with actual conditions. Such immediate response is instrumental in emergency management, where conditions can change rapidly, and both first responders and the public need access to the latest data.

Map showing wildfire and traffic conditions in northern California, 10/16/2017
https://google.org/crisismap/us-wildfires

Furthermore, software programmers have created online GIS tools that let non-coders create their maps. These tools push the boundaries of distributed GIS even further by putting the processing engine in the cloud with the data. Only the user interface runs locally for a given user. During this period of GIS history, it became easy to create “mashups” for viewing different types of disparate data at once, such as natural hazard risks near offices, pizza stores near one’s neighborhood, EPA Superfund sites near one’s home, property lines, flood plains, landslide vulnerability, and wildfire risk.

Floodplain data for Buncombe County, NC
https://buncombe-risk-tool.nemac.org

Programming GIS with APIs

Another significant advance in GIS technology is the ability to integrate or include advanced GIS tools and features in other computer programs. Companies such as Google and Esri have provided toolkits (called APIs, or application programming interfaces) that let coders access GIS data and functions inside their programs. While neogeography shows the power of personal maps created by the untrained public, computer programmers can use APIs to create some very sophisticated online GIS tools aimed at specific professionals or the public.

One example is the publicly-available Intellus application that Locus Technologies developed and hosts for the US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. It uses an Esri API and distributed GIS to provide access to aerial images and many decades of environmental monitoring data for the Los Alamos, NM area. Users can make maps showing chemical concentrations near their home or workplace, and they can perform powerful spatial searches (e.g., “find all samples taken within one mile of my house in the last year”). The results can be color-coded based on concentration values to identify “hot spots”.

Map from Intellus showing Tritium concentrations near a specified location
https://www.intellusnmdata.com

Another example of more sophisticated forms of analysis is integration of GIS with environmental databases. Many government facilities and private vendors incorporate GIS with online data systems to let public users evaluate all types of information they find relevant.

For example, contour lines can be generated on a map showing constant values of groundwater elevation, which is useful for determining water flow below ground. With such powerful spatial tools in the cloud, any facility manager or scientist can easily create and share maps that provide insight into data trends and patterns at their site.

Groundwater contour map where each line is a 10 ft. interval, from the Locus EIM system

Other examples include monitoring air emissions at monitoring sites (like US EPA’s AirData Air Quality Monitors, shown below) and actual stream conditions from the USGS (also shown below).

Screen capture of air quality data from US EPA AirData GIS app

Screenshot from US EPA AirData Air Quality Monitors interactive GIS mapping platform, showing Long Beach, California

Screen capture of USGS National Water Information System interactive GIS map tool, showing a site in Mountain View, California

There’s a (map) app for that

One particularly exciting aspect of GIS today is the ability to use GIS on a smartphone or tablet. The GIS APIs mentioned above usually have versions for mobile devices, as well as for browsers. Programmers have taken advantage of these mobile APIs, along with freely available map data from the cloud, to create apps that seamlessly embed maps into the user experience. By using a smartphone’s ability to pinpoint your current latitude and longitude, these apps can create personalized maps based on your actual location.

A search in the Apple AppStore for “map” returns thousands of apps with map components. Some of these apps put maps front-and-center for traditional navigation, whether by car (Waze, MapQuest, Google), public transit (New York Subway MTA Map, London Tube Map), or on foot (Runkeeper, Map My Run, AllTrails). Other apps use maps in a supporting role to allow users to find nearby places; for example, banking apps usually have a map to show branches near your current location.

What’s really exciting are the apps that allow users to enter data themselves via a map interface. For example, HealthMap’s Outbreaks Near Me not only shows reports of disease outbreaks near your location, but it also lets you enter unreported incidents. The GasBuddy app shows the latest gasoline prices and lets you enter in current prices. This “crowdsourcing” feature keeps an app up-to-date by letting its users update the map with the latest conditions as they are happening.

The Outbreaks Near Me app for phones (left) and the GasBuddy app for tablets (right)

EHS professionals can further harness the power of GIS using mobile applications. For example, in the Locus Mobile app for field data collection, users can enter environmental data—such as temperature or pH measurements—from a sampling location, then upload the data back to cloud-based environmental management software for immediate review and analysis. Mobile apps can also support facility compliance audits, track current locations of hazardous waste drums, collect on-scene incident data (complete with photos), and record exact locations for mapping by colleagues back in the office.

GIS-enabled mobile apps also typically include a map interface for navigating to data collection points and tracking visited locations. Other key features to look for include ad hoc location creation for capturing unplanned data—this lets users create new data collection points “on the fly” simply by clicking on the map.

Views of many different mobile app use cases from tracking drums to collecting field data

A bright future for GIS applications within EHS software

Where will GIS as a whole go from here? It’s possible that augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D visualization will continue to expand and become as ubiquitous as the current “2D” maps on browsers and phones. Also, the “internet of things” will surely have a GIS component because every physical “thing” can be tied to a geographical location. Similarly, GIS can play an important role in “big data” by providing the spatial framework for analysis.

GIS is one of the most effective ways to convey information to a wide range of users, from corporate managers looking at the company’s key metrics to operational personnel looking for incidents across facilities and trying to find trends. It is a highly intuitive data query interface that empowers users to explore the data hidden deep in enterprise EHS databases. The examples presented above are just the tip of the iceberg for the range of possibilities to simplify communication of information and look more broadly across enterprises to identify where real or potential issues lie.

An EHS software system should have many ways to extract data and information to form insights beyond a few “canned” reports and charts. A spatially-accurate picture can often provide more actionable insight than tables and text. Imagine being able to see spill locations, incident locations, environmental monitoring stations for air quality, wastewater outfalls, central and satellite waste accumulation area locations, and PCB and asbestos equipment and/or storage locations—all visually represented on an actual map of your facility and its surroundings. All these types of maps are invaluable in an enterprise EHS software system and should be a critical item on your checklist when selecting software for your EHS needs.

Thanks to the GIS Timeline for providing some of the history for this article.

About guest blogger— Dr. Todd Pierce, Locus Technologies

Dr. Pierce manages a team of programmers tasked with development and implementation of Locus’ EIM application, which lets users manage their environmental data in the cloud using Software-as-a-Service technology. Dr. Pierce is also directly responsible for research and development of Locus’ GIS (geographic information systems) and visualization tools for mapping analytical and subsurface data. Dr. Pierce earned his GIS Professional (GISP) certification in 2010.

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Interested in Locus’ GIS solutions?

Introducing Locus GIS+. All the functionality you love in EIM’s classic Google Maps GIS for environmental management— now integrated with the powerful cartography, interoperability, & smart-mapping features of Esri’s ArcGIS platform!

Learn more about GIS+

Top 10 cool features in Locus Mobile

Maybe you’re already using Locus’ iOS app for field data collection, or maybe you’re just curious about how it integrates with Locus’ cloud software. Either way, we’ve put together a list of the ten coolest features of Locus Mobile.

1. Locus Mobile works with both EIM and Locus Platform applications

The full-featured version of the Locus Mobile iOS application works for either Locus EIM or Locus Platform. This means that customers using both our key products can manage their work in a single, unified mobile application.

2. Get temporary coordinates for new sampling locations using the mobile device’s GPS

Locations can be added to EIM without coordinates (Latitude/Longitude or Northing/Easting). If a location without coordinates is used in a Provision File, the location will have a symbol associated with it (a symbol if coordinates are known). When a location with a triangle is selected, the user is prompted with the option to ‘Set Location’ – capture the current coordinates (Lat/Long) of where the user is located. When the provision file is loaded to EIM, the data manager will have the option to update the location in EIM with these coordinates. The accuracy of these mobile captured coordinates are below survey grade, but can be updated another time.

3. In EIM, more than one user can be assigned to a provision file– the data synced (uploaded) to EIM is separated based on the user that collected the data

If you’re not sure who will be sampling on a given day, you can assign multiple users to your provision files. Later, you can easily see who is responsible for certain sample collection data.

4. Locus Platform’s custom data type icons are displayed in Locus Mobile

Has your Locus Platform been customized to use specific icons and colors? These icons are also used in Locus Mobile, so if you use both Locus Platform and the mobile app, you’ll instantly recognize your data types while out in the field.

5. Check your sampling progress at any time during the sampling event, without having to search through your locations to see what locations you sampled and when

Although you can see the status on your map and location list, sometimes those lists are very long, and the map gets crowded when large field events are taking place. Tap the icon to see a log of the collected samples for the day.

6. You can set valid field data ranges with warnings or validation stops to help ensure you have not entered bad data

For EIM Locus Mobile users, when you’re collecting a lot of field data, the “fat finger” problem can make for some colorful data entry errors. That’s why we built in the ability to specify valid data ranges for any parameter— and provide a warning when you’re about to enter a bad value during field data collection.

7. Locus Mobile works offline

We know that not every field location is served by wireless or a strong cell signal, so Locus Mobile is built to keep working whether you’re online or offline. This gives you the flexibility to collect field data from anywhere, then sync back to Locus EIM or Locus Platform when you can.

8. You can configure default fields in Locus Mobile that will track with the dataset, but won’t show up in the field forms— making your forms less cluttered but still capturing all the information you need

Choose which required fields you want to be visible in Locus Mobile. You also have the option to include your optional field information without displaying them. This gives you control over which fields you see while in the field.

9. Search and filter for locations in a provision file

Dealing with a long list of locations? The search field above the location list lets you start typing the Location ID or Location Description to filter the list. Even better, the extent of the map will adjust to zoom to the matching selections!

10. Switch locations quickly with the QR code scanner

Locus Mobile can access your device’s camera and scan QR codes for quick and efficient retrieval of individual locations included in a given provision file.

Our product teams are constantly working to improve and add new functionality to Locus Mobile. If you’re a current user, please let your Locus Account Manager know if you have any ideas for how we can make your field data collection workflows faster and easier. If you’re not using Locus Mobile yet, please ask them for a free demo!

Locus Technologies announces major improvements to its Railroad Incident application

Industry-leading Railroad Incident management software provider has been simplifying compliance with U.S. FRA regulations over the last five years.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 27 November 2017 — Locus Technologies, the industry leader in cloud-based environmental compliance and information management EHS software, announces a suite of enhancements to its Railroad Incident application within its state-of-the-art Locus Platform SaaS solution—a scalable, robust app-building platform for easily designing and deploying apps that precisely conform to an organization’s existing business processes and requirements.

Since 2013, Locus has maintained its position on the cutting edge of railroad industry EHS solutions, as one of the first Railroad Incident software providers in the market assisting U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-regulated organizations in maintaining compliance.

The FRA imposes rigorous reporting requirements upon Class II railroads, and maintaining compliance remains difficult for many EHS departments. While railroad safety and risk mitigation are top priorities for these departments, many are finding that trying to stay up-to-date with the latest regulations while using legacy, homegrown systems to manage compliance programs is nearly impossible.

Locus found that EHS professionals who are tasked with completing many FRA forms for each incident considered it an arduous and lengthy process, requiring multiple checks to prevent errors and oversights. Keeping in line with its guiding principle of customer success, Locus developed its Railroad Incident application so that users could easily and efficiently manage and report railroad accidents and incidents, with built-in quality control checks to verify that all reporting is in compliance with FRA regulations. Locus software has successfully generated hundreds of these reports with a single-click solution that instantly completes FRA forms for direct submittal to the agency.

The Locus Platform Railroad Incident application includes:

Easy-to-use data entry forms for incidents, with one-click incident section selection
Ability to associate multiple injuries or illnesses to an incident
State-of-the-art body image selector for injuries
Dashboards to view incident trends and key metrics to aid in proactively preventing future incidents
Cradle-to-grave root cause and corrective action analysis and tracking, easily configured to any company techniques or methods
Custom configurable workflows and email notifications to align with existing busines processes
Excel plugin tool for bulk importing and editing incident, employee, and other organizational data
Mobile-enabled incident forms
Push-button FRA Form generation to expedite form completion by automatically generating PDFs with e-signature for FRA Forms 54, 55, 55a, 57, 97, and 98
Optional integration with third party APIs like SAP and PeopleSoft

“Locus is proud to have been supporting the railroad industry for years with this important functionality. When it comes to incident management, company managers have an easily accessible, all-encompassing view of what’s occurring across all of their different facilities, sites, and incident locations. Our easy-to-use data entry forms for railroad incidents with one-click incident section selection enables the seamless capture, analyzing, reporting, e-signing, and submittal of critical FRA-specific data—all from within our industry-tested Railroad Incident application,” said Wes Hawthorne, President of Locus Technologies. “Locus’ Railroad Incident application is a single repository in the cloud that offers railroad-specific functionality for managing incident tracking, investigations, and analyzing key safety metrics aimed at reducing accidents and mitigating risks.”

For more information about Locus’ Railroad Incident application and other EHS and sustainability solutions, visit https://www.locustec.com.