Locus Introduces iPhone Application for Field Environmental Data Collection
SAN FRANCISCO, California, March 28, 2011 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based energy, environmental, and emissions information management software, announced today a new iPhone application for field data collection. eWell for the iPhone consists of two linked components: the iPhone application itself, and Locus’ Environmental Information ManagementTM (EIM) web-based application. Data are collected using the iPhone and the data provisioning setup is performed in EIM. Once data are collected, they are wirelessly transmitted to EIM for review and reporting.
Using EIM, eWell users can map the routes for checking a series of wells that need to be sampled, and/or those that they need water levels and other field parameters measured. They can download these routes to the iPhone, along with selected historical environmental data on their wells, for use in the field for real-time validation and QA/QC of collected data. Once downloaded to eWell, the routes and well locations can be seen and accessed directly from the iPhone’s Google Maps interface.
Once in the field, customers can use their iPhones, iPod Touches, or iPads to record water levels, pH, turbidity, and other environmental readings, as well as to compare current and past readings. Where Wi-Fi or 3G coverage is available, data collected in the field uploads instantly to EIM. Where access is unavailable, users save the collected data automatically, which can then be uploaded when coverage becomes available. eWell for the iPhone completely streamlines the data upload and download processes, eliminating any steps that require equipment synchronization.
“The release of this new iPhone/iPod/iPad version of eWell adds yet another powerful tool to Locus’ arsenal of web-based technologies for lowering the cost of environmental data collection and management. For information that cannot be collected through interfaces to other applications, such as from analytical laboratories LIMS systems, data historians or wireless sensors, eWell offers a powerful alternative that eliminates duplicate input, reduces transcription time, performs data checks and validation at point of collection, and maintains a complete audit trail, including the georefererence on who did what, when, and where,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO Locus Technologies.
Once in EIM’s data review tables, users can review uploaded data for accuracy and completeness. After completing all data validation checks, field readings are moved to liveEIM for reporting and other project uses. EIM is part of Locus’ ePortal SaaS platform.
“The smart phone-based eWell represents another milestone for applying mobile Web 2.0 technologies to the business world. Locus will continue expanding this popular platform to include field data collection for energy, carbon, resource consumption, and other sustainability information. As is the case for all other applications that Locus has pioneered over last decade, eWell is designed to lower a company’s environmental expenditures while improving data quality,” added Duplan.
Locus first released eWell in 2000 on the PalmTM, and was the environmental industry’s first wireless Internet application for recording and transmitting environmental data in the field.
The eWell iPhone app is available for download from the Apple, Inc. App Store immediately for $19.95. Over the course of 2011, Locus will introduce eWell on other smart phone platforms, including Android.
