Monthly Archives: July 2010

GIS-Based Asset and Work Management Software with Full GIS Integration and Industry Standard Compatibility

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If you’re looking to integrate your GIS with an asset management package there are several options to consider.  Elements Management Software offers the following features in a single, standalone application.

Full GIS Integration

Elements provides a comprehensive set of GIS-based asset and work management tools in a single, standalone application giving utilities and municipalities the ability to:

  • Manage work orders, permits, licenses, inspections and other important data in a GIS-based environment using GIS data from any industry standard application including ESRI, MapInfo, Manifold, Autodesk, and others
  • Maintain assets and critical infrastructure in a GIS-based environment without requiring third-party GIS licenses
  • Tie work history and asset management data to any GIS asset
  • Associate asset and work management data to non-customer related assets and accounts
  • Take advantage of GIS-based asset and work management without incurring additional GIS expenses
  • Visualize work history and asset locations on GIS maps
  • Visualize geographic areas containing high concentrations of work orders and other data
  • Effectively distribute capital improvement funds by quickly finding problem areas and assets with high failure rates
  • Maximize existing GIS investments
  • Use GIS data from any source or application to manage assets and infrastructure in a visual, geographical environment
  • Powerful GIS Tools In a Standalone Application

Elements provides asset, work management, and GIS data in a single application – reducing costs and minimizing the learning curve.

  • All information, including GIS data, is accessible in a single application
  • Full GIS integration is provided without requiring third-party GIS licenses
  • Reduced learning curve; third-party GIS applications are eliminated
  • Reduced maintenance and overhead for support staff
  • Quicker overall implementation

Industry Standard Compatibility

Elements allows municipalities and utilities to maximize their GIS investment, regardless of which GIS technologies are currently being used by the organization.

  • Full GIS support for any industry standard GIS application including ESRI, MapInfo, Manifold, Autodesk, and others
  • Organizations with little or no GIS can use Elements to take advantage of GIS-based asset and work management by obtaining GIS data from resources such as counties, state, and local governments then using that data with Elements
  • GIS data from varying sources and multiple applications can be used together to manage assets and infrastructure

Elements Management Software integrates with ESRI and other GIS applications to provide GIS-based asset and work management tools for utilities and government.   To learn more about Elements and related products offered by novotX visit www.novotx.com.

iPads, Lattes, and the ESRI 2010 Conference

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Most of the people who read this blog are conference attendees who faithfully tweeted about conference happenings.  Since I did not attend the conference this year, I thought it would be great to share a few things that I learned about the conference while sitting at my desk miles away.

Here’s what the conference looked like on Twitter:

  1. According to the t-shirt, it’s pronounced ez-ree.
  2. Thanks to the iPad, booth traffic was through the roof.
  3. Also thanks to the iPad, nobody knew what the vendors actually had to offer (other than free iPads).
  4. Judging by the number of tweets about waiting in line for caffeine and lattes, the real winner at this conference may have been Starbucks, not ESRI.
  5. Apparently vendors can tell what kind of budget you have by looking at your exhibit badge, and they give you attention accordingly.
  6. Yes, it’s true.  Another product called ArcGIS.  Map Store, App Store, something like that.
  7. 19, 20, 21 = 19 Cities with populations of 20 Million plus in the 21st Century.
  8. There’s a reason the presenters don’t explain which extensions are required to do the cool stuff shown in the sessions.
  9. The bigger the vendor booth, the bigger the chance you’ll never afford whatever it is they’ve got.
  10. Don’t worry, Apple will be giving away free cases and bumpers.

Got something to add?  Leave it in the comments!

GIS-Centric Asset Management and the ESRI 2010 International User Conference

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The annual ESRI International User Conference is always incredible, but this year novotX was nowhere to be found – no booth, and no people sitting through classes.  Are we crazy?

Maybe.

Online plenary presentations, Twitter, Foursquare, and LinkedIn groups helped us make the decision.  The biggest factor in our decision, however, was our customers.

So where were we?

At our office, working – just like most of you.

The fact is, this year we’ve been absolutely swamped with implementations and new customers coming onboard with our GIS-based asset and work management software.  So, instead of putting our resources into an exhibit hall and buying alcohol for anyone at the conference that could possibly buy our software, we decided to put our money into our existing customers.

Our goal is to keep our customers happy and provide GIS-based asset management software that works.

I’ll be the first to admit – there’s not a better place to see the latest technologies, learn from experts in the industry, and meet new geo-peeps.  These conferences have also proven to provide excellent resources for GIS admins to find information on asset and work management software applications that integrate with ESRI and other GIS products.

So for those of you who made it to the conference, hopefully we’ll see you next year.  For those of us who didn’t make it to the conference?  I guess we can count ourselves lucky that we didn’t have to walk through a crowded exhibit hall full of sales reps trying to Jedi Mind Trick us into buying whatever it is they’ve got to offer.  Exhibit halls are funny places, but I’ll save that for another post.

If you’d like to find conference information related GIS and Asset, Infrastructure, or Work Management (whether you attended the UC in person or not) you can join our newly formed LinkedIn group GIS in Asset, Infrastructure, and Work Management for Government and Utilities.

Elements Management Software integrates with ESRI and other GIS applications, providing GIS-centric asset and work management for government and utilities.  For more information visit www.novotx.com.

GIS, Asset Management Software, and Fred Savage

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The 80’s were great.  Two of my favorite things that came out of the 1980’s were:

  1. ‘Fletch’ in 1985 with Chevy Chase
  2. ‘The Wizard’ in 1989 with Fred Savage

Actually, there are some other pretty great things that came out of the 80’s (like Billy Ray Cyrus and B.U.M. Equipment clothing) but we’ll save those for another post.

Recently I was showing our GIS-based asset management software to a company when I was reminded of a scene from the 1985 hit ‘The Wizard’ starring Fred Savage.

I hope you all remember that movie – if you didn’t see it in 1985 you should definitely check it out as soon as you get a chance.  Here’s the scene I was reminded of:

My favorite is the last line of this clip: “I love the Power Glove, it’s so bad.”  And it was.  The Power Glove was indeed ‘so bad’ – it was terrible.

Does anyone remember that thing?  …that insanely awkward and uncomfortable NES controller that never really worked right no matter how many times you calibrated it and no matter how many times you typed in that stupid game-matching code on the keypad (yes, I owned one, so I’m speaking from experience).

Power Glove

The Power Glove was introduced in 1989 as a revolutionary new NES controller.

So how could it be so bad?  With all of those buttons and that awesome glove it was sure to be incredible, right?  Wrong.  Turns out this controller was way better:

NES Controller

The simple design of the original NES controller proved to be much more efficient and practical than the Power Glove.

The original NES controller was easier to understand, your hand didn’t get all sweaty, you didn’t have to calibrate it, left-handed people could use it too, you didn’t have to type in a bunch of codes for each game you played, and most of all – it worked.  Every single time.

And that’s how we feel about GIS and asset management software.  GIS and asset management should be simple.  Our ‘Elements’ GIS-based asset and work management software is intentionally designed to be under-complicated – it’s simple, quick to learn, quick to implement, and it works.

Just like the original NES controller, our combination of GIS and asset management software provides the same data (and most of the same functionality) as some of the more complicated systems out there, but with a little less stress and confusion.

I guess if I could have tried out that stupid glove before I bought it I would have kept my $100 and put it toward a Wii 20 years later.  So if you’d like to try out our ‘Elements’ GIS-based asset management software you can contact us here and we’ll be glad to set you up with a trial.

GIS in Asset & Infrastructure Management: New LinkedIn Group

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We’ve started a new LinkedIn Group for utilities and governments to share resources and information related to GIS and technologies for:

  • Asset & Infrastructure Management
  • Facilities Management
  • Work Orders
  • Permits
  • Licenses
  • Inspections
  • Other GIS technologies for utilities and government

So if you’re interested, join the group and help us promote industry news, software and hardware solutions, blogs, resources, and the like.  Have fun!

You can join the new LinkedIn group, GIS in Asset & Infrastructure Management for Government and Utilities by clicking here.