ArcPad and the 2010 U.S. Census

You've probably heard by now that ArcPad has been selected as the mobile GIS platform to support the U.S. Census in 2010.

This is nothing short of an awesome project at an even more amazing scale!

We think its probably going to be the biggest mobile GIS deployment in the history of the Earth, mankind, the universe and everything :) !!
So of course we're proud and excited that ArcPad is going to be the mobile GIS platform underlying the field data capture system to be used by up to 500,000 enumerators who will conduct the bulk of the data collection work.

We thought its worth a special mention that at this year's ESRI User Conference that a couple of the guys from Harris Corporation, the system integrator; will be presenting a paper on how ArcPad will be used in one of the Moderated Paper Sessions.

The details are :

Session Title : Mobile GIS with ArcGIS Engine and ArcPad

Date/Time: Wed, Aug. 9, 1:30PM - 2:45PM (Room 31 B)

Customizing and Integrating Mobile GIS
Adam Brown, Harris Corporation
Chris Robertson, Harris Corporation

The purpose of the Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) program is to modernize the collection of the 2010 Census by using handheld computers, therefore reducing the costs and risks associated with the 2000 Census.

This presentation will address the prototype that was built to meet these requirements. The need for flexibility drove the creation of a custom data entry application. Different custom solutions were investigated and their costs, performance, adaptability and risks were analyzed.

ArcPad 7 was used as the GIS platform, operating in tandem with the data entry application. An integer-based layer type was created to increase rendering speed. The external interface provided by ArcPad was used to send and receive messages between the applications. The extension capability of ArcPad proved to be the most essential feature, since it allowed native code to be run from the scripting environment.