WEARABLE, VOICE-ACTIVATED COMPUTER location systems are the biggest leap forward in workplace fashion since 1873, when Levi Strauss designed his 501 blue jeans. The current revolution is a computer--usually wireless--that's voice enabled, just like in the movies, allowing it to talk to its owner or the owner to speak data into it.
The computers can be worn, carried or mounted on a bike or golf cart--as they do in Aurora, Colo.
"After you get started with voice data collection, your world is going to explode," says Lynne Center, project engineer in the Public Works Department for Aurora, a 270,000-person Denver suburb. "You'll collect data you didn't expect to collect. You'll do projects in two months that used to take six to 18 months to complete."
Aurora used to send two people with paper forms to collect an hour's worth of street-sign inventory data. Now one person can gather the same data in a half-hour with a voice system.
In addition, there's no data transcription error. With paper records, it took about two hours to transcribe and input an hour's worth of collection. Now workers spend 15-20 minutes auditing the voice records and downloading a four-hour work session.
Gaining Momentum
Several companies design computer products to allow field workers to enter and retrieve data or locate themselves via Global Positioning System (GPS) technology or related mapping software. Some systems record data by voice, others by electronic pen. Many have instant access to remote databases via wireless connections. Actual applications are in use, and improvements should arrive rapidly.
"Within the next 18 months, you will see widespread commercial applications," says Prabuddha Biswas, director of software engineering for Oracle's Corp.'s New England Development Center. Applications will range from location mapping for utilities and cities to sophisticated voice-based vehicle navigation systems to Yellow Page "lookups."
However, there are some stumbling points. Can the address "12936 Water St." be read "one twenty-nine thirty-six" or must the speaker say "one, two, nine, three, six?" Is it a "traffic signal" or a "stop light?" The newest systems can handle either phrase, but some require speakers to use a specific vocabulary. Many of today's programs repeat the speech. A readout then tells users the program's level of confidence that it got the data correct.
Technicians simply need a headset microphone. A speech-enabled GIS program links data to a GPS receiver to pinpoint the speaker's location. Most systems allow input from a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, barcode reader, range finder or digital camera to be linked to the voice. The program typically attaches a date/time stamp and other data attributes automatically.
Speaking Up
Systems are smart enough to recognize regional differences such as "The 10" referring to I-10 in Los Angeles or "I-95" for "Interstate 95" in Philadelphia. In fact, the software can disregard the possibility that an inquiry from Cleveland for Route 83 is looking for I-83 (which runs near Baltimore), and it will search for the state route instead.
Although highway data are easy to explain, the same concept holds for field data. Systems can be "trained" to recognize the difference among gas main locations, water pipes, fire hydrant locations and overhead streetlights. Speak the words, "stop sign, right; bullet holes, faded," and the data are linked to a particular geographic coordinate.
Center had a French intern with a heavy accent doing fieldwork, and the system had no problem understanding him. Male or female, southern drawl or yankee twang, the system can handle it, because the vocabulary for specific applications, like phone lines or highway signs, is so small that accuracy is virtually assured--typically more than 90 percent. Most technical vocabularies are 4,000-6,000 words as opposed to 500,000-600,000 for a transcription program, so there's less room for error.
The Xybernaut Mobile Assistant wearable computer gear is designed for on-the-job use.
Traditionally, data collection was performed by hand. Collectors took notes with pencil and paper. But notes got wet in the rain and blew away on windy days. Even when collectors take a pen-based computer to the field, they have to enter data by using keyboard and/or pen-based input. That's hard to do in a rolling truck. By incorporating voice-recognition technologies into data collection, companies benefit from more efficient use of field resources. Workers have fewer hassles with weather and can work on the fly.
Aurora has several voice systems. One is mounted in a Ford Taurus, one in a Ford Explorer, another on a golf cart and one in a backpack unit. All are Microsoft Windows-based and use ESRI ArcView and Microsoft Office with Excel and MS Access on Fujitsu touch-screen portables. At the office, data are downloaded to an ArcView system as DBF files.
There also are voice-enabled, forms-based systems that allow workers to speak answers into a form. In some applications, a technician speaks in several parameters, and the computer figures the required answer and "talks" it back to the technician. In other applications, a tech fills in blanks on the form orally. Most voice forms are sophisticated enough to know that a "yes" answer requires filling in the next two blanks, while a "no" might allow the tech to skip on to the next set of forms.
More User Experience
Brad Chitty, director of mobile communication services out of Bell Canada's North York, Ontario, Canada, office, led a test project in which phone company workers use wearable computers and mapping software to locate service points in the field and map new installations.
"Wearable PCs performed well in a number of environments, saving us time on repair calls and resulting in better customer service," says Chitty. "As a company that has a history of adopting new technology, it's exciting to have our own field-service technicians leading the way."
Chitty's field staff tested the Xybernaut MA-V wearable computer. One employee stuck his new wearable into a freezer for five hours just to see how it would handle simulated Canadian winter conditions, and the unit did fine.
Ed VanKlooster, an installation repair technician who works in Ontario, knows most of the service points on his home turf, but often is called to provide help in a new area. A typical job finds him using the system to find data points so he can make repairs or adjustments to the telco's coin-phone system.
"This computer has an I-map location," notes VanKlooster. "It's a map of every city Bell Canada serves and every box and pedestal in the region." By clicking on a location, he can find the nearest point for dial tone or locate a particular drop that needs service.
"I used to get an alarm and go out, check the site and then come back to the truck to get the information I needed," adds VanKlooster. Now he downloads required data to his PC. "When I'm ready to go to work, I just flop the computer around to my back, and I have access to my tool belt right where I need it."
Datria Systems' VoCarta voice-empowered solutions can be mounted in a vehicle.
VanKlooster's computer has a daylight-readable screen that helps view plant schematic diagrams. He has constant access to information, eliminating paper diagrams.
The battery used by Bell Canada workers lasts four hours. With a quick charger, a dead battery recharges in an hour. A power inverter in the trucks keeps the batteries topped off. If batteries must be replaced, the units are "hot swappable." The computers hold data for two minutes, which is sufficient time to remove a dead battery and pop in a new one.
Crunching Numbers
Chitty performed a financial analysis and return on investment study of the initial project, which involved 300 field workers at Bell Canada's Mobile Communications Centre. He found that time savings from improved portability and reduced commuting time was more than 50 minutes per day per technician using the MA-IV, an earlier version of the Xybernaut wireless computers. The units can connect users to the Internet and provide a wireless voice connection.
According to Datria Systems, workers using the company's VoCarta voice-empowered solutions can perform their jobs up to 500 percent faster. In addition, data accuracy improves, and there's reduced physical risk for data collectors who can work in a hands-free and "eyes-up" environment.
Datria Systems averaged numbers from several customers and found that a typical two-person data collection team using paper and pencil can collect 18-20 objects per hour. They pegged labor at $28 an hour.
Using traditional pen-based computers doubles productivity and halves costs. That same team could collect 30-40 objects per hour. Based on a medium data collection project of 40,000 objects, the labor costs with paper would be about $112,000. With pen-based computing, the same project would cost $56,000.
However, with a voice-based system, the same project can be completed in less than 200 hours, costing $7,400 in labor. Even after factoring in the cost of equipment, the price tag for voice-recognition-equipped workers is less than either traditional route, and that doesn't add any "bonus bucks" for more accurate data.
Outside research confirms the benefits of similar wireless applications. A study by iGillott Research showed a utility was able to increase its anticipated service arrival time from 88- to 95-percent accuracy with its voice application. The utility also cut paperwork and travel time.
The software for a voice/GPS system will run about $6,000 for the first user. Hardware costs will depend on the GPS, headset and other features used, but typically the first unit, fully equipped, will cost about $15,000 for a field-ready product. As the number of users increases, the cost per user drops quickly, because development and back-end system costs are fixed.
Most users will employ a basic application to build a job-specific vocabulary. A company like Datria Systems builds applications. IBM and ScanSoft, with its Dragon line, perform voice recognition, and Microsoft provides platforms. Oracle offers database and related services (for more information, see "Companies Step Up Voice-Recognition Efforts," page 28).
Vast Potential
Biswas says Oracle is building application programming interfaces using data from other companies, like Tele Atlas. He expects system integrators to take the core services and add components and integration for field service and auto navigation. There will be a complex value chain of data providers, routing engines, geocoding, text and text-to-voice generators.
Oracle has a group of 16 engineers focusing on voice-enabled location services, including the person responsible for authoring the seminal Voice XML standard. Much of Oracle's expertise comes from Motorola and Lucent. Michael Perry, director of marketing at Datria Systems, predicts the next step will be integration of systems with cellular phone technology.
Voice-recognition technology has come a long way since it was developed by Lockheed Martin for the Army's forward-facing reconnaissance scouts. The soldiers were able to wirelessly report back what they saw and attach accurate range distances--all while being alert to their surroundings.
For Center, the next step will be implementing a forms-based voice system that can be run behind the city's switchboard. She also expects more use of the system by other departments. Already, code enforcement has used it for tree surveys, the fire department used it to map access ports in sound barriers along highways, and water works used it to map a 70-mile main from a reservoir up in the hills.
Notes Center, "It's really important to have a good GIS, and get your information technology department involved early." *
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Companies Step up Voice-Recognition Efforts
Datria Systems, Englewood, Colo.
datria.com
Datria Systems offers its VoCarta Field and Forms product, which is optimized to operate on a variety of laptop, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted Microsoft Windows-based computers. The system must have a 200MHz Pentium processor and requires Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/2000 Professional. It needs 35MB RAM and 50MB available disk space. Serial ports for connecting the Global Positioning System receiver, digital camera or other equipment as well as a network interface and a plug for a microphone or headset with SoundBlaster-compatible audio are required.
Datria Systems specializes in voice user interfaces. Among the innovations is a system of interactive voice prompts to help operators navigate through the application. The prompts will ask for more information where appropriate and audibly confirm responses when necessary.
Xybernaut, Fairfax, Va.
xybernaut.com
Xybernaut produces a system of wearable computer gear that's designed to be used on the job. The company's Mobile Assistant version 5 (MA-V) wearable line includes gear manufactured by Hitachi and IBM. MA-V can be worn on a vest or belt and is equipped with either a head-mounted or flat-panel display screen for viewing images.
Oracle Corp., Nashua, N.H.
oracle.com
Oracle added voice recognition in its 9i version. Called Oracle9i Applications Server (Oracle9iAS) Wireless, the product is Internet standards-based software for developing and deploying applications accessible via Web, wireless and voice interfaces. Supporting popular languages like Java, Visual Basic and XML, Oracle9iAS Wireless can be used to deliver standards-based voice applications to support a variety of services.
According to Oracle, voice technology offers a great complement to wireless data, because requests can be spoken into a handset or hands-free device. The company has certified voice gateways and telephony platforms with Oracle9iAS Wireless from General Magic, Intel, Motorola, Verascape and VoiceGenie.
Tele Atlas North America, Menlo Park, Calif.
na.teleatlas.com
Tele Atlas North America began adding pronunciation to its geographic databases. Formerly Etak and now part of Tele Atlas Europe, the company works with partners like Ericsson to bring map access to a host of interfaces, including mobile phones using third-generation wireless technology, which can provide a link to mobile Internet services. One such application is providing the mapping data from firms like Tele Atlas to commercial users and individual motorists searching for an address anywhere in North America or Western Europe.
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