Research need

One client, part of a renowned University, is a research center that keeps a close eye on what is happening with individuals, communities and social groups so that social policy can be accurately informed. The research center needed a way to efficiently update, track changes and increase validation of dwelling listings as phase one of the census. This step is important so that census packs and teams are deployed correctly and with adequate resourcing.

Solution / Implementation

The research center approached us to use our Survey On Demand application (SODA) to load existing census data onto mobile devices which could then be deployed into field, and validated at each dwelling.

The project is a pilot, the first of its kind in the world, to determine whether using mobile devices to update information out in field, as well as to capture validated data such as photographs and GPS coordinates, would quickly paint a clearer picture of what was actually happening in the region.

The field workers had the flexibility to edit or delete the existing listing of a dwelling which was not as described in the previous census data. As well as capturing a photo of each listing, and the GPS coordinates, they could also add a new listing if a new home had been built since the last census. This meant that when the next census was deployed, each person would have a photograph and an exact GPS location of each dwelling that they needed to interview.

The pilot was deployed on iPhone and Blackberry, pre-loaded with latest census data they had. The updated information was synchronized to the server as soon as the interviewer in field submitted the listing. 

Results

The mobile audit census listing project was enthusiastically adopted and tested by the research center's interviewers. The project produced reliable information, quickly, on locations in the greater metropolitan testing area. 

The research center exported the data, including images, updated the master and was able to deliver a clear picture of where to deploy the Census for the next phase of the project. 

Once the scope is broadened, the information will provide an efficient, validated, personalized way of capturing information that is essential to regional, state and federal social policy.

Contact us

Pre-loaded data on mobile devices can be very helpful. Whether it's to log an update to a retail store's interior or to update a building site's compliance, or anything in between, using mobile helps you get closer to what's actually happening. Find out more.

Read more case studies