When asked to find what industries that use Cityworks that utilize asset management, I think the more pertinent question to ask is “What industry doesn’t utilize asset management?” I’m being 100% legit, is there no industry here that looks at asset management and goes “Meh I’m good?” Nah. They all want a bit of that asset management pie, and to be quite frank, who can blame em? Just from looking over the power of the tools, from things like easy mapping tools to risk assessment, Cityworks provides many a service for those who need to streamline and modernize their work. I do have to say I am quite interested in the Transportation aspect of all this. One of the biggest complaints about public transport is that it’s not well maintained, so to be able to use Cityworks asset management to restore faith in public transit, that’s a win in my book.

With all the tools utilized by Cityworks, I do have to say I am impressed with how much of it was able accessed via cell phone. Normally one would have to lug around a laptop everywhere they go in order to make inputs into the system, but by being able to use a smart device not only do you not have to worry about that, it also makes the tools much more accessible to the average person, and it can be done quickly. Good thing too, my laptop is heavy. Although if I were to take full advantage of Cityworks and GIS via phone I may need a better SD card. Thing is constantly filling up for some reason, even though I barely have anything downloaded. That being said I do wonder how much space it does take up on a phone? If it turns out to be quite the space taker perhaps a new project could be to make a light version. How that would work, I do not know, I am not an app designer. Food for thought though.

My perusal through the given material on Cityworks, ESRI, and ArcGIS has been insightful to say the least. First and foremost: Jack Dangermond. That’s just a sick name. If I had to write an action movie and had to come up with a moniker for the main character, Dangermond would very much be at the top of my list. On a more serious note, Dangermond made some very good points in his speech, the most noticeable being that all of these seemingly disparate areas and problems can benefit from proper geographic insights and planning. Not only that, but how more interconnected these many different fields are through smart planning and cloud computing so that all data can be taken into account when making important decisions, all with the intent of trying to improve society and tackle the problems that it faces.

On another note, I do like that one of the highlighted points made throughout the videos and articles was the inter-connectivity between professionals who use these tools and the general populace. It’s important to me, personally, that there is a layer of transparency and translatability between those two groups. It’s akin to scientific writing: while it is easy to read for those in the field, others might have a hard time understanding the content, making it seemingly unrelatable to them. It is on the role of the professional to make it so their work can be understood by the vast majority of people, so that input can be received on such studies. I am happy that ESRI and Cityworks seem to be on the same page as I when it comes to this, and look forward to seeing where this internship goes.