Talking with Becky Tamashasky of Cityworks

Becky Tamashasky, Vice President of Vision & Product Engineering, Cityworks® | Azteca Systems, LLC, replied to our questions at GISCafe Voice in addition to her interview with GISCafe CEO Sanjay Gangal:

When is your new release of Cityworks coming out?

Becky T: As part of a public company, I can’t provide exact details, but I can say with anticipation that it is coming soon!

Do you want clients to think of Esri and Cityworks as all one solution or are you looking to have them view the solutions separately?

Many of our clients already view Cityworks and Esri as one cohesive solution. As the leading GIS-centric solution for public asset management and community development, we have worked to provide a seamless experience for organizations, and we support the Esri identity for user authentication across Cityworks platform and mobile native apps.

You have a lot of integrations with Esri products. Can you list them and why they are important for readers?

There are numerous integrations or extensions of the Cityworks solution within the Esri platform. Many organizations have already invested in the Esri platform, so this gives them access to expanded functionality using existing tools and apps that are familiar to their users.

• ArcGIS Collector – Field users can easily access ArcGIS Collector from the Cityworks mobile native apps to capture or edit an asset in the GIS while they are completing Cityworks tasks.
• ArcGIS Hub – ArcGIS Hub is an easy-to-configure community engagement platform that organizes people, data, and tools through information-driven initiatives. Organizations can leverage their existing Cityworks data and work together with internal and external stakeholders to track progress, improve outcomes, and create vibrant communities.
• Crowdsource Reporter – Citizen engagement tools allow the public to submit issues and concerns, which are then tracked and  managed within Cityworks.
• ArcGIS Survey123 – Survey123 is a complete, form-centric solution for creating, sharing and analyzing surveys.  Survey123 offers additional flexibility for field users conducting inspections, for example.
• Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS – Users can expose feature services of Cityworks activities within web maps and, by extension, Operations Dashboard, for powerful data tracking Operations dashboards can be shared publicly or embedded in a Cityworks inbox for easy internal access.
• ArcGIS Workforce – Workforce allows office staff to create and assign work to field crews, who also use the app to view their assignment in the field. Cityworks users logging in with their AGOL or Portal logins can open Workforce to access activities and then seamlessly launch the Cityworks mobile native apps for Android and iOS to process the work order. This allows Cityworks users to record additional information in the Cityworks native apps, complete the work and update Workforce.
• ArcGIS Indoors – Extension of functionality to allow viewing and creation of Cityworks activities from within ArcGIS Indoors.
• ArcGIS Field Maps – In progress! This will support app linking and coordination similar to what is available today through each of the individual apps, i.e. Collector, Survey123 and Workforce.
• Navigator for ArcGIS – Cityworks mobile native app users can use Navigator to get turn-by-turn directions to any address or asset. Navigator will also provide an optimized route if users need to navigate to multiple locations.
• ArcGIS Insights – ArcGIS Insights is analysis software that fuses location analytics with open data science and business intelligence workflows. Users can consume their Cityworks data in ArcGIS Insights and use visualization and analysis tools to better understand their operational performance.

 With ArcGIS Insights, you are hoping to use that as your spatial analysis toolset? How will that work?

ArcGIS Insights is already used as the spatial analysis tool for Cityworks. We developed out-of-the-box models that allow users to consume their Cityworks data in ArcGIS Insights and, in less than an hour, begin exploring their organizational data and metrics. This is available on the ArcGIS Marketplace and through Cityworks. Cityworks Operational Insights also leverages the ArcGIS Insights analysis tools to visualize risk strategies and asset prioritization.  The analysis tools provided by ArcGIS Insights have grown and developed significantly with each release and we are working with that team at Esri to provide feedback to assist our client’s needs and use cases. Examples of how clients are using this in combination with Cityworks can be found at this link.

Do you see your ArcGIS Indoors integration as more of an AEC integration, engaging with more of the AEC part of Trimble?

Definitely! Esri recently hosted a webinar showing a complete solution that consolidates ArcGIS Indoors, Trimble and Cityworks for vertical asset management. This approach brings a cradle-to-grave approach to the market in that Trimble devices are used for the building scanning and data collection, this data is brought into ArcGIS Indoors as the system of record and then Cityworks is applied for the ongoing lifecycle management. The recording of this webinar is available online from Esri (linked).

What will the new release entail that the previous one has not?

There’s so much! This upcoming release includes a new version of the Cityworks core platform, which includes additions to the APIs and web services that power the application and enable integration. The release will also include updates to Cityworks Respond, Public Access, Storeroom and the mobile native apps. There’s so much new functionality across these apps, but a few highlights include support for the integration with ArcGIS Indoors, deeper integration of an organization’s GIS data across Cityworks PLL (permitting, licensing and land), enhancements for payment providers within Public Access and improved performance and functionality for management of vertical assets.

How will clients benefit from all the available integrations from Cityworks and Esri?

The Cityworks and Esri platforms each have their strengths, and they complement each other.  By implementing a GIS-centric enterprise asset management system, organizations can leverage technology already available to them to deliver expanded functionality and manage distinct workflows. This is valuable to operations at any time, but it’s especially critical during this pandemic.  Organizations need a way to maintain critical community services while keeping employees safe. They also need a way to track the labor, cost, and materials associated with their Covid-19 response. Cityworks developed an out-of-the-box Covid-19 solution that integrates with Esri’s tools for Covid-19 management. The solution uses Esri’s Survey123 and ArcGIS Hub as a starting point in the workflow, and all data rolls up to Cityworks for reporting and tracking. The same philosophy applies to the integration with ArcGIS Indoors, where a toolset that has been specifically architected for managing vertical assets can be easily incorporated into the Cityworks enterprise platform. This allows existing functionality to be leveraged in a way that provides a best of breed approach while also minimizing the number of applications needed to achieve the organization’s goals.

Did you participate in the Esri Virtual UC a couple of weeks ago? What did you present?

Cityworks was a gold sponsor for the Esri Virtual UC and had a 3D booth, which you can still explore: https://www.cityworks.com/esriucvirtualbooth_2020/. We provided several stations with videos and articles on topics including the new Cityworks and Trimble IoT solution for water utilities, Cityworks for emergency management, integration with ArcGIS Indoors and client use cases of Cityworks. I hosted an on-demand session that outlined a vision for an intelligent urban ecosystem that connects people and data across all levels of a community, regardless of jurisdiction. Readers can also access this content on our website. We had continuous lightning talks taking place in our Zoom meeting, which provided a lot of interaction with Esri staff, partners and attendees.

Tags: AEC, ArcGIS, Cityworks, climate change, cloud, data, ESRI, geospatial, GIS, imagery, indoor mapping, Infrastructure, intelligence, laser scanner, LiDAR, location, mapping, maps, mobile, remote sensing

Categories: 3D Cities, ArcGIS, ArcGIS Earth, ArcGIS Online, ArcPad, asset management, climate change, cloud, data, disaster relief, emergency response, Esri, Esri StoryMaps, field GIS, geocoding, geospatial, GIS, government, handhelds, hardware, indoor location technology, insurance, location based sensor fusion, mapping, photogrammetry, spatial data, Trimble, Video Interview

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2020 at 7:55 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.