Tought Leader Technology … What’s Next? WRITTEN BY KERRY SOMERVILLE D


oes anyone feel like we suffer from technol- ogy overload? Look at what’s available now: software advances; GPS; cameras; student tracking; mobile data terminals (MDT); finger


print technology; field trip programs; fleet and dispatch programs. Te list goes on, and the industry even tried retinal scanning. All of this and you’re still trying just to keep enough drivers on staff to keep your buses on the road, and trying to find funding to buy just a couple of buses to replace the ones that are unfit to be on the road. To be sure, technology, if used correctly, can save the money necessary to buy that new bus. But when you find yourself buried by day-to-day operations and can’t find the time to make the new technology operational, does it can pointless to spend the money and self-inflict the pain necessary to implement it correctly? As someone who has spent 30 years in the industry, I


have seen hundreds of districts spending millions of dollars for technology that they never use, or they only use a portion of what they purchased. Sure, there are the shining stars out there that technology vendors use as success stories. One of the largest districts in the nation is an out- standing example of what can be when an operation has an amazing team of people doing great things with software. Las Vegas uses a map layer to show where all the crossing guards are located so they know where kids can cross safely to and from bus stops. You may also have read a recent article in STN on a Missouri district that was able to take public data on a tornado that ripped through town, map it, identify the affected students and get them back in school in an amazingly short time. Yet, more often, I learn of districts that spent a lot of


money, but never even got the basics of the software up and running. So what is the difference in success and failure? Read carefully, please…it’s the data. Yes, the data. You, too, can be like these or many other districts that have had great success, but you need time, personnel and perseverance to implement the software and systems that will save you time, money, litigation and more. Te truth is that technologically successful districts


have invested a great deal in hiring and training highly skilled personnel that are able to create and maintain the data necessary to be successful. Te number varies some, but there are more than 13,000 school districts in the United States alone, but only a handful use their software effectively. So what’s the answer, when we have all this technology that allows us to create the efficiencies available, how do we really make it available to all, even the small district that cannot hire data people?


24 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2016


Te next evolution in technology has already started in other industries. It’s out there being used by companies and public forums every day, it just hasn’t made its way to our industry yet. Te ESRI user’s conference this past summer, attended by approximately 15,000 mapping technology users, focused on a concept known as Big Data. What is that, you ask? Wikipedia defines it as: “Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inade- quate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy. Te term often refers simply to the use of predictive analytics, user behavior analytics, or certain other advanced data analytics methods that extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set. Accuracy in big data may lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can result in greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk.” Te above definition certainly fits this industry. Just think of all of the data that goes into a routing program, for example: students, stops, schools, hazards, predators, boundaries. Is this large complex data? Certainly. “Accuracy in big data may lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can result in greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk.” Tis statement certainly applies to our industry. Te bottom line is that if the students are not geocoded accurately, the GPS device isn’t transmitting and the video isn’t recording, then the accuracy in our data isn’t there, we can’t use the technology and our software and hardware solutions are useless. Te hardware and software industry has not adequate- ly found a way to address the statement, “Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, shar- ing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy.” As I said in the opening, we have software that can do amazing things. Nearly anything you can think of can be done with adequate resources and data, but the next revolution, the next big thing that must happen is development of methodologies and processes to collect, process and use the transportation big data. Once software and hardware vendors address the big


data problems that transportation directors face all across America, and create new ways of collecting, managing and applying big data, then the technology that is readily available will finally be useable for all districts of all sizes. Ten we will have truly taken the next step in the technology evolution. ●


CELEBRATING25YEARS


Kerry


Somerville has worked in the transportation profession for more than 25 years and is a certified GIS professional. He currently works for Seon Design as a business development director. Email him at kerry. somerville@ seon.com.


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