Data Entry

One of my goals for FSS is to be able to enter test information through the mobile web.  This will allow for multiple people to enter data at the same time using nothing more than their smart-phone.  To make a version for the web requires serving different layouts for different devices.  Using the browser agent field, one can detect iPhones, iPads, Blackberrys, Androids, etc.  The rails plugin Mobile Fu does a nice job of detecting mobile devices and serving up .mobile.erb layouts.

The Vision

Flagship Safety's goals are twofold, education and collection.  One goal is to allow the student population to be able to access and visualize information about emergency poles and crime alerts.  The other is to allow for a more streamlined collection of data.  Currently, information is collected using pencil and paper, and is then entered into a master spreadsheet later.  Being able to directly enter data would speed up the process and allow for multiple people to input data.

Starting Out

The Idea for my app came from work that I do on the RPI's Student Senate.  The Finance, Facilities, and Advancement Subcommittee (FFA) collects data on emergency poles on campus.  We collect info on what state they're in and how well they work.  We also work with Public Safety on other issues, such as things to do with crime alerts (I'm also in the Web Tech Group, so this mainly relates to Concerto).  We wanted a way to display this information to the student population that was more visual than our tabular data.  We also wanted to be able to relate crime alerts that occur throughout a semester.

The foundation of Flagship Safety is Flagship Geo (FSG), a basic RoR mapping app which my friend Brian Michalski developed last summer.  From there I have scaffolded models, controllers, and views for emergency poles and crime alerts.  They are replacing the concept of points that existed in FSG.