PolicePro2Go
07/25/2010 14:00
Filemaker has
hit it right out of the park with the July 22 release
of Filemaker Go, the new mobile client for Apple's
iPhone and iPad. Now that the secret is out, we can
start talking about the next generation of PolicePro,
which we've cleverly named PolicePro2Go. Nice ring to
it, yes?
It is hard to overstate how big this is. Filemaker has clearly announced their intent as to the direction they're going in the future: out of the building and into the Cloud. We have been working diligently on PolicePro2Go for the iPad for some time now as well.
So what's the big fuss about?
PolicePro2Go
is not intended to replace PolicePro in the station
or in the patrol cars on laptops. A uniform police
officer has enough to carry around without giving him
or her an iPad and expecting them to bring it back in
one piece after a busy shift. Just from an officer
safety standpoint, it's a bad idea... patrol work can
get physical unexpectedly, and an officer cannot be
worrying about the six hundred dollar piece of
equipment in his or her hand.
Laptops in the cars are a wonderful thing. We intend to keep it that way.
What PolicePro2Go IS for is the Chief, the Captain, the Community Relations officer, maybe the DARE officer. Not so much the working detective or investigator, for some of the same reasons listed above.
Campus safety or University PD sites might want to use them for specific tasks as well. Maybe even a Read Only version for the Dean of Students, or whoever it is the boss has to report to.
The sweet spot, as we see it, is the Chief at the Town Board or City Council meeting, a department representative at a community group meeting or a monthly Domestic Violence Panel review, a sex offender panel meeting, or the monthly regional or area Chiefs of Police meeting. Any group setting where you may be called on to explain, summarize or otherwise report on what is going on in the jurisdiction.
The iPad is absolutely perfect for this. The elegance and ease of use of these things has been well documented, but if you've never spent an hour or two with one, you just can't imagine how good and game changing they are. Put a PolicePro2Go suite on the thing and it becomes the Number One piece of equipment you have, bar none.
With PolicePro2Go and a wireless equipped iPad, you've got your department's full PolicePro data instantly available anyplace you can find a wireless network. City Hall, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, almost every airport, your home, nearly any hotel, some entire towns... you name it.
WIth a 3G equipped iPad, you can check on the status of a burglary from the previous evening from a bass boat in the middle of Upper Saranac Lake. Virtually anyplace ATT has a signal, you've got PolicePro.
Hey, what about the iPhone, you ask? While technically PolicePro2Go will run every bit as well on the iPhone, the small screen just doesn't work well with the amount of information that an average PolicePro screen needs to display. PolicePro2Go has been painstakingly written to take full advantage of the iPad display. The screens fit the display perfectly, even rotating automatically when you turn the unit from portrait to landscape orientation. Reading a long narrative report on PolicePro2Go is very similar to reading an eBook on a Kindle or other reader. All the fonts, buttons and other onscreen objects have been redesigned to work and display on the iPad as you would expect them to.
We haven't given up on the iPhone - I have a client running on my own all the time these days - but if something has to go on the back burner, this would be it. Maybe we'll rethink it down the line, but the fact is that the iPad is such a perfect match for this technology it's kind of a waste of time to even think about anything else.
It is hard to overstate how big this is. Filemaker has clearly announced their intent as to the direction they're going in the future: out of the building and into the Cloud. We have been working diligently on PolicePro2Go for the iPad for some time now as well.
So what's the big fuss about?
Laptops in the cars are a wonderful thing. We intend to keep it that way.
What PolicePro2Go IS for is the Chief, the Captain, the Community Relations officer, maybe the DARE officer. Not so much the working detective or investigator, for some of the same reasons listed above.
Campus safety or University PD sites might want to use them for specific tasks as well. Maybe even a Read Only version for the Dean of Students, or whoever it is the boss has to report to.
The sweet spot, as we see it, is the Chief at the Town Board or City Council meeting, a department representative at a community group meeting or a monthly Domestic Violence Panel review, a sex offender panel meeting, or the monthly regional or area Chiefs of Police meeting. Any group setting where you may be called on to explain, summarize or otherwise report on what is going on in the jurisdiction.
The iPad is absolutely perfect for this. The elegance and ease of use of these things has been well documented, but if you've never spent an hour or two with one, you just can't imagine how good and game changing they are. Put a PolicePro2Go suite on the thing and it becomes the Number One piece of equipment you have, bar none.
With PolicePro2Go and a wireless equipped iPad, you've got your department's full PolicePro data instantly available anyplace you can find a wireless network. City Hall, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, almost every airport, your home, nearly any hotel, some entire towns... you name it.
WIth a 3G equipped iPad, you can check on the status of a burglary from the previous evening from a bass boat in the middle of Upper Saranac Lake. Virtually anyplace ATT has a signal, you've got PolicePro.
Hey, what about the iPhone, you ask? While technically PolicePro2Go will run every bit as well on the iPhone, the small screen just doesn't work well with the amount of information that an average PolicePro screen needs to display. PolicePro2Go has been painstakingly written to take full advantage of the iPad display. The screens fit the display perfectly, even rotating automatically when you turn the unit from portrait to landscape orientation. Reading a long narrative report on PolicePro2Go is very similar to reading an eBook on a Kindle or other reader. All the fonts, buttons and other onscreen objects have been redesigned to work and display on the iPad as you would expect them to.
We haven't given up on the iPhone - I have a client running on my own all the time these days - but if something has to go on the back burner, this would be it. Maybe we'll rethink it down the line, but the fact is that the iPad is such a perfect match for this technology it's kind of a waste of time to even think about anything else.
|