SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 28 November 2005  — Locus Technologies (Locus), the leader in environmental information management, today announced that it has expanded its award winning, web-based Environmental Information Management™ (EIM™) system to work with the popular Google™ Maps. Locus embedded Google Maps API to its popular EIM application for manage analytical data on the Internet. A user can now add overlays of environmental information to the map and display shadowed “info windows,” just like Google Maps. The result is a Google Map Mashup, a web application that seamlessly combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience.

With the same ease of finding an address location or driving directions, users can now find subsurface environmental information at their sites, such as chemical concentrations in groundwater. Users can zoom and pan the maps and photos for a seamless view of the geography around sites. Using this Mashup, EIM provides a data box listing the chemical concentration in groundwater, borehole information, and other relevant environmental information associated with location. With Google Maps in EIM, users have the power of a Geographical Information System in a light-weight web browser application.

The EIM interface to Google Maps significantly improves productivity in managing spatial environmental information by developing and delivering the next generation of Internet mapping application services to the environmental industry. The result is the almost instant transformation of previously inaccessible raw environmental data into meaningful, actionable, and productive visual information.

“Drawing upon input from hundreds of our clients who currently use EIM’s SVG-based GIS application, Google Maps provides EIM users with additional convenience, efficiency, and a distinct competitive advantage. The product is ideally suited for large or small sites that require a GIS application, but don’t have resources to build one using an expensive traditional GIS tool. Furthermore, all of this exciting new functionality comes without the need to store large image files on the server end, thus minimizing the number of trips between browser and server, minimizing storage and Internet traffic requirements,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus.

This application is offered as a value-added service to existing users of Locus’ eGIS-SVG
module.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 1 December 2001 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, today announced it has released the first version of a web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) for its award-wining LocusFocus suite of Internet technologies. The system allows users to see a map of a site, click on a well on the map, and obtain chemical and water level information for that well, including a log, if one exists. Data can be displayed in tables or graphs, posted on the map, or downloaded. Such capabilities and features represent only a starting point. Locus also intends to expand capabilities into contouring, animation, and 3D visualization. What is exciting about this new development is that it is entirely based on a new Web graphics format and XML-based language called Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).

SVG offers many benefits. Foremost among these is that it is not a proprietary technology. Rather, it has been developed as an open, vendor-neutral specification by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Companies who have contributed to the specification include Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Autodesk, Apple, AOL, Sun, Adobe Systems, and Macromedia. SVG is compatible with other Web technologies like HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Javascript, Document Object Model (DOM), and Java. As such, rich user interfaces and dynamically-generated, data-driven graphics can be easily developed. Because SVG is a vector format, images download faster, and users can zoom in on a section of a map or graphic without any loss of resolution and without having to reload the image. This is of particular importance for the environmental industry that deals with large amounts of information. Lastly, because it is entirely text-based, users can search for text (such as a well ID or a contaminant name) within the SVG image itself.

Traditional GISs, especially web-based versions, are expensive to purchase and difficult to implement. Most require extensive, time-consuming custom development. Personnel with the necessary experience and expertise are in scarce supply, in contrast to the number of programmers familiar with HTML, Javascript, and other common Web-based tools and languages. Those organizations that require sophisticated, enterprise-wide GIS functionality can justify the cost and complexity of implementing a GIS Internet Map Server (IMS). Most, however, cannot. Moreover, the vast majority of interactive Internet maps for the environmental industry don’t need to offer anything close to this level of functionality.

“The complexity and cost of traditional GIS software is amazing—even after all these years,” says Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus. “In contrast, interactive, map-based systems using SVG can be developed in a fraction of the time and, as a result, for less money. SVG will form the foundation for all the graphics and GIS work that Locus will be undertaking in the near future. Most other consulting companies are either stuck with outdated approaches or have no GIS capabilities at all. We hope to seize this opportunity and make Locus an industry leader in applying this new and exciting web-based technology to the graphical display of environmental information.”

LocusFocus is a multi-channel, dynamic Web portal that provides for all aspects of environmental site management. LocusFocus has the potential to bring the benefits of Internet technology to the environmental industry and, as such, eliminate the many inefficiencies and incompatible technologies that afflict the industry.

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 1 January 2001 — Mobile computing has been around for a long time, but EH&S professionals are just beginning to realize its potential. Judging by the recent increase in the number and variety of applications, the EH&S software industry has embraced mobile tools as an integral component of the future of EH&S automation. But the market still seems to be a few years behind the technology.

Most of us think of mobile computing in terms of laptops or notebooks, or those Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that are nothing more than a battery-operated Rolodex and appointment calendar. Despite the computer industry’s continuing efforts to make lighter, more portable, and more powerful tools, most people continue to view these devices as an extension of the desktop with limited potential for hardcore field work. We listen to the rhetoric about new capabilities for data entry and retrieval using a variety of handheld devices, but remain skeptical that these promises can actually be realized.

Meanwhile, many analysts are predicting an increase in the use of mobile computing, especially in the business sector. According to IDC, the market for smart handheld devices will grow from 12.9 million units in 2000 to over 63.4 million by 2004. These include devices like PDAs, smartphones, keypad handhelds, and pen-based notepads. Some offer wireless access to the Internet or to a local area network (LAN), while others can be used in the field to collect data, then transported back to the office to upload the data to a PC.

According to an article in PDA News, companies that incorporate handheld computing devices into their daily business operations have experienced “greater efficiency and faster fulfillment of client requests due to: reduced double handling of information; greater interaction with ordering systems; and a reduction in the number of mistakes made due to keying errors.”.

Despite these advantages and recent advances in technology, EH&S applications for mobile computing have evolved more slowly than the industry as a whole and have yet to achieve broad acceptance in the market. But that’s all about to change. If you’ve been following the EH&S Software News over the past few issues, you may have noticed that the number and variety of information systems that include applications for handheld computers or PDAs is on the rise. With the right combination of software and hardware, you can now track hazardous materials, record sampling data, audit EHS compliance, or retrieve material safety data sheets (MSDSs) whenever and wherever they are needed, anywhere within your facility or out in the field. Following are some examples.

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Hazardous Material/Waste Tracking
Handheld computers/PDAs are helping Penn State Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) personnel enhance field operations and automate government-mandated record keeping [www.psu.edu]. Harold L. Brungard III, a member of Penn State’s hazardous waste (HazWaste) management staff, has been participating in the field tests of the new paperless system. He estimates that the PDAs are saving 5 to 10 hours a week of data entry time as well as improving data management accuracy. Brungard explains that the HazWaste staff respond to between 75 and 150 requests to collect and manage hazardous waste each month. The materials include flammable solvents, corrosives, toxic materials, and other hazardous wastes. On average, the team picks up about 500 containers and more than 15,000 pounds of waste each month.

With the new system, University personnel who want to dispose of waste material, visit the University’s EH&S website where they complete an online form to send information about the waste electronically to the EH&S department. The information from a completed form is then loaded into a database. The HazWaste staff uses the database to generate an itinerary for their daily collection rounds. They can also download information from the database into their 3-Com Palm III computers and edit this information while en-route.

The Rockwell Science Center developed a prototype, called EnvInv, for inventorying hazardous materials using a PDA.  According to Corinne Clinton Ruokangas, a member of the technical staff, “PDAs serve as low-cost information collectors – providing a level of accuracy and feedback not available with paper forms – and support the automatic transfer of data to workstations and central databases. She suggests that “PDAs can also be used as handheld manuals” to display diagrams, suggest scheduling and routing locations, and provide maintenance or diagnostic information to a user in environments where laptops may not be feasible.
They can provide “remote access to reference materials which may be hyperlinked.”

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Data Collection in the Field
PDAs are particularly helpful for recording data in the field. Several software developers are now offering products to meet these needs. For example, EarthSoft recently announced the development of Pocket EQuIS, for collecting and managing data at the point of generation [www.earthsoft.com]. Similarly, FieldWorker Products Limited offers FieldWorker Pro, which allows relational data collection projects to be developed on the desktop or on a mobile device. Field workers can refer to images stored on the device’s desktop, or link data to a specific image, then connect to a GPS receiver to create point, line, and polygon geographic information. The company claims the product can be used with a variety of mobile devices, from laptops to palm tops to smart phones [www.fieldworker.com].

Potential data collection applications extend to just about any EH&S-related activity, such as natural resources inventories, water testing, and air emissions monitoring. For example, Two Dog Forest Inventory Software, by Foresters Incorporated, is a software suite with data collection, processing, and inventory capabilities. The product is used on handheld and desktop computers to inventory forests and to collect data on flora, fauna, and other site attributes in support of multi-resource inventories and certification.

DataPort, a hand-held data entry unit by AllMax Professional Solutions Inc. targets the field data collection needs of municipal and industrial wastewater and water treatment facilities. These devices include built-in scanners and fit in your pocket. Users can download data (e.g., material inventories or meters/gauges that must be monitored) from a PC to the DataPort device, then use the device to print barcode labels, scan barcodes,
enter field data, and upload the information back to the PC.

LEADERS™ LDRS by Environmental Monitoring Service is fugitive emissions software based
on a relational database. Features include LEADERS FieldSmart™ handheld software and DeskSmart™ desktop software.

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Walnut Creek, Calif., 7 August 2000 — Locus Technologies announced June 26 that its Environment Information Management System has finished a testing period and is now being offered as a Web-based application.

Locus provides consulting, engineering and construction management services to help solve design and construction problems associated with hazardous materials handling and other waste management tasks.

The company’s EIMS system manages the large amounts of sampling, analytical, and geotechnical data that is typically collected during the investigation and cleanup of contaminated waste sites.

The system can be used to plan and schedule sampling events, input field data, upload electronic data from analytical laboratories, produce downloadable reports and files, perform statistical and trend analysis, and create and display plots and other graphics. It also is capable of sophisticated numerical modeling for surface water, groundwater and air and contaminant migration.

“We have a very comprehensive Website where we manage all information associated with contaminated sites,” says Neno Duplancic, Locus president and CEO. “We not only manage it but also provide a means to interpret the data and use automated systems that are plugged into the same Website to control treatment itself. We can press the buttons on the screen and turn on the pumps all over the world.”

Duplancic says the software can “eliminate the need for somebody to sit in a pickup truck and go to the site to change a filter or turn on a pump.”

By Tom Sawyer

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., 29 June 1999 — Locus Technologies announced today formation of Automation and Data Management Groups. Both groups will employ Internet based technologies to manage and control vast amounts of data generated at the company’s client sites.

Locus also announced the appointment of Steven McEvoy, P.E., to the position of Director, Automation Group, and Gregory Buckle, Ph.D., to the position of Director, Data Management, both newly created positions.

McEvoy, 33, has been with the company since its inception and has led the development of the company’s state-of-the-art automation technology for control and management of environmental treatment systems via the Internet. The technology is currently employed to control groundwater treatment systems for Locus’s clients, including Schlumberger, FMC, and Union Pacific Railroad. McEvoy holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Alberta. McEvoy will head Locus’s Automation Group, a team of experienced electrical, mechanical, and computer science engineers, including Dr. Robert Campbell, who also joins the company this week from the General Electric Company. Campbell holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and an M.S. degree from the University of Alberta. He will be managing the development of a second generation browser-based project archival database.

Buckle, 48, will head Locus’s data management systems and brings to Locus more than 20 years of experience in the environmental industry, specializing in surface and groundwater hydrology, including 9 years in environmental database management. Most recently, Buckle was the lead developer and designer of the IT Group’s environmental data management system. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from Kansas University, an M.S. in civil engineering from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a B.A. from Stanford University. Buckle will be responsible for development and operation of Locus’s Internet-based Environmental Information Management (EIMTM) system.

“Locus is aggressively moving downstream from site cleanups to management and control of large amounts of data that are generated by the environmental industry, using Internet based technologies. The company has a head-start on Internet technology and plans to capitalize on this position in a fragmented environmental industry information management market. Ultimately, Locus plans to commercialize these technologies,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, President and Chief Executive Officer of Locus. “Greg and Steve’s experiences as a leaders in environmental data management, automation, and control technologies will ensure our success in this rapidly growing field,” Duplancic added.