Google Maps Coordinate Lets You Keep An Eye On Mobile Workers

Back when I had a real job, the company had a lot of people that worked in the field. You had to trust those people to be doing what they were supposed to be doing instead of slacking off, and typically, you couldn't trust them. They were constantly getting caught watching movies, shopping, or sitting around the park instead of doing what they were supposed to be doing. If you run a business that has a mobile workforce Google has a new service that will make it easier to keep an eye on your workers called Google Maps Coordinate.

The new service mixes Google Maps and geolocation services along with some APIs and comes out with a dispatch system for mobile workforces it's available online and on Android smartphones or tablets. The idea is that the service will allow dispatchers to assign jobs and deploy staff efficiently. It will also allow dispatchers and managers to see where everyone is any given time to ensure mobile workers are doing what they're supposed to be doing and route workers to the next assignment.

Google says that larger companies will be able to weave Coordinate and existing systems with the help of full read/write API. Smaller businesses will be able to use the service without making any major investments. One interesting feature is that users will be able to enter large data sets as custom locations in the service. The example is that the utility company could enter the location of all the poles they need to service. Workers in the field will appear as blue dots on the map and the locations that need to be service can be entered on the map as points of interest allowing the closest worker to be routed to the location. The service will cost $15 monthly for each user until September 1, 2012 and in the price could change.

[via TechCrunch]