From EORN to EO-APPS

Jeff Green | Mar 29, 2012

Photo: In the past, the only way to cope with the stress of the annualpothole season was to make lemonade out of the lemons of life,like this optomistic chap is doing. But now there’s high-tech help- the new PH-APP (or Pot Hole - APP) for beleaguered drivers.

The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) was established in order to bring a robust Internet backbone to Eastern Ontario and to extend services to the rural outreaches of the region as well.

With the help of investments from all levels of government, EORN is well on its way to accomplishing its task, but instead of folding up its tent, EORN has decided to branch out.

“With the infrastructure in place, we thought we might as well begin working on services that are geared to residents of Eastern Ontario,” said EORN co-ordinator Julius Sparks, “so we started working on EO-APPS.”

Apps, or Applications, bring everything from bus schedules to video games to Smart phones, tablets and laptop computers.

“There is no point bringing a bus schedule app to Eastern Ontario because there are no buses, but helping people get where they are going is still essential,” said Sparks. “So we have worked with the Queen’s University IT department and the Innovation Centre in Kingston to incorporate GIS and satellite imagery from all of the municipalities in Eastern Ontario to develop the PH – APP.”

The PH stands for pot hole, and the application is being introduced on April 1 in order to be of maximum use to wired-in drivers in Eastern Ontario during the spring pot hole season.

The app is a sophisticated map of all the known pot holes in the region. When tied in to the GPS systems on Smart phones and tablets or even some newer GPS enabled vehicles, not only does the screen light up at the approach to a major pot hole, but as well the app prompts the device to emit a high-pitched beep to warn the driver of the impending hazard.

“This app will save drivers from significant grief,” said Julius Sparks, “and it is really an offshoot of the technology we have developed to help municipalities identify and fix pot holes. We wouldn’t want people to think that we are only finding the pot holes and making them beep. It is always better when they are fixed.”

Sparks added that the APP has been well received, although he has received some complaints from drivers on gravel roads in some municipalities that the unending beeping has triggered migraine headaches.

“But those are really isolated cases,” he said.