From Grassroots to the Cloud

Transcription

1 From Grassroots to the Cloud Cloud Computing: Why Your Transit System Should Get Onboard 20 th National Conference for Rural Public & Intercity Bus Transportation October 2012 U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration

2 Agenda What is Cloud Computing? What are Web Apps? Application to the transit industry Benefits to the transit industry National RTAP in the Cloud 2

3 Cloud Computing: What is it?

4 Web Apps: What are they? In the beginning, we had computers that allowed us to work using software like Microsoft Word, Excel PowerPoint and Outlook. 4

5 Web Apps: What are they? Then came the internet thank you Al Gore! 5

6 Web Apps: What are they? When the internet was created, website were simple- you were limited to reading text. 6

7 Web Apps: What are they? Then came images and more text. 7

8 Web Apps: What are they? Over time the internet evolved and websites became faster and more responsive. You could add richer graphics, audio, video, animation and forms. Websites were becoming a little more interactive. The start of DOING 8

9 Web Apps: What are they? And now comes GOOGLE. In the early days, it was only a search engine. It was a tool that allowed you to type a word or phrase into a search box and it would return websites that matched your search criteria. Then they started adding software applications that would allow users to start DOING things on the web. 9

10 Web Apps: What are they? Let s fast forward a bit In just a few short years, the internet started to explode with all kinds of web apps (SOFTWARE) that lived in the CLOUD. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, Digg, Sales Force, Basecamp and the list goes on and on. These development companies make their money by selling monthly subscriptions (SAAS) or advertisements. 10

11 Web Apps: What are they? Sounds cool- are we done yet? Nope. We now have SMART PHONES. Honestly, some of these phones are smarter then most humans. You can , text, tweet, watch movies, play games, manage customers, add, subtract, manage events, post photos and on and on 11

12 Web Apps: What are they? So.computers were created for DOING work. The Internet was created for READING. Phones where created for TALKING. And now? All three tasks can be done through one device that allows you to do, read and talk all in the same place! You just need a web browser. 12

13 Web Apps: What are they? Benefits of Web Apps Cheaper to Build Faster to deploy No hardware to buy/install No software to download No software to update 13

14 How can this technology be used in transit? Website Promote your services Post your events online Post schedules Post maps Web Apps Trip builders Send alerts through s and text messages Share your resources across the transit community 14

15 How can this technology be used in transit? Social Media Build a community Promote your services Communicate in real time Venue for two-way communication 15

16 Benefits to your transit system Low cost, high impact marketing tools Retains current customers Shares information in real time Produces data that can be used for other purposes Engages customers in a two-way dialogue (venue for crowdsourcing) Photo credit: 16

17 How can National RTAP help YOU? We build, maintain and manage web apps for transit agencies. Easy way for rural and tribal transit providers to incorporate technology into their operations First step toward building an online community of users and data shared by all Free of charge Help available: Videos Text Phone Hosted on National RTAP s website 17

18 Web Applications 18

19 Creating Your Cloud Account Every Organization must create their own Cloud account (portal). Each Organization is assigned to a Level with in the Cloud (Federal, State, Local). Each Organization has access to their own set of web apps. Create as many users as you want in your portal, give them access to some or all of the web apps. 19

20 Creating Your Cloud Account Step 2 20

21 Contact Information National RTAP 5 Wheeling Avenue, Unit B Woburn, MA Shannon Greenwell sgreenwell@nationalrtap.org Frank Condon, fcondon@nationalrtap.org U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration 21