Nokia said that the Amazonas State Health Department in Brazil will be the first to use the solution as part of its fight against dengue fever in the city of Manaus in northern Brazil.
The Nokia Data Gathering software will be available to public sector organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) free of charge. It can be used to create tailored questionnaires and distribute them to multiple mobile phones using a normal mobile network. Field personnel surveying local conditions can complete the questionnaires and immediately transmit their findings to a central database. The system also allows organizations to geo-tag data with GPS location information to build a more detailed picture of very local conditions, said Nokia.
The software was developed by Nokia and Instituto Nokia de Tecnologia, a non-profit R&D center in Brazil. Nokia will be donating licenses for the Nokia Data Gathering software to public sector organizations and NGOs.
Gregory Elphinston, director of community involvement at Nokia, said: Sound decisions are based on the analysis of fresh, accurate data. However, for organizations with a remote or mobile workforce, this is easier said than done.
Information related to health, agriculture and environmental conditions is often recorded on paper, transported and transcribed, in a process that can take months and result in errors. Nokia Data Gathering aims to improve accuracy and deliver information in near real-time, helping decision-makers to improve the delivery of social services.
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