Mobility is a fundamental and pervasive need among departments of transportation, yet developing sound and comprehensive programs for identifying, assessing, and implementing suitable technologies to support mobile workers is still a to-do list item for many organizations. Rapid changes in technology, variety in usage needs and positional accuracy requirements, and a bewildering number of potential mobile devices are among the challenges which have stalled progress in this area.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently engaged the Gartrell Group to help devise a strategy to better equip their mobile workforce and to more systematically and proactively assess, assimilate, and leverage emerging mobile capabilities as an agency. This Mobile GIS Needs Assessment project involved:

Performing a needs assessment involving mobility stakeholders throughout the agency.
Reviewing the application of mobile technologies among peer agencies and other organizations with similar practice areas
Segmenting mobile technology users and potential users based on affinities in their intended usage, positional accuracy requirements, technical proficiency, form factor preferences, and other workflow details
Reviewing relevant case studies
Identifying and matching promising mobile technologies to leading use cases / use case categories which emerged in the needs assessment.
Developing detailed findings and recommendations.
Providing follow-on guidance in the design and implementation of an ongoing Mobile GIS Research & Development initiative focused on identifying, assessing, and integrating mobile tools and techniques to continually enhance the mobility and informational capabilities of the DOT.