WASHINGTON – Apps are old news, and more than three-quarters of American adults now own a smartphone. But state inspectors only recently have turned to mobile apps, which are saving some of them hours a day and millions of taxpayer dollars.
In New York, horticultural inspectors visiting plant nurseries had to lug thick, heavy instruction manuals and fill out reams of paperwork for decades. It was frustrating and time-consuming.
These days, inspectors can review the nursery's license information and history on an iPad, print out the inspection results using a sleek mobile printer the size of a box of spaghetti, share them with the nursery owner and immediately forward them to headquarters.
Inspectors also use the iPad to take photos and view satellite imagery of the nursery or greenhouse. And they can draw on the image with their finger or a stylus to pinpoint problem areas, such as a group of dead trees or an insect infestation, rather than document it by hand on a form.
By helping inspectors track trends and respond more quickly to potential threats, the apps help ensure that consumers are buying high-quality plants and trees that don't carry diseases.
"The paperwork nightmare is gone," said Margaret Kelly, an assistant director at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. "Now, inspectors can spend their time looking at plants and using their horticultural knowledge, as opposed to shuffling papers."
Last year, Kelly's department joined a growing number of state agencies turning to apps to improve the inspection process for everything from forest inventories to road construction projects.
In Washington state, Minnesota and Texas, where state transportation officials sometimes use apps to inspect roads, bridges, noise walls, guardrails and other infrastructure, one study found that apps saved each inspector an average of about two hours of work a day.