Mobile-first app maps out asbestos for OVAM

Today, asbestos experts are travelling the length and breadth of Flanders, tablet in hand, storing all information thanks to a mobile-first app we devised for OVAM. Click here to find out more about the concept and the way in which the app was designed In practical terms, we needed to reckon with the fact that the app was to be mainly used on the ground. Which is why we built a progressive web app (PWA) using React. This allows users to install the website on their tablet as an app.

As asbestos experts often find themselves calling round to locations with limited to no mobile signal, the frontend application also enables them to effortlessly upload plans and photos without being connected to the internet. As soon as the device picks up a signal and is connected to a network again, the app itself will synchronise all data with the backend. Using so-called ‘Optimistic UI’ principles allows the app to swiftly respond at all times, without having a wait for feedback from the backend.

Needless to say, a considerable amount of data is generated when compiling an inventory of the asbestos present in buildings. Ultimately, this information needs to reach the buildings’ owners who requested the certificate. Which is why we have enabled the asbestos certificate to be digitally shared as a PDF file. Since a lot of data are dynamic in nature, it was quite a challenge to gather all data and visual elements in a single document. As a result, large asbestos certificates can soon run into a few hundred pages. In order to implement the whole thing, we used Docmosis.

So as to correctly identify the app’s end users – chiefly employees of Belgian organisations – and to give them proper access authorisation, the solution has been integrated with Authenticatie Vlaanderen (Authentication Flanders). This is the Flemish authentication portal where users can sign in using either their eID, Itsme or federal tokens. The portal also allows us to implement a comprehensive roles and authorisations system. Under the hood, we opted for the OpenID standard and, using Keycloak, we set up an authentication façade that has since been taken up by several apps at OVAM.

The extensive use of OpenLayers also sees the solution integrate with the Flemish GIS data, a geographic information system of the nation’s entire real estate patrimony. Using maps, this allows users to locate the building they wish to inventory, adding it to the list with a simple click. The app even allows users to request automatic address suggestions. If no plans are available, based on the GIS data, the app itself can convert the outline of a building into an image. The experts too can easily add and draw interior walls themselves with consummate ease.