Google has just released Google Maps Coordinate a location-based app for Android smartphones that allows employers to see where their team members or employees are located and assign tasks remotely.

Google Maps Coordinate senior product manager, Daniel Chu said the app is able to look at the worker’s location history and job history, so it enables an organisation to see how its team is deployed.

“Were there areas that we were sending people off the beaten path, if we should hire someone else to place there, and apply more data based decision making in terms of trying to figure out how to manage operations,” Mr Chu said.

As for the app itself, jobs that have been assigned have full details including timestamps.

“It also allows the folks in the field to indicate their progress as they go through their jobs, a worker can either accept or decline the job based on their capacity,” Mr Chu said.

He said workers can see everything they need to accomplish and everything that’s been done.

“It’s extremely useful for an organisation to tell if someone is travelling to a job and actually the time that they’re spending on the job,” he said.

According to Mr Chu, in terms of security, the app has features built-in that all location data is fully encrypted, where the data is only for the use of the customer and not accessible to Google.

Mr Chu said for the end-user within the context of the business, a feature around schedule and visibility has been added, so the location can be switched off at the user’s discretion where Google Maps Coordinate shuts off.

This story was originally published by Paul Hemsley on www.governmentnews.com.au