Video: Shining Offline: The Mobile BelIS-Online Wuppertal Experience

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This presentation provides a practical overview of developing a Progressive Web App (PWA) within the scope of the BelIS project (Lighting Information System) with an emphasis on offline availability. This project, initiated by the city of Wuppertal, serves as a response to the demands of urban lighting management and is used daily by the City's Department 104, the Wuppertal Municipal Services and the current contract partner, SPIE AG.

This talk has been presented at React Summit US 2024, check out the latest edition of this React Conference.

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Hi, welcome to Shining Offline. I'll share how using the offline first approach saved us in the mobile urban lighting system. We'll discuss Kismet, the Bayless system, and the transition to a progressive web app. The system handled work orders, but the manual process caused unnecessary effort. In 2015, we built a native iOS app, but faced challenges with updates and communication. Eventually, we convinced the client to switch to a progressive web app. The new PWA's design improves usability and uses maps and services from the city's own infrastructure. Implementing the offline-first principle addressed many issues, and providing offline maps required using MapLibreGL app protocol. Offline communication with the iOS app endpoint and managing conflicts were also discussed. Offline-first requires significant effort but leads to user satisfaction. iPads are the devices of choice.

FAQ

The 'Offline First' principle is an approach where applications are designed to function effectively even without an internet connection. This involves storing data locally and syncing it with the server when possible, ensuring that the app remains usable and reliable under poor or no connectivity conditions.

Thorsten Hell is a speaker at the Shining Offline talk and works for Kismet, a small software company in southwest Germany. He shares the experience of implementing the offline first principle in their mobile urban lighting information system.

The Bayless system was developed to manage the urban lighting information for Wuppertal City Council. It integrates with geospatial data infrastructure and handles various lighting infrastructure objects, work orders, and reports.

The initial iOS app faced challenges like frequent updates due to changes in Swift, issues with intranet-style communication with the infrastructure, and difficulties in proving app reliability due to changes made by the city IT department.

Kismet transitioned from an iOS app to a PWA by leveraging their experience with single-page applications using React and Leaflet. They developed the PWA to use the city's own map services and improved usability while maintaining core functions.

The new Bayless PWA offered improved usability, offline access to maps and data, better data presentation, and resolved many reliability issues by implementing a four-dimensional offline first approach.

The offline map functionality in the Bayless PWA stores vector tiles of Wuppertal City in a local database using MapLibreGL, allowing users to access the map without an internet connection by simply enabling a checkbox.

The offline core of the Bayless system uses RxDB and Hasura PostgreSQL. This setup facilitates synchronization between the local app and the server, ensuring data consistency and reliability.

'Topic maps' are small applications developed by Kismet that bridge the gap between large GIS portals and basic maps. They were used in the Bayless PWA to enhance functionality and provide various mapping solutions, such as environmental monitoring and stormwater fee calculation.

The main takeaway is that implementing the offline-first principle is a significant effort but results in highly satisfied users due to improved app reliability and usability under offline conditions.

Thorsten Hell
Thorsten Hell
17 min
22 Nov, 2024

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