U.S. Census Bureau Goes WirelessU.S. Census Bureau Goes Wireless

The U.S. Census Bureau hopes to improve one of the most expensive and time consuming parts of its 2010 population count with the help of GPS-enabled handheld devices.

The bulk of respondent data still will be gathered through mailings of paper forms, the Internet, and telephone calls. But 500,000 PDA-toting census takers will disperse to households that haven't responded to surveys to get information and verify addresses and corresponding GPS coordinates.

The new initiative also is intended to improve accuracy: The Census Bureau estimated it missed several million people in its 2000 count.

The shortfall generated criticism, as Census numbers are used to determine federal grants and the number of each state's congressional representatives. Many of those missed were believed to be from low-income households.

Taiwan's High Tech Computer will make the Windows Mobile-based PDAs. Census takers will transmit data via a Sprint cellular network; the devices also will have dial-up capability.

Harris was tapped as the systems integrator for the Census Bureau's $600 million Field Data Collection Automation project, a program that also will require coordinating 500 local Census offices and the storage and distribution of data. Accenture will do much of the mobile software development, and Unisys will deal with field office deployment and support. Other partners include Client Network Services, Dell, Headstrong, and Oracle.

Census takers will use the devices in a rehearsal slated to begin next year.