Computer based system, computer program product and method for managing geographically distributed assets

A method of managing geographically distributed assets, comprising the steps of:

• populating a master database with data that is descriptive of the geographically distributed assets, data pertaining to historical maintenance and inspection of the geographically distributed assets, geographic location of the geographically distributed assets, map information, and data identifying restricted areas within a predetermined distance from the geographically distributed assets;
• generating route information indicating respective locations of restricted areas and candidate routes from a predetermined location to the geographically distributed assets;
• and
• updating the master database from a remote location with updated maintenance and inspection information of the geographically distributed assets.

A system for managing geographically distributed assets, comprising:

• means for populating a master database with data that is descriptive of the geographically distributed assets, data pertaining to historical maintenance and inspection of the geographically distributed assets, geographic location of the geographically distributed assets, map information, and data identifying restricted areas within a predetermined distance from the geographically distributed assets;
• means for generating route information indicating respective locations of restricted areas and candidate routes from a predetermined location to the geographically distributed assets;
• and
• means for updating the master database from a remote location with updated maintenance and inspection information of the geographically distributed assets.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer storage medium and a computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storage medium for causing a processor to facilitate the management of geographically distributed assets, the computer program code mechanism comprising:
• a first computer code device configured to populate a master database with data that is descriptive of the geographically distributed assets, data pertaining to historical maintenance and inspection of the geographically distributed assets, geographic location of the geographically distributed assets, map information, and data identifying restricted areas within a predetermined distance from the geographically distributed assets;
• a second computer code device configured to generate route information indicating respective locations of restricted areas and candidate routes from a predetermined location to the geographically distributed assets and configured to generate and display visual maps with visual representations of at least one of the route information, the restricted areas and the geographically distributed assets;
• and
• a third computer code device configured to update the master database from a remote location with updated maintenance and inspection information of the geographically distributed assets.

A mobile processor for facilitating a maintenance of geographically distributed assets comprising:

• a wireless modem configured to convey a query message to a master database and configured to receive a reply message from said master database, said master database having entries associated with respective of said geographically distributed assets, said entries each including,
• an identification indicator,
• a geographic location indicator,
• at least one characteristic attribute indicator, and
• a geographic definition of any restricted area within a predetermined distance from each of the assets;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable medium encoded with processor readable instructions that when executed by the processor implement,
• a geo-spatial query generating mechanism that generates a geo-spatial query containing at least one of the identification indicator, the geographic location indicator, and the at least one characteristic attribute associated with the subset of geographically distributed assets, and
• a selection mechanism configured to select a subset of the geographically distributed assets based on the geo-spatial query.