People like to be rewarded, and the element of competition goes a long way toward motivation. Ecology and Environment (E & E) is a company that has done a very good job of combining geospatial and social networking tools into a system that motivates people to make a green choice by opting for ride sharing rather than their single occupant vehicle.
I spoke recently with Tony Gale, a senior analyst at E & E, about their GreenRide software-as-a-service offering. Following is a description of the service:
“GreenRide facilitates ride-sharing by providing a web-based tool to help people quickly and easily identify more sustainable transportation choices that fit their specific needs, so that they can get out of their single-occupant vehicles and carpool, vanpool, ride a bus, train, or some other travel mode that helps reduce their footprint.
Another element that maximizes GreenRide’s success is its ability to help people internalize the value of what they’re doing. We’ve been a leader in doing that by dynamically providing metrics about how they’re helping the environment by reducing greenhouse gases and asthma causing pollutants, reducing energy consumption and hence reliance on foreign oil, and saving money.
We have extremely sophisticated incentive management tools, because people like to be rewarded for what they do. GreenRide is very unique because it has the ability to identify winners and manage incentives based on multiple reward mechanisms including raffles and points based systems.”
To learn more about how E & E incorporates GIS into sophisticated web-based tools, read the full interview here.
