Imagine if you had a personal assistant that could remind you of an important appointment and help you get there as quickly as possible.
There is no need to imagine. The Department of Public Safety and the Department of Technology Services announced the implementation of new technology in appointment reminders that will do just that.
“It’s very simple,” said Marissa Villaseñor, Director of Public Relations, Utah Department of Public Safety. “It makes renewing a driver license appointment very easy to remember; it will automatically remind you of your appointment and help you with driving directions.”
In order to enable a more seamless interaction with online services, Utah.gov has enabled Google Now cards to be included in appointment notification emails from the Driver License Division.
Utahns can use the online Driver License Scheduler app to schedule an appointment when applying for a license, a learner permit, and many other services. Appointment emails are programmed to automatically add the scheduled appointment to the user’s Google Calendar and to activate Google Now reminder cards, alerting the individual before the appointment with maps and directions. Individuals will receive reminders from the user’s calendar on Android phones and from the Google app on iOS devices.
“We added coding to the messages that tells the Google Now application when and where the appointment will be,” said Mike Hussey, Utah State Chief Information Officer. “The process uses the tools many Utahns are already using.”
The structured markup included in the Driver License appointment emails allows Google Now to automatically assist the user by adding appointments to Google Calendars. Google Now cards are available on most Android phones and any iPhones using the Google app and Gmail.
