Force photo orientation?

Question

Hello!

Is there a way to force photos taken in the field app to be in landscape orientation? A recent ESRI update seems to have broken one of my feature reports that has a number of photos in it, one of which is supposed to be taken in landscape by the field app user and is subsequently displayed on a page in the feature report that is landscape orientation. The report used to generate without error regardless of whether the photo was taken portrait or landscape, but not after the recent ESRI update. The problem now is that users continue to disregard the warning message that tells them to take the photo in landscape only.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

BrianShepard · Answer

I had a need to do this today and came up with a similar approach as @CameronRex1 using ImageOrientation from the photo's exif data.

Create a question to get the ImageOrientation exif value from an image question called "PhotoQuestion" with Calculation pulldata("@exif", ${PhotoQuestion}, "ImageOrientation"). I used a read-only Note with Hidden Appearance and null as the Esri Field Type so it doesn't create a field and store the value in the feature service. We'll call it "PhotoOrientation".

I then created another read-only Note with null Field Type that displays a warning message (as the Label and Hint) if the photo is in the wrong orientation using a Relevant statement:

If portrait orientation is desired: ${PhotoOrientation}<5 and ${PhotoOrientation}>0

If landscape orientation is desired: ${PhotoOrientation}>4

I currently do not want to constrain those fields in case there's a reason a user cannot comply, but in testing you could use the Relevant statements above as Constraints in the PhotoQuestion and it'll prevent the user from submitting if the orientation is incorrect.

References:

exif pulldata options: Media questions—ArcGIS Survey123 | Documentation

ImageOrientation values: Photo orientation. Survey123 app - Page 2 - Esri Community

ZhifangWang · Answer

Hi @RHammers ,

Thanks for sharing the details.

I tried the following steps on my end:

1. Publish a new survey on the Survey123 website, with a text and image question.

2. Submit a photo in the Survey123 field app, with a photo taken in landscape orientation.

3. On the Data tab of the Survey123 website, upload a .docx template which the layout is set Landscape, and with your example image syntax.

However, I was able to print the report successfully. Please let us know if you could find the exact steps to reproduce the issue so we can investigate further.

CameronRex1 · Answer

@RHammers Concerning the issue of "The problem now is that users continue to disregard the warning message that tells them to take the photo in landscape only."

You could handle this by using the Exif data from the captured image. Something like this (I am putting this into more questions than necessary to demonstrate):

1.) Image question
     - type: image
     - name: image1
     - label: Image
     - hint: "You must take photo in Landscape"

2.) Get the Exif Orientation value of your image (via EXIF ImageOrientation)
     - type: integer
     - name: exif_orientation
     - label: Exif Orientation Value
     - readonly: yes
     - calculation: pulldata("@exif", ${image1}, "ImageOrientation")

3.) Let's first make sure an image is loaded and then evaluate whether it is Landscape or Portrait (Human-readable orientation)
     - type: text
     - name: orientation
     - label: Orientation
     - readonly: yes
     - calculation: if(count(${image1}) = 0, "No image", if(${exif_orientation}=1 or ${exif_orientation}=3, "Landscape", "Portrait"))

4.) Now let's block a survey from being submitted if image1 is in Portrait (note acting as blocker)
     - type: note
     - name: blocker
     - label: Please retake the photo in landscape mode
     - required: yes
     - constraint: false()
     - constraint_message: Please retake the photo in landscape (wider than taller)
     - relevant: ${orientation} = "Portrait"

How it works:

- If Exif ImageOrientation is 1 or 3, the photo is treated as Landscape.
- If it's 6 or 8, it's Portrait
- If no image is present, Orientation shows "No image", and the blocker does not appear.
- When Orientation = "Portrait", the block becomes visible and required, and its constraint of false() prevents submission until a landscape photo is taken.

Notes:

- This does not work with the multiline appearance for images (I believe). If multiple photos are needed, use multiple image questions and apply the same check to each (or combine them into a single blocker).

Hope this helps you or anyone else looking for a solution to forcing "Landscape" or for that matter "Portrait".

Here is a more condensed version with only an image and a blocker:
1.) Image question
     - type: image
     - name: image3
     - label: Image 3
     - hint: "You must take photo in Landscape"

2.) Single blocker
     - type: note
     - name: blocker3
     - label: Please retake the photo (Image 3) in landscape mode
     - required: yes
     - constraint: false()
     - constraint_message: Please retake the photo (Image 3) in landscape (wider than taller)
     - relevant: count(${image3})=1 and regex(string(pulldata("@exif", ${image3}, "ImageOrientation")), '^(6|8)$')