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Photo size limiting?

PeterTimmers

I think with Collector we're going to run into the whole photo size attachment issue.

Mobile it was an issue.

I just noticed a photo attachment was 1.6MB. That's going to cause grief with multiple photos and 100s of features.

I do like how you don't download attachments unless you click on photo in feature popup... unlike arcgis mobile which by default had download attachments ticked.

Is there any way of limiting photo size in Collector?

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Accepted answers

kylie

Hi Alban -- If the default isn't working for you, you can change the attachment size that the app uses in the settings (see Work with attachments—Collector for ArcGIS | ArcGIS for complete steps how). One of the options is "Actual" and it will use the full resolution photo.

All comments

SaraBenevente

kylie

AlbanAjdini

I instead have the exact opposite problem. I want to take pictures from an Iphone on high resolution to meet the requirements. But it seems that Collector now compresses the picture size to a 500 kb. Any Idea how I can take pictures from an Iphone with a high resolution?

DakeHenderson

Just an fyi, the option to limit attachment size doesn't seem to exist on Android devices (at least on Samsung Galaxy S7).

HamishMills

We have been using this for a while now and it has really saved our database and future work area downloads from overloading! Well done on this one Esri!

DanielleLee

It seems like this has been implemented. Going to try it today! Work with attachments—Collector for ArcGIS | ArcGIS

simoxu

Thanks for the good news, we badly need it!!

PeterTimmers

Yes, Excellent....BTW In the Nov update is the EXIF issue being dealt with as well?

MalcolmJ

Excellent!!!!!

russell_roberts

Photo size limiting is planned to be in our Nov update.

Cheers

Russ

HamishMills

This is definitely something my business is desperately waiting for. We are currently having major sync issues because of attachment sizes. Come on Esri lets get this fixed

GordonSumerling

Peter,

At Esri UC the photo size limiting on iOS was a common topic. Esri have said that this will be released in early Q4 this year.

Cheers

GOrdom

AdamOlson

In Android, on my device in the camera app settings I just set the default picture size to a small size and then it takes the pictures very fast in Collector and saves a small image.

Anonymous User

You may already know this, so please forgive me if you do.

If you have a third party app that will allow for downsizing the photo taken by the smart device, then use it to take the photo and store it to the device. After the photo is stored to the device have the operator attach the photo from the library; this could be a work around for the time being. It has worked for us, so far...

PeterTimmers

So if an app can be developed like Camera Plus Pro that allows reduction of resolution is it not possible to include that capability in Collector?

I'm sure ESRI's mobile group have looked into it and it's obviously difficult. I'd be interested to hear from the devs, Russ or Shane or anyone whether there is any light on the horizon.

Your Camera Plus Pro workaround is fine, but our guys have 2-3 minutes per building to fill in 20+ questions and take a photo. I've been told that getting out another app and then searching for the photo in the gallery is not acceptable.

SamKrueger1

I set up the collector for a project where we surveyed residential streets. We also took ALOT of pictures. A workaround I had our surveyors with iOS devices use was to download a 3rd party app called CP Pro Camera Plus Pro on the App Store on iTunes.

This app was able to get the photos down to 150KB each (https://services1.arcgis.com/E46xbxblkkNBM6FT/arcgis/rest/services/Ward21Streets/FeatureServer/0/909/attachments/397 ). Much more manageable than the ~1.5MB the default iOS camera takes. You can set the app to save images to your camera roll, so when our surveyors first arrived on site to survey a feature in the collector, they would use the CP Pro camera app first to take photos, then open the collector, fill out the form, and when it comes time to attach an image they would choose from the camera roll instead of taking a photo directly.

The workflow above may seem a little ass backwards but after a few times doing it I was told it wasn't an issue at all. Anyway, it definitely helps feature service size and attachment size issues down the road.

There may be other workarounds but this worked for us.

Sam

PeterKT

I don't think there is a way around big photos in iOS. Unless Russell or Jeff can update us all on some breakthrough.

I've been asked again here by our operational guys to track down whether anything has been happening re limiting attachment size.

We were collecting 3000+ points, many with photos in November (see below) and this problem raised it's head again. We were using mostly ArcGIS Mobile tried to use Collector but couldn't get a reliable sync (or more likely ArcGIS Server with attachments).

We're still trying to migrate to Collector from ArcGIS Mobile and we will need more testing with large numbers of attachments.

Might have to fire off a support request to see if there is a definitive answer.

Peter Timmers

MalcolmJ

It seems like there is some compression of photos in Collector for iOS, but not really enough for me. We find that photos still come through at 1 to 1.5 megabytes. I'd like there to be an option to set the image resolution as well as compressing them, to make the photos a lot smaller in size. I've found that syncing when working offline regularly fails when trying to sync a large number of features with attachments (a couple of hundred). I suspect because the attachments are so big, as with each feature having a 1-1.5 MB attachment it makes it quite a big download... a few hundred MB's.

MartinSirkovsky

It is good to know that the images are compressed. But are they also resized (iOS).

I am not able to test it currently, but I remember that sometimes images where quite large in pixel size and some were smaller. Is there any algorithm on how and when the images are resized? If they are resized what size are they resized to?

SamKrueger1

Great to hear android supports the 2GB sync as well.

I have a project coming up where I will be taking hundreds probably thousands of photos by the end. Some surveyors will be using android (through testing I know I can get image size to around 750KB/photo). However for iOS devices is there a default compression size for the app? I'm seeing 1.6MB in some forums and other Collector resources online. If this is the case, I will probably need to use a 3rd party compression app for iOS field photos.

Also,

Just wanted to confirm a piece of information I heard at the UC this year. Regarding AGOL credit usage, attachments are NOW stored under the "Data Storage" category correct? (1.2 cr/ 1GB a month? ArcGIS Online | Service Credits)

Thanks for the clarification.

Sam

russell_roberts

Android and iOS have the same sync size support now. This was addressed in 10.2.4 update of the Android app.

SamKrueger1

Hi Eric,

You mentioned that "Collector for iOS and Android both compress the photos before adding them as attachments in both the online and offline scenarios so that will help drop the size." Any idea what size this actually is? Is it 1.6 MB/photo as Peter mentioned above?

Also, with the current version of collector 10.2.5 has the amount of data one can sync to hosted feature services changed since your last post that you know of (2GB for iOS and 200MB for Android)?

Thanks! I'm just looking for some clarifications on these two points. I looked around the forum and wasn't able to find any updated info.

Sam

EricIto

Collector for iOS and Android both compress the photos before adding them as attachments in both the online and offline scenarios so that will help drop the size. You should not have to use a 3rd party app prior to adding them. As suggested, on Android, it would still be beneficial to set the camera's resolution where possible, just keep in mind the compression done by the app.

Also, as of 10.2.3 on iOS you can sync up to 2GB at a time to both hosted/classic ArcGIS Server services, so assuming you come back to a wifi connection to sync, the size of the attachments should be less of a concern. On Android, that number is ~200MB for hosted services and 2GB for classic ArcGIS Server services.

KevinWatt

On android, we simply set the default picture resolution to 1.3 megapixels in the app settings so the pictures are small. On iOS i don't think you have this option so perhaps download a 3rd party camera app that lets you set a low resolution and set it as your default app.

DominiqueBerger

Hi Peter

We have been discussing this today in our team 🙂 From my limited research I was thinking if worse comes to worse you can use a picture re-sizer app before adding the photo in collector. It may not be a pretty solution however if there are going to be hundreds of photos being submitted as attachments then it might be necessary. The app I was looking at is called Shrink My Pictures and for example it will shrink a photo from 1.6MB to 0.25MB.

Ill let you know if we come up with anything prettier for a solution.

Thanks

Dom

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