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Capture in Survey123

GarrettRSmith

Hello

As I understand it, the new geotrace feature in Survey123 allows users to draw in lines or polygons on a map using their fingers. However, I am looking for solution that is similar to the capture in Collector, where users can walk around and collect GPS points to create a line or polygon. Is this possible in Survey123?

Also, is it possible to use this function when offline?

Thanks

Garrett

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Anonymous User

Hi Garrett,

Yes, it is possible to use the device GPS to collect points that construct a line or polygon feature in Survey123. Please refer to Geotrace and geoshape—Survey123 for ArcGIS | Documentation and https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2019/09/26/survey123-tricks-of-the-trade-lines-and-polygons for more information. From the documentation, this is the important part:

The Vertex method allows more precise geometric capture of a line or shape by placing vertices that connect together. To begin capturing Vertex geometry, tap the Vertex button in the lower left of the map page and tap the map to place your first vertex. More vertices can be placed by tapping the map again or tapping the Capture Vertex at Location button to place a vertex at your device's location. To move the map instead of placing vertices, tap the Pan and Zoom button to change map interactions to navigation mode.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Phil.

GarrettRSmith

Hi Phil

Thanks so much for this response. I am still a bit confused, so maybe the project goals outlined below will help.

We are developing a Survey123 survey that volunteers will use to identify areas within a forest that are in a degraded state. Most, if not all, of these areas, are in areas without cell phone service so the data will be collected offline. One of the things that we are looking to collect, with this survey, is the footprint of the degraded site and/or the length of any linear disturbances. We are hoping that volunteers will be able to create polygons and/or polylines by walking the the perimeter of the site or by walking along the linear feature, utilizing their GPSs in their mobile devices. In the end we hope to compare these footprints and linear distances year over year to see if they are getting better or worse.

I still do not see how the geotrace functionality will allow users to do this as it seems like they still have to hand draw on the map.

Please let me know if this makes sense.

Garrett

dougbrowning

Phil I think he is getting at this all falls apart when offline. It has been a struggle for us as well. Side loading does not work in many situations, esp what Garrett describes, and 123 has no way to create offline areas that I know of.

My idea is to allow 123 to be able to use anything Collector has taken offline. The Collector team opened up the folder now in iOS so it should be possible.

Other idea is to allow 123 to take areas offline through some type of interface that can be used for all forms.

The new system with pre made offline areas is not very useful for use. We have thousands of users over 11 states so knowing what areas they will need ahead of time is impossible.

thanks

Anonymous User

Hi Garret,

I believe you are referring GPS streaming, where the user can start streaming and the polyline or polygon will be created based on their updated location as they move around without needing to interact with the map or select a button to add a point. This is not currently possible, however we have an enhancement in our backlog ENH-000125836 to address this in the future.

Regards,

Phil.

Anonymous User

Is there somewhere that had documentation of these buttons and how to work vetex or sketch methods in the field? All the demos that I have seen are on-screen sketch demos. I can't find any simple guide to how to use these features when collecting data. Thank-you.

Anonymous User

Hi @GarrettSmith1

Just letting you know that we now have a beta implementation of location streaming for geotrace and geoshape question types which allows the user to directly stream location updates to the line or polygon being created in the map question as they move around.

You can test out the latest 3.15 beta builds with this feature via the Early Adopter Community and the relevant documentation can be found here:

Location streaming and other geotrace / geoshape capture method improvements - ArcGIS Survey123 (esri.com)

Regards,

Phil.

MarcusSeuser

Dear @Anonymous User ,

I downloaded and installed the 3.15 beta for Survey123 succesfully on my Smartphone. I am also intersted in the capability for streaming geotrace lines, capturing line elements without the need to manually push a button to set a vertex. I have two questions:

The link you provided (https://earlyadopter.esri.com/project/article/item.html?cap=e69ef91f45744b98882c651f7b518eb7&arttypeid={5a8e51ed-4a87-43fe-a67d-2b7829af130f}&artid={9138CD63-AFCC-4315-A809-8291C899F155}) seems to be broken. Is there a new / different link?

I still can not capture lines with the geotrace form without having to push a button manually for every vertix. Am I missing something? Do I have to create a new survey with the beta version of survey123 connect and is there any documentation, for which fields and keywords you would have to use to achieve my desired outcome?

Thank you very much,

Best,

Marcus

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