support of external gps

Question

Our clients are collecting data in the field using Survey123 and the Collector app. For collecting the spatial information in a higher accuracy than the tablet has, they connect the tablet to a Trimble R1 device which is recognized in Collector and gives a sub-meter accuracy. But when checking in Survey123 for the accuracy it still gives only the one from the tablet.

Are external GPS devices not supported by Survey123?

JamesTedrick · Answer

Yes, I am a bit surprised.  I just tested against Android 5.1 (Moto G 2014) and Android 6.0.1 (Nexus 5) and both were able to connect with an R1 and provide location to Survey123

I see that Trimble flagged an issue with Android 6.0 (not 6.0.1), if that's the version they are using - http://trl.trimble.com/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-797557/Geospatial_Bultn_GNSSStatusApp_R1andR2_Nov2015.pdf - in looking at the 6.0.1 changeling, it looks like there were fixes w/ regards to external GPS receivers.

Nicole_Ueberschär · Answer

?Hi James,

they are using Android tablets and as I said, in Collector it works fine but it doesn't seem to be recognized in Survey123 which doesn't make sense to me.

JamesTedrick · Answer

What operating system are you running Survey123 on?  Survey123 uses the system's Location Provider; the GPS would need provide the information there.  This is what happens with devices that work with iOS and Android automatically.  For Windows, it's still common for external receivers to connect to the application directly instead of supplying the system location- we don't support that (yet), but there is a workaround documented here: Connecting External GPS Units   Also, https://community.esri.com/thread/161389 is a useful reference.