topic Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible? in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

Chris_Anderson — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 12:48:30 GMT

I have some field staff who want to use Survey123 in the field where they will be offline for a week or more. Is there any way for them to back-up their survey responses from time to time should their survey device fail (e.g. surveys completed on a tablet and back-up to a laptop)?

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

MitchellProctor — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 07:03:32 GMT

Can you define 'fail', exactly? Survey123 has an outbox where surveys are kept when the user can't send the survey due to being offline, and they'll stay there until they're sent. I think you want more than that, though.

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

BekirYüzer1 — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 08:28:46 GMT

If you do not have internet connectivity or are unable to connect to ArcGIS, you can copy your tile package directly to your device, or use it from an external storage card.

Prepare basemaps for offline use—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS

and your device survey123 advanced settings tabs view.

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

Chris_Anderson — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:36:42 GMT

Correct. I use the term fail to mean anytime something bad happens to the device: falls in the water, drops onto a rock, OS fails, etc. and you are unable to access the surveys that are on the device. I see that the results saved as an SQLITE file. Could this be copied/moved and accessed later?

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

Chris_Anderson — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:39:29 GMT

I am referring to the surveys that are collected on the device, not the basemap.

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

JamesTedrick — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 18:24:15 GMT

Hi Chris,

Yes the survey database can be copied from the phone to another device. We are working on documenting the steps involved, but the file locations are the same as mentioned in the 'Copy your tile package directly to your device' section of Preparing your base maps for offline use- the simplest thing in terms of backup is to copy the ArcGIS folder

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

BekirYüzer1 — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 07:09:52 GMT

Hi Chris

If there is a problem in your device memory, or when you've copied the files, auto-detects Survey123.

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

WillLentz — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 19:29:58 GMT

James,

Any luck documenting this process? I would like to give it a try, simulate a device failure and recovery. Our firm is based and works in Alaska and many of our crews are off-grid for days or weeks at a time. Knowing that our data are safe is a primary concern before we adopt a new workflow.

Thanks

Will Lentz

ABR, Inc.

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

JamesTedrick — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 19:53:25 GMT

Hi Will,

The steps are documented here: Troubleshoot—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS . In the documentation, this is depicted as a one time snapshot; this can be repeated at intervals to create backups.

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

WillLentz — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 18:37:50 GMT

Perfect! Great solution. I will test this before my users go into the field but it looks easy and solid.

Thanks!

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

DanFranklin — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 14:36:29 GMT

James, what do you about the attachments associated with a survey? How do you re-instate them too?

Re: Survey response back-up while offline. Possible?

JamesTedrick — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 22:36:00 GMT

Hi Dan,

The process described in the Troubleshoot documentation can include attachments by copying over the 'My Survey Attachments' and placing it in the ArcGIS folder.