topic Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123 in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

DanielMcIlroy — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:04:23 GMT

Hi All,

Just wondering if anybody has used an external GPS unit in conjunction with Survey123?

There doesn't seem to be anywhere to select a COM port within the app, nor is there an option to define that in the Connect app.

Collector appears to have an input option for positioning. If Survey123 doesn't have it currently, are there plans to add this functionality in future releases? I have been promoting Survey123 and Collector internally, but I am a bit concerned that this functionality (or lack of it) may be a deal breaker for some of our users.

Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Dan

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

JamesTedrick — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 17:57:27 GMT

Survey123 uses the system-provided location provider. For iOS and Android, this normally means connecting the external receiver to the device; devices that have been designed to work with iOS and Android become the location provider. On Windows, there is still the tendency to use COM ports for connection instead of supplying the GPS information to the system location provider- this can be addressed with a bridging program like GPSDirect - GPSComplete: GPSDirect,GPSReverse, LocationFixer GPS NMEA Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 10 Sensor Driver iOS Android TCP B…

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

DanielMcIlroy — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 00:33:00 GMT

Thanks for that James. We are looking to use Windows Surface devices in the field, and yes the COM port still reigns supreme.

Are there any plans to add COM port selection to the windows version of the Survey123 app?

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

J_P_Montagne — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 17:31:19 GMT

Survey123 on my iOS device still does not see my external GPS (iSXBlue2+). I've tried turning location services off for Survey123, setting it Collector, but still it will only use the internal location. I'm glad to hear that perhaps soon, this functionality will be added, but otherwise I don't think your your statement that "... this normally means connecting the external receiver to the device" is accurate. If there's a trick to this, please share!

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

JamesTedrick — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 22:11:29 GMT

Hi J.P.,

Can I ask what version of iOS is on the devices? We know of an issue in iOS 11.2 that affects some external GPS receivers

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

J_P_Montagne — Wed, 02 May 2018 20:59:28 GMT

Hi James,

I would have had the most up-to-date version of iOS at the time. Currently, I'm running 11.3.1. If there is a way to use Survey123 with an external GPS, I would be ecstatic! If not, I may be forced to transition my work to Collector, and I'm not looking forward to that.

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

Gisbert61 — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 11:37:12 GMT

Today I saw a Stonex S500 connected to survey123 over 192.168.10.1:9000 via the wifi accesspoint provided by the Stonex ...

Re: Using an external GPS unit with Survey123

JamesTedrick — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 21:42:40 GMT

Hi Bert,

In the time since this discussion, Survey123 now supports external GPS receivers either through direct connection or network connection, as you saw.