Collector "cheat sheet" template

[Kylie]

Collector has documentation, but while out in the field mobile workers often need something lighter weight—something that can be printed and taken along (especially if working offline). They need a single reference sheet that helps them with common tasks and some issues.

We’ve always relied on admins and project leads to create these for their mobile workers (and to those of you that have shared yours with us, thank you!). While there are some project specific components, there is a lot that is common in such sheets. We’ve taken some of the common questions and tasks and compiled them into a template you can use to jumpstart creating your own cheat sheet for your mobile workers, and it is attached to this post for you to download, customize, and use.

This is our first draft, so we’re looking for your feedback. Is this something you’d use? What works for you in it, and what would you change? Is there something missing? Is there extra info that you don’t want to see? Leave a comment and let us know! If you’d like to share your customized version with us, please email it to Collector4ArcGIS@esri.com so that we can see how you use or plan to use this template.

[CVWDGIS]

Kylie -

I made a series of "How to..." word documents covering;  ...Add New Asset, ...Edit and Delete Assets, ...Install, ...Login, and ... Reload a Map.  For me it's important to know your audience, meaning these guys don't know GIS, they use it as a tool to do their job more productively.  I use plenty of screen captures with red arrows walking them through a workflow in my 'How to...' documents and I try to avoid GIS terms.  I feel using the screen captures it's as if I'm there showing them step by step how to do an activity.

Tom

[Jack_Zhang]

Thanks Kylie for thinking of what customers need. thanks.

[JustinConnerWR]

Can you add the Android/Collector icons? Can you create these for Explorer as well?  Thank you for finally developing this.

[Kylie]

Hi Alison -- what icons are you looking for, and what are you hoping to do with them? And if this is something users give positive feedback on, you'll see it coming to lots of the field apps, Explorer included.

[Kylie]

Thanks Tom for this feedback. Stay tuned for the "long version" of this, where we do have more explicit text and steps and more screen captures to help through the workflow. If you are able to share the resources you put together with me, please send them to me in an email (kdonia at esri dot com). I'd love to take a look and see if we've covered the same tasks and flows in our long form.

Do your users work in multiple maps, and if so, did you find you needed to have screen captures that showed the particular maps and data your users would be working in, or did you end up with generic documents that can be used across all the projects?

Do you use your documents as a field reference, or as a training tool, or both?

Thanks! 

[JustinConnerWR]

The iOS and Android Collector icons should be part of the help materials – most users have a lot of apps cluttering up the screen, and won’t necessarily remember to look for the blue icon. In general, I found this template incredibly useful because I wasn’t yet aware of the implication of “continuous collection” for collecting many similar features. The existence of this field-oriented cheat sheet also helps me understand the field use cases that ESRI is fully supporting during app development.

[ButchClay]

Great resource here, Kylie. Thank You.

And thanks in advance to you and anyone else here who might advise me here.

I am trying to use Collector on an iPhone to inventory invasive exotics. Small USFS independent contract.

Have been using an iphone 6s updated to iOS 11.2.6. Issues related below relate to that platform/effort.  

Collector release info states that it's compatible with i8 on up. I hope that I am right in assuming that means that an i6s with the updates to 11.2.6 would afford needed usability with Collector in the field and in efforts to sync with my GIS experts's basemap provided to me.

Question: Is anyone else having issues with Collector on an iPhone in the field perhaps due to satellite/tower uplink?

I find the Collector interface pretty straight forward. However, my field efforts to employ Collector at present are compounded, apparently, by device/network connectivity issues. My Verizon plan (with 4LTE) shows good coverage in my area; however, since I am in the boonies more or less (by Eastern standards at least), I am running into "No Service" a lot, also diminished LTE connection that not only exacerbates staying connected to Collector, but also apparently adds in an element of artifacting and other "weirdness" to functionality on my device.

End result: Learning how to use Collector is one thing. Usability seems good to me. However, as I learn, it seems to be quite more difficult to get up to speed on Collector and sustain a viable work flow while experiencing connectivity issues.

I would think that ESRI ArcGis Collector issues such as this might not be unique to this area and operator. 

Kylie? Anybody?

BTW: I love ESRI and the tools it has brought and is bringing to conservation and resource work. I want to make Collector work for me if I can.

Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Butch,

Your devices will work as long as they are on iOS 8 or newer. iOS is the operating system that iPhones run on. If you are experiencing network connectivity issues out in the field, I suggest that you consider taking your maps offline before going out in the field.

Prepare maps for offline use—Collector for ArcGIS | ArcGIS 

[ButchClay]

Thanks Dan.

I copy. I am already trying to work offline, to then sync with a base map. First problem there is the sync issue itself...not working seamlessly (artifacts, etc.) or it does not sync at all.

I do appreciate the feedback and the link. I will check it out.

As for the operating system, I am aware that Collector runs off iOS, Android and Windows 10.  My iPhone 6s is running iOS 11.2.6. 

Right now I can not tell where the communication breakdown originates--in the bandwidth/signal or is it the communication between my mobile device/OS and the program. I think it may be the mobile device itself or the signal. 

I know that Collector is designed to enable offline survey and collection. I can't seem to get there and am just trying to track it down.

Thank you, Sir. I do appreciate your making the effort.

[Anonymous User]

Butch,

Are you trying to sync out in the field? Are you using services coming from an ArcGIS Server or services that are hosted on ArcGIS Online? If Server, which version and what kind of relational database are you using? SQL 2012, Oracle 12c, other?

[Kylie]

Thanks for clarifying Alison! I can add the app icon (the blue one) into the cheat sheet. I had thought you were asking for icons from within the app  I will let you know once it is there.

[Kylie]

I have added the blue Collector icon into the template page for each platform. Thanks again for your feedback alisonrm‌

[FranciscoAndrade1]

Thank you for this documentation. This is really awesome. I have reviewed it with some of our field personnel and they loved it.

This has helped me out with our training.

[Kylie]

For those of you interested, I've shared a long-form help template: https://community.esri.com/community/gis/applications/collector-for-arcgis/blog/2018/04/04/collector... 

Feedback appreciated there as well

[deleted-user-jgySi7_-_oxQ]

This collecter cheat sheet has been very beneficial to our field employees, any update on getting this same sort of document for explorer?

[JustinConnerWR]

Will the template be updated for the major November release with screen-shots of the revised UI?

[Kylie]

This template will stay as-is for users that are still using this version of Collector, but shortly after release we'll be providing a similar template for the new release.

[JustinConnerWR]

Doesn’t the release potentially get downloaded by field users as soon as it’s available on the app store, such that a pre-release template would be most helpful to end users?

[Kylie]

No - due to the nature of this release, it is being released as a new app and users will be able to run them side-by-side. See Collector for ArcGIS - Releasing the Aurora Project. 

[DanielleKulas]

These are great, thanks! Looking forward to similar templates for the new Collector for ArcGIS. Are those available yet, or is there a timeframe on availability?

[Kylie]

Hi Danielle -- Glad these are working for you! I'm working on the version for the new Collector for ArcGIS, and they'll be released as soon as they are completed. I will post here once they are.

[DanielleKulas]

Great, thank you!

[nspittlemeister_LCFPD]

These templates have been working great for our mobile workers. I would also be very interested in having a similar template for the new Collector. Thank you!

[Marc_Graham]

Hi Kylie Donia‌,

I see in Jeff's recent blog post he mentions a cheat sheet for use with the most recent version of collector - however the link is broken.  Are you able to update this/provide us with the cheat sheet here?

Kind regards,

Marc

[Kylie]

Hi Marc! Good catch. That link is now fixed (just remove "dev" after http://docdev in your link).

And yes, for those of you following this discussion, there is now a field guide for the new Collector. Check it out