Collector: Stream line and take a point at the same time?

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02-19-2019 12:55 PM
JonBrito1
New Contributor II

Hi,

I have kind of been browsing around for a solution to a problem we have with our workflow and wanted to see if there was anyone else out there who has a remedy.Our field collectors are going into the field to do weed surveys and control. They walk a transect and treat any weeds they fine in our reserves. 

Currently the way we have collector classic set up is there are two feature classes, one a line and one a point. When they begin the transect our collectors will start streaming the line. This line shows ground that we have covered. When our field workers do find a weed they have to take a point with type of weed and quantities. 

The problem is, currently they have to stop their stream to collect that weed point and many times forget to turn their stream back on. Many of them are used to using Garmin units that we are trying to phase out. Is there a way to keep streaming and collect a point? I looked into using survey123 but its a little cumbersome for some of our users to switch to another app, use it, then switch back to collector (classic). Iʻm not sure if Iʻm just not seeing the stream/take a point functionality? How do I enable being able to stream a line and take a point? 

Thanks!

-JB

4 Replies
HelenJohnson
New Contributor III

Have you tried Location Tracking?  It might work for your case.  Track where collectors go—Collector for ArcGIS (Classic) | ArcGIS 

It tracks movement as a series of points, so to get a polyline you would need to run a point to line tool:

Points To Line—Data Management toolbox | ArcGIS Desktop 

If you don't mind waiting, it looks like ESRI is rolling out the perfect solution in the second quarter of 2019: Location Tracking Debuted at Esri User Conference (July 2018) 

location tracking template‌, arcgis online location tracking, #tracking and traceability

JonBrito1
New Contributor II

Hi Helen thanks for the reply! The only issue weʻve run into with Location tracking is it does not record while the phone/tablet either has its screen turned off or the app is in the background. 

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HelenJohnson
New Contributor III

I have been running into similar problems.  My users regularly lock their devices.  I am now looking into ESRI Quick Capture.  It looks like it should be possible to collect preset line types in the background (it will work in the background, even with the screen locked).  While that is running, you should be able to use Collector as usual to collect the more involved, project specific data. 

I have only just heard about ESRI Quick Capture, so I haven't tested it out yet. I would love to hear if anyone else has tried it.  

https://community.esri.com/community/esri-labs/blog/2018/07/13/introducing-quickcapture-for-arcgis 

Home · Esri/QuickCapture Wiki · GitHub 

quickcapture‌ tracking

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JohnStowell
New Contributor III

Hi Helen, we've been using QuickCapture since late 2018 for rapid data collection in earthquake damage/severe weather/search and rescue type situations. It fits our needs perfectly for this, though we aren't using the streaming/line collection part of it. 

I think the location tracking app will be a great addition to our current toolkit when released.

Also, with the large number of QuickCapture image attachments being collected, we thought that a gallery tool would be useful to have embedded in an Operations Dashboard. I went ahead and created a gallery "generator" tool which provides a link that you can simply add to an "Embedded Content" panel in Operations Dashboard. It gives you a responsive gallery view of all feature attachments and also works for data collected with Survey123, Collector, etc.

Someone might find it useful: GitHub - nzjs/ESRI-Feature-Service-Attachment-Gallery: A tool that generates a custom URL for viewin...