Photograph Date Stamp

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07-28-2023 12:18 AM
Status: Open
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ashtons
Emerging Contributor

At the moment when you're out in the field using the Field Maps App, you can take a photograph, then submit along with the form.  Unfortunately there's no way of adding a date-stamp to that image to prove when the photo was taken.

We need this so that it represents as proof evidence in cases of  insurance and liability issues.

Thank you

Sean

11 Comments
CClark2

This is a great idea. I work for a local municipality, and my team and I recently launched a Field Map’s initiative to collect stormwater data for our maintenance division. We found out that some of their more tech-savvy personnel were using a third-party app that takes the EXIF data and generates a timestamp and location information printed right on the photo. Currently, they use this app to generate photos for work orders in a system separate from the Field Maps app. Unfortunately, that workflow of using the third-party app to generate the photo, and then navigating to a separate app to log the photo in that system was not tenable for the Field Map initiative, as it was a clunky process that was difficult to enforce with the less tech-oriented members of the crew.

If it was possible to set the photo capture element of Field Maps print this information directly on the photos, that would not only help our workers quickly and easily reference information about the photo, but it would also add an extra layer of assurance to our verification techniques and help us to further promote GIS adoption within our department.

fjramos

Good idea

Heidi_Whipple

I work in borough government in Alaska, and our GIS group coordinates with Public Works and Emergency Services personnel during emergencies or weather incidents. Our organization also has a need for time/date and location stamped photos when taking any pictures of road closure locations or damages to public/private infrastructure.  These help with verification of reports coming in, tracking updates through time, and potential reimbursement reporting after a disaster. 

Currently, field staff has to use a third-party app (Theodolite), and then upload those photos to Field Maps (or email them to GIS to upload). We'd prefer to use Field Maps to natively capture and display those elements to simplify the workflow in the field.

thank you!

AlfredBaldenweck

I think the information is present in the exif data, but that requires exporting it, which is its own can of worms. Adding it to the Attachment table (and being able to actually do anything with attributes in the attachment table) would be great.

DanielKarkoszka

Anything happening here ESRI?

County_ofNevada

Would love to see this feature put back in. We use Field Maps for our one of our local government initiatives. Our staff goes into the field to take pictures of a given location, and often will have to return to that location months later to take follow-up photos. Being able to see a date/time stamp on the photos in the app would allow them to quickly identify the 'before' and 'after' photos. 

HannesVogel

It is possible to capture features with photos and EXIF data printed as watermarks directly on the photos with Survey123 from ESRI.

Here are the relevant links:

The data and photos can be also shared and used in webmaps in Field Maps.

Furthermore, existing features/attributes can be sent to Survey123 forms via Applinking to use this handy Survey123 functionality.

CarynAshbay

Has anyone found a way to add a timestamp to a photo attachment in Field Maps without using a third-party app or Survey123?

alex_friant

It would also be super useful to have this ability in QuickCapture. Any mobile app where photos can be attached should have this ability so it's the same experiences across the platform.

ToddHelt

Re: Field Maps photo timestamp workaround

@ashtons @CarynAshbay @DanielKarkoszka 

Yes, I agree this is a common limitation with Field Maps, especially if your used to the robust photo watermarking of date time, lat/lon coords, reverse geocoding for address, etc. that can be easily implemented in Survey123 XLSForm.

Here's a workaround in Field Maps we use on Android devices. It's not really "in Field Maps" but because the photo attachment tool from Field Maps just launches the native Camera app on the mobile device you can simply use the camera Settings to watermark the photos with the date/time stamp. You can also toggle on Location Tags in Camera Settings in order to include the location lat/lon coords in the EXIF data for the photos for evidentiary purposes (I don't believe there is a way in Camera settings to also include this coord info in the watermark image with date/time stamp, but that may depend on camera app or the Android or Knox version). We have a fairly limited number of users so we just go thru this one time camera settings on each mobile device as part of our users Field Maps training. Results may vary but this is what works for us: 

1. Open Settings in camera.

ToddHelt_0-1732158717766.jpeg

2. Toggle on Watermark in Camera Settings

ToddHelt_1-1732158845052.jpeg

3. Tap Watermark in Settings to configure details for watermark [Note: limited options here but something at least]

ToddHelt_2-1732158991161.jpeg

4. Under Camera Settings, toggle on Location Tags

ToddHelt_3-1732159113113.jpeg