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Location sharing/ My tracks - Some segments not appearing in My tracks

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a week ago
elpinguino
Occasional Contributor III

Hi Field Mappers,

The team's picked up using Field Maps more in the last month or so. We are trying to transition away from GPS and a free app available here. Not being an expert in Field Maps I've been given a question I can't quite answer for them. Any help or advice would be great.

My tracklog does some random stuff sometimes and stops recording for a little while, same issue that I’ve previously had. I’ve been to all the treatment points but the tracklog just wasn’t recording/ doesn’t show and starts showing the location I have been to afterwards if that makes sense - so there’s basically a gap in the track recording.

In the screenshot below from her device the green dots (treatment points) are all ones she's created in the field on the same day so the blue lines (my tracks) should be going through them. Screenshots were taken that day.

Screenshot_20240808_103459_Field Maps.jpgScreenshot_20240808_131140_Field Maps.jpg

 

I then went into Tracker in ArcGIS Online and looked at the Tracks from the Location Sharing automatically created layer and compared that data with these screenshots. The tracks have cleaned themselves up some what. So potentially it is that she's looking at My Tracks on her Field Maps mobile too soon because these get created every hour, and it tidied itself up? I did a skim around the area, but still found some points that didn't have tracks collected for it like the screenshot below. That red line should be going through the green dots. It is important for us that the My tracks is accurate as possible since we use this to show to the client that we've done the work they've requested.

elpinguino_1-1723197429382.png

 

Below are the settings we've applied to their map in Field Maps Designer.

image (1).png

Some context:

  • They're working in an online environment using data.
  • I can't physically access the person's device. We aren't in the same location at the moment. (I have asked her to check if smart rendering is turned on/off.)
  • This has happened on multiple occassions for her in the last couple of weeks, but not from other users in the organisation, however other users probably aren't as attentive or looking for these issues.
  • I haven't asked yet if she has battery saver or anything like that on her phone turned on, but I didn't think that would effect My tracks in this situation either.
  • I've asked her to sign in and out and turn the location on and off.

We haven't gotten to the point where it's caused any issues with reporting to the client since we're in the early stages of trialling Field Maps, but I'd like to iron out any wrinkles before we get ourselves into a situation like that, and of course the two of us are just genuinely curious about how the product works and why this does that.

Thanks again if you've read this far.

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2 Replies
ColinLawrence
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi @elpinguino ,

What device(s) are you field workers using and what is the OS version? From the screenshots it does seem like the environment is somewhat open; would there be anything that might interfere with the GPS signal? From the explanation and screenshots it does seem like there are instances where a track point is not being added and this is typically because a GPS fix was not available or had not updated since the last one. 

I haven't asked yet if she has battery saver or anything like that on her phone turned on, but I didn't think that would effect My tracks in this situation either.

Are you referring to battery saver at the Operating system level or the battery optimization setting in Field Maps? Due to the issues you are reporting I would recommend turning both off if possible. The Field Maps setting is designed to shut off the GPS temporarily if no motion is detected by the device, which could explain some of the gaps you see. Its up to internal sensors in the device to determine if you are "in motion" so this can be variable from device to device. Taking this out of the equation can help troubleshoot the problem. 

Regards,
Colin
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elpinguino
Occasional Contributor III

Hi @ColinLawrence , Thanks for your reply. They are using Samsung Galaxy A54s and operating system Android 14.

I hadn't considered there were battery saving options in both the app settings and on the device. I was just thinking about the device. Thanks for pointing that out. I've sent through a few things for the team to check after reading this article. I found it helpful in case anyone else comes across this post. https://resources.esri.ca/getting-technical/never-lose-track-of-your-work-in-arcgis-field-maps]

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