What device do you use FieldMaps on?

[madxwild]

Hi community! Just wondering what devices does anyone use for their field data collection? Historically I've been a big fan if TDC600 due it's high gps accuracy but am on a lookout for a more cost effective (but ideally obviously losing little of the GPS accuracy) solution. Running FieldMaps on my android phone at the moment, but the accuracy is well out, by at least 5-10m so just wondering if there's anything in the market I could either add on to my phone to get the GPS accuracy to be higher or are there any other devices you guys are using that are really smashing it out of the ballpark in the point and feature collection game in the field with FieldMaps?

Any advice much appreciated 🙃

[SteveTaylor6]

We have recently been testing the top end Samsung Ultra. Hard to get better. 1.4m GPS accuracy and big battery that lasts a full day of mapping, with some to spare. 

[RobertBorchert]

If you want better accuracy you should stick with what you have.  

Phones are not going to give the kind of accuracy you may want.  Even 1.4 is pretty bad 

[JustinJohnston]

I just bought a Trimble Catalyst antenna, which is really affordable for the hardware.  You buy the accuracy you want as a subscription model or you can buy the top end precision in 10-hour increments.  That can be centimeter level accuracy, which I will be using for ground control for drone work.  I am going back and forth myself on the best device and not at all considering the accuracy of the GPS of the device since I will be using the Catalyst antenna.  I am considering what is best for people to handle in the field vs screen real estate while using Field Maps.  I have used Field maps on my iPhone in the field, and it is better for typing information into the device than a full sized tablet.  However, it doesn't show a lot of the map when entering data since the form takes up half the small screen.  So it comes down to typing with two thumbs quickly and not seeing as much vs. seeing everything and hen pecking the letters one by one on a tablet.  

Also, in my experience, if someone deletes something in ArcGIS Online and you want to recover it from the device directly, it is relatively easy on an iOS device.  It is very difficult on an Android device.  The temporary geodatabase created on the device of each is slightly different.  The iOS version of the geodatabase is virtually plug and play in ArcGIS Pro, whereas the Android version of the geodatabase will likely require a developer to troubleshoot getting it into a usable state.  

So for my purposes, it will be an iOS device and between a phone or iPad Mini. 

Cheers,

Justin Johnston