ArcGIS QuickCapture Blog

Sharing QuickCapture Projects Publically

There may be situations where you want to share a QuickCapture project publicly, meaning users won’t need to enter a username and password to download the project and submit data. This is useful for applications such as crowdsourcing, where you want members of the public to submit data. In these cases, you won’t know who your users are and won’t be able to assign individual licenses to them.

Sharing QuickCapture projects publicly can be done using the QuickCapture Web Designer, but the implementation differs depending on whether you are using ArcGIS Online (AGOL) or ArcGIS Enterprise.

ArcGIS Online (AGOL)

If you are using AGOL, you can share QuickCapture projects publicly, as long as your organization has a Hub Premium license. Once this is applied, the designer will allow you to share the project with Everyone (Public).

How to Share: Click the 'Share' button, then select the option to Share with everyone. This will make the project public, along with any associated project layers and web maps, if necessary.

Once shared, you can distribute the QR code (created by the designer) to users via email or embed it in a document.

Users can scan the QR code using their mobile phone camera. If QuickCapture is not already installed, they will be directed to the appropriate app store to download it. After installation, scanning the QR code will automatically download the project to the app’s public workspace, ready for use.

Note: The designer also allows you to create project links as an alternative to QR codes. These links can be embedded in emails or documents as another way to distribute your public projects.

ArcGIS Enterprise

If you are using ArcGIS Enterprise, no additional license is required to share QuickCapture projects publicly. The option to share your project is always available, and the QuickCapture Designer will allow you to create project QR codes and links, just like you can do in ArcGIS Online.

However, there are some important considerations:

1. External Access: If you want your project to be accessible outside of your internal network, ensure that your portal is accessible externally. In some cases, a VPN can be used if only certain members of your organization need access. In other cases, you may need to adjust your firewall settings to allow external access to the portal, the project, and associated items.

2. Web Maps: A bug in QuickCapture prevented web maps from loading in public projects (BUG-000166936). The fix is available in version 1.21 of the Web Designer and will be available in the Enterprise-hosted version of the designer in ArcGIS Enterprise version 11.5. Additionally, it will require the map to be updated in existing projects and the project resaved. If you are using an older version of ArcGIS Enterprise, you will need to use the online version of the Web Designer with your Enterprise. See the following steps to fix your existing projects.

Use the online Web Designer with your Enterprise:

1. Go to the online version of the designer: ArcGIS QuickCapture Designer.
2. Select Sign in with ArcGIS Enterprise.
3. Enter your portal URL and sign in with your ArcGIS Enterprise credentials.
4. Open the project you want to share publically and go to Configure Project Map.
5. Select Change and choose the map you want to use. Even if the correct map is already selected, reselect it to ensure the correct property is set.
6. Save the project and share it publicly, if needed.

The supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIDs warning

The QuickCapture designer shows a warning if your project contains feature layers that have the supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIDs property is set to false. Many feature layers (including those created from the ArcGIS Online templates) by default will have this property set to false, so if you create a QuickCapture project from them, you will see the following warning in the QuickCapture Designer analyser UI:

(The following layers are configured in a way that may cause photo loss)

Currently, this is just a warning, meaning that you can still save the project without applying the fix. However it is strongly recommended that you don’t ignore it. In the future we will make this an error, which will prevent you from saving the project, until the issue is resolved. See this deprecation notice.

The reason that supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIDs is important is that the setting that supports reliable transactions when uploading attachments (particularly when working in low bandwidth conditions) and helps the QuickCapture mobile app to prevent the upload of duplicate features.

I'm seeing the warning in the QuickCapture Designer, what do I do?

If you are using a hosted feature service in ArcGIS Online, setting supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIDs is really simple. You just need to enable the Sync capability on your layer. It does not matter if there are existing features and attachments in the layer, the steps will still work. You can follow the steps outlined in this blog.

If you are using non hosted feature layers or ArcGIS enterprise then the steps shared in this Survey123 blog, also apply to QuickCapture.

Encountering duplicate feature submissions in QuickCapture could be experienced when working in areas areas with poor network connectivity. This article explains the underlying cause of duplicate submissions and shares information on how the issue is addressed in the 1.21 release.

QuickCapture offers two types of templates to help you get started quickly with your data collection projects: Solution-based templates and Project-based templates. In this blog, we’ll explore both types and how they can help streamline your project creation process.

The QuickCapture designer now offers 2 options for enabling oriented imagery in the designer: Oriented imagery and Oriented imagery (Classic). The first option utilizes the new oriented imagery feature layer item type, that is well integrated into the ArcGIS platform. For example, the layer can be directly opened in the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer or in ArcGIS Pro. The the second option (classic) untilzes the old catalog item type, which can be consumed by stand alone web apps and an community supported ArcGIS Pro addin. 

For any layers in your project, you can enable both options! This is because for the time being the oriented imager feature layer implementation, does not yet match the capabilities of the classic verion (yet).

Learn how to streamline field data collection using the integrated Arcade editor in the QuickCapture web designer. You can configure Arcade expressions from the Data tab for each capture field in the project.

Try out the integrated Arcade editor in the QuickCapture web designer to write Arcade expressions that populate fields for collected data. This workflow is applicable to data collected online and offline.

It is important to share your QuickCapture project properly so your mobile workers can access and use it successfully. Here are all of the ways to share that you need to know.

Capture daily patrol records and identify hazards to mitigate, using QuickCapture and Survey123.

What is a link button?

A Link button allows you to open other mobile apps or web applications from ArcGIS QuickCapture app by specifying the target URL for the button. You can configure a link button to

• Open a website
• Open a PDF file that hosted online
• Open a dashboard from your device’s browser
• Launch Survey123 field app
• Launch other native apps on your device

In short, with the link button, you can use your QuickCapture project as a launchpad to open other apps.

Configure the URL for link button

First and foremost, you’ll need to add a link button to your QuickCapture project. To do this, simply drag the link button and drop it to the project preview in Designer. You will also note there’s a link icon on the top left that indicates this is a link button.

Configure link button to open a website/web app

The most basic idea is that you can use link button to launch any URL from QuickCapture, e.g., a website that provides support information for the end-users. 

Moreover, you can include dynamic content into the target URL and pass captured information from QuickCapture to the URL. For example, with the URL parameters, you can define the scale level and center the web map with the captured location, or you can enhance the dashboard app by adding URL parameters and the trigger actions.

In this case, you need to manually construct the link button URL and predefine values for the URL parameters. QuickCapture supports using fixed values, device variables, or a project user input variable to add to the constructed URL. In the steps below, I will configure the link button to open a dashboard app, but also add a URL parameter to have the dashboard always center the map based on user’s captured location when the link button is pressed from QuickCapture.

1. Create a dashboard app and configure a URL parameter (a geometry parameter named ‘point’) for it. Also, configure actions for the parameter, e.g. flash and zoom when the value of the parameter changes.
2. In QuickCapture Designer, select the link button and configure it to launch a URL.
3. Continue constructing the dashboard URL by adding the geometry parameter and assigning QuickCapture variables, i.e. ${longitude} and ${latitude} to this parameter. You can see that the QuickCapture variable is represented with a dollar sign and braces, this means the actual value of it will be automatically filled in by the QuickCapture app when this button is pressed.

Save the project and download it to your device. Press the Dashboard button in the project. Note that the dashboard app is centered at the current location and has a flashing effect that was previously configured in the dashboard app.

Configure link button to launch native apps

Link button can also be used to launch native apps on your device. You can launch communication apps for the end-users to send an email, a text message, or make a phone call to their supervisors. In this manner, the link button enables users to send instant feedback while they are still working in the field. Here are some examples of how you can construct the link (encoding the URL parameters is recommended) to open the messaging apps on your device.

• Email—mailto:quickcapture@esri.com?subject=Fix%20the%20pipe&body=We%20really%20need%20to%20fix%20the%20pipe
• SMS—sms:0291920995 (On Android, a message body can also be included: sms:0291920995?body=We%20really%20need%20to%20fix%20the%20pipe)
• Phone—tel:0291920995

Of course, you can also use the link buttons to launch Field Maps or Collector by providing the app link in the URL editor.

Link to Survey123 from QuickCapture

You can use link buttons to launch Survey123 field app from QuickCapture. In QuickCapture designer, we made the configuration/integration experience as easy as possible. If you want to link to a survey from QuickCapture, you don’t have to manually construct the Survey123 link or custom URL, QuickCapture Designer will do it for you. In Designer, you can not only configure a link button to launch Survey123 field app directly and link to an existing survey, but also add survey questions and pass dynamic content to this selected survey. Again, you can match a fixed value, a device variable, or a project user input variable to the survey question, and the actual value for these variables will be captured and replaced by QuickCapture app through the link button. Optionally, you can pass captured location in QuickCapture as the input for the geopoint question in the survey, and configure the experience to return to QuickCapture after a survey is successfully submitted.

Let’s use the Pipeline Patrol project to demonstrate how to use QuickCapture and Survey123 together to record daily pipeline patrols and document identified hazards. In the project, patrols that encounter no issues are usually recorded with the tap of the Patrol Complete button; If any hazards are identified, they can be captured with additional buttons; For hazards that require detailed reporting, you can launch Survey123  from QuickCapture to collect more information through the smart form in Survey123:

1. First, add the link button Valve Leak and set it to launch the Survey123 field app.
2. Select a survey you want to link to.
3. Select and add questions from the survey and pass predefined values to these questions. When configuring this, Designer is automatically constructing the Survey123 custom URL based on your selection made on the UI.
4. Toggle on the options to pass location to Survey123 and return to QuickCapture after the survey submission.

Save the project and download it to your device. From the video below, you can see the Survey123 field app is automatically opened when pressing the Valve Leak button from the project. You may also notice that the questions we configured from the Designer are already populated with the captured values now in Survey123. Once the survey is submitted, it will jump back to the QuickCapture app to continue data capture. This capability streamlines the field data collection workflow and optimizes different data capture scenarios. For rapid data collection, simply keep tapping the buttons in the QuickCapture project; For detailed data entry, use the link buttons to open Survey123 to add more information.

Let us know if you have any feedback or questions on this.