Automatic syncing in Survey 123

[BimallNaidoo1]

Hi 

I am a survey 123 user. We have recently tried to use the app in an area with limited to no connectivity. The idea was to find the spots in the patrol route and follow the manual syncing process. Unfortunately there are a few issues with this and we therefore are unable to use the survey 123 for this project.

1. The monitors who collect the data are not always aware of where the spots with good connectivity are located. During the patrol they have to be aware of the sightings and the fact that the survey happens at night they have to be very vigilant. Looking at the device to see when they in an area of connectivity is not always possible.

2. The spot of connectivity maybe quite far away from the end point of the patrol(which may not have connectivity) and the monitors cannot backtrack to find the spots. These are night surveys and the monitors need to get back to their accommodation to start the morning session of the patrol. Therefore adding extra time to go back to areas of connectivity is not ideal.

3. Unfortunately it is not ideal to have an entire patrol session data stored on the device until an area of connectivity is found and manual syncing can commence. There are many risks in the device being stolen or falling into the water (beach patrol).

4. During the peak season of the data collection the species are emerging frequently and the monitors need to work fast to collect the data. Therefore standing at a spot and manually syncing, results in several missed data collection opportunities. The data collection cannot happen simultaneously with syncing. 

I have looked through the forums and I understand that the syncing requires strong stable connectivity and therefore the need for manual syncing to prevent corruption of the data. Unfortunately due to the nature of this project this is a problem. Since we have not been able to overcome this issue and therefore we have had to use another mobile app that meets the connectivity and syncing needs. But the the post processing of the data is pretty painful and there many fields that cannot be automated. If we were able to use survey 123 for this project it will be ideal.

Sorry this is not an idea but rather a complaint and request to find a solution.

Regards

Bimall 

[ClayDonaldsonSWCA]

I would suggest looking into Field Maps as an alternative to survey123. It does have an automatic sync option and the form builder is pretty close to feature parity with survey123. You would have to work around some things like lack of multiple choice questions, but could prove to be viable depending on complexity of your form.

[BimallNaidoo1]

Thank you for this. We initially setup the survey in Field maps. The project coordinator was not happy with the interface, being a map centric app the map takes up most of the screen. This interface was very intimidating for the monitors who have not used digital devices for data collection previously. But we may have to revisit this once the monitors are more comfortable with digital devices and if the automatic syncing is not resolved by then.

[RobertAnderson3]

Depending on how complex the data you're looking to collect is, another option could be QuickCapture. It's a very simple interface that makes it easy to pick an option when it's spotted and then answer a couple basic questions if needed.

That said I'm not entirely sure about the syncing process on it or how well it works offline.

[BimallNaidoo1]

Hi
Thank you for this. I have used quick for another project and it was brilliant. Unfortunately this survey has many questions and multiple choice answers, quick capture is quite restrictive.
Regards
Bimall