Survey123 and Collector Photo Thumbnails management

[NickMoore]

An idea we would like to see is an option for both Survey123 and Collector, to store original Size (or a local copy) photographs to the Camera Roll or Device storage and have the option to either, only attach the thumbnails (or chosen resized version as attachments) and store originals (unrestricted) to camera roll, physically attach none store local only, or an option to use as currently is.

This is especially useful where very photo dependant surveys are required in an offline environment. Downloading new data due to the size of the records with the attachments can take a very long time. Also the attachment posting can take a very long time in limited reception. An option to send attachments only via Wifi would be really handy too.

Also it is sometimes necessary to keep a very high res version as you may need to zoom in to the required object without losing significant quality. Something that cant be done easily in the current workflows and Sizes without only capturing unrestricted sizes.

In AGOL potentially have the thumbnails as the primary but allow users to view the associated original (unrestricted)

[ScottPrindle]

Hello Nick,

Thank you for submitting this idea! It looks like there are two angles to your request:

1. Option to capture a full resolution picture with the device's camera, but only upload a thumbnail to the service.
2. Option to store a thumbnail and the full resolution picture on a hosted feature layer.

Each of these requests sound like interesting improvements. Could you provide a current workflow or project where this would improve collection of data? How are you addressing this need currently in your workflows?

Everyone else,

When voting for this idea, please consider leaving a comment to share your use case. What types of projects are you accomplishing today with Survey123 or Collector where this functionality would be useful? Aside from smaller uploads/limited bandwidth, how do you envision this improving your workflows?

Thanks,

Scott

[NickMoore]

Hi Scott,

You are correct with the two angles to this request.

I work for a multinational engineering firm where we collect a lot of data on site. Many sites are offline, however users require the attachments in the field. Sometime projects can have upwards of 3000 records with 15 attachments at each site. Full res photographs are required for their detail in the design process so when collection occurs this is stored. Syncing back to devices with the full res photographs is painful, and having an option of only pulling down thumbnails would solve this.ai

Further to this, allowing custom popups access to thumbnail version would allow for quicker review of data in the cloud environments. Options to use the thumbnails rather than originals in Survey123 reports etc etc.

At the moment we download the service as FGDB, export attachments, then resize attachments to low res thumbnails for use in the respective parts.

if you require further use cases i would be happy to share

Regards,

Nick