Image Selection in Survey123 App

[DeanSzumylo]

When a survey includes an Image field, there are two options: 1) take a picture, or 2) select an image.   I'm having problems with the second option.  

My assumption would be that when taking the survey, if I select the folder icon, the survey would open the photo gallery on my phone, allowing me to select from the photos/images already stored on my device.   Instead, I'm directed to a blank "No pictures found" screen.  At the bottom of that screen, there's a rudimentary folder selection screen.

The default folder location was not correct. I eventually found where my existing photos are stored, but it took a lot of trial and error.  With the correct folder selected, the images were stored in reverse chronological order (oldest first), so the most recent images would be at the very end of a long list of image files.

Is this the intended behavior?  I can't imagine expecting a survey user to go through this sleuthing process to add an existing photo to a survey.  What am I missing?  Why doesn't the app open the photo gallery?

My phone is a Moto X (2nd generation), Android version 5.1

[Anonymous User]

Hi Joe,

We have implemented a new Android Gallery image chooser which will be available in version 2.6, to be released in the next few weeks. This should resolve any issues selecting photos using browse button on Android devices.

Phil.

[Jean-YvesLandry1]

Hi Philip,

I don't see the browse button in the android gallery version2.6.  I can see that it points to the camera folder (DCIM), as I can see images that are in the folder.  Is it possible to change the path to another folder?

[Anonymous User]

Hi Jean-Yves,

With the new android gallery in 2.6 there is no longer a file browser option to manually browse to any folder on the device. By default all photos will be shown that are in the DCIM folder or subfolder to DCIM on the device or SD storage, or alternatively photos in any of the standard android picture folders (system managed default) will be shown. We have an update in 2.7 (to be released in a few weeks) that will improve this standard picture folder search.

The gallery has been implemented in a similar way to how other android apps search folders and display photos, as well as keeping in line with how the iOS photo gallery works.

If you move your photos you want to select into the DCIM folder or subfolder of DCIM on either SD card or device storage, then they will appear.

Regards,

Phil.

[Jean-YvesLandry1]

Without having tested 2.6 as our tablets are still on a previous version, are the pictures taken through survey123 still saved in "survey attachment" folder or are they saved in DCIM?

[Anonymous User]

Hi Jean-Yves,

Yes, pihotos taken via the camera in the Survey123 app will be saved to the \\ArcGIS\My Survey Attachments\ folder. If you are using the default camera app on the device outside of Survey123, then those will be saved to the DCIM folder.

Phil.

[StefanoCamisassi]

There are still problems on that feature because when I try to choose an image from the gallery the order seems random. Probably the list is ordered by folder then by date, the problem is that if I have instagram, whatsapp or any other app with picture taken capabilities, I cannot find the last pictures taken. This is a very big problem, imagine a field operator who take 10 picture and have to scroll thousant pics to find the correct one for each picture to load in a survey.  

Furthermore, if I try to order the photos several times, the order is always different. I think that the problems arise when the smartphone has a lot of pictures stored but the survey123 app, in any case, has to redesign the image explorer. 

I'm using the version 3.6.153 with Huawei p20 pro and many other device of my field operators.

[Anonymous User]

Hi Stefano,

This was a new bug (BUG-000125769) that was identified recently (last week) and we already have a fix for it. We are planning to update the Android app in the Google Play store very soon with an update to fix this. Please keep an eye out for it.

Phil.

[Anonymous User]

I am having a particular problem similar to this. But in my case, it seems like the option to browse through my photos does not exist at all. It's baffling. And the folder to which the image media store points to at default does not contain any previous photos I took within the Survey123 for ArcGIS app. Please refer to the screenshot below:

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It is quite inconvenient since the surveyor does not have the capability of taking the shots he/she has stored away prior due to the fact they can't even navigate to any folder to check it went in the first place. 

I've tested in other Android devices; Samsung Galaxy Tab and Lenovo just to name a few; all with latest Android OS and having the same issue. Mine is Nokia 4.2 with Android version 9. 

Is this an existing issue? If it is, does anyone know any possible workaround? Any ideas would be great!

Thank you!

Regards,

Azalea

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Azalea,

This is a bug with the display of photos in the Android app that will be updated in the near future.

[DerrickWestoby]

Good to hear, thanks.  Getting some complaints on this.  

James, can you please tell us if a gallery/folder viewer will also be available in Android again, like it is in iOS?