I am trying to use a Web Mapping App for crowdsourcing information from the public about invasive plants in local rivers. I have found the functionality to be awkward and not very satisfactory. Here are the issues I ran into:
- A Feature Layer is created to manage and store the data records. However, it is not possible to edit the data records in the Feature Layer. I would like to manipulate data records after members of the public have entered them. But, the only way to do this is to open the online Web Map that contains the feature layer, and in the Web Map it is only possible to edit one record at a time. If I want to delete a set of records, that is not possible.
- In the Web Mapping App, it is not possible to define the size of the widget windows when they open. For example, the Edit Widget takes up a large portion of the screen (on computers and mobile devices) and it covers up much of the map.
- In the Web Mapping App, the only way to exit the widgets is to click the very small X at the top right. This is hard to do on a small screen.
- In the Edit Widget, there is no clear Save button, even if I choose the option "Don't apply edits to the attributes until clicking the Save button". The only way to save is to click the very small X at the top right. This is not intuitive.
- The My Location widget functionality is clunky. It shows you your location, but it doesn't help you place your next edit at your location. Also, when it is turned on, on a mobile device, the Edit Widget window has trouble positioning itself because it covers up your location and it is hard to locate your edit.
- In the Edit Widget, sometimes photo attachments do not load. I can't figure out why that is.