Latest Contributions by IsmaelChivite

  About the Survey123 Early Adopter Community  ArcGIS Survey123 version 3.14 beta is now available for testing from the Early Adopter Community website. Do not miss this opportunity to give it a go and share your feedback. This article describes some of the latest beta features and bug fixes added this week.  Our plan is to release these features and fixes, subject to your feedback, through updates to Survey123 in November and December.  If you haven’t already, join the Survey123 Early Adopter Community using your Esri account. In the Early Adopter Community website, you will find the beta builds as well as documentation and forums where you can post your findings and feedback.  Please note that we make beta software available to you for testing and feedback. You should never use beta software in production. Functionality and documentation can vary once features are moved into general release. We cannot guarantee a delivery date for the work you see in the Early Adopter Community. However, you will see that features that get more feedback in the Early Adopter Community often make it faster to general release. We are building Survey123 together!  Enhanced grid layouts (Survey123 field app)  Grid layouts  help you better control how questions are arranged within your form design. Check this blog for more details. Support for nested groups is limited and we wanted to do something about it. The new 3.14 beta builds of Survey123 Connect and the field app let you use extended XLSForm syntax to help you better handle nested groups in layout mode.  Support for nested groups in grid layouts is improving. Before, a subgroup would always span one column from its parent group. Now, you can define the span as you like.   In the example above, we arranged two groups (Water and Soil) side by side within a repeat. Note that we decided to give more space to the Water group. With the XLSForm enhancements in the 3.14 beta you can specify not only how many columns a group should have, but also how many columns it should use from its parent group. That's new, and it gives you extra control when working with groups and repeats within other groups. Let me put this in XLSForm terms:  Before: w2  In beta: w3:2, as in w<columns>:<span>  Learn more. Create custom annotation tools to better model the specifics of your workflow   Custom annotation tools (Survey123 field app)  In version 3.13 we introduced improvements to the user experience and quality of annotated maps and photos. You can learn more in Jim’s blog.   We are now introducing beta options for you to create custom annotation tools. Why do this? So that you can more effectively model the annotation experience to the specific needs of your workflow. In the animation below, the author of the survey created a custom annotation tool palette with elements from water, gas and electricity.  Every one of these elements has well defined symbology and meaning. This helps standardize annotations and streamlines the user experience when annotating a map, photo or drawing.  Learn more.     Resize, rotate and reshape existing graphics         Select and edit existing annotations  Undo is not enough. Sometimes you need to be able to select an annotation to rotate it, resize it or simply change its shape. That's all possible with the beta and we would love to learn if this is working well for you. Learn more.             Signature support in the inbox… and more (Survey123 field app)  We introduced support for images in the Survey123 field app inbox in 3.13. With the 3.14 beta you will also be able to work with signature question types in the inbox: You can view existing signatures and you can also add new signatures to existing records from the inbox. But that’s not all. We took this opportunity to revamp the user experience for this question type. The big change here is that the signature canvas is no longer locked into the survey. Instead, it pops up for the user to sign. What's the benefit? Extra space for end users to sign! The signature canvas now pops up to give end users extra space to sign There’s more: You can define the size of the signature canvas and activate the multiline appearance to collect more than one signature in a single question type.  Learn more. ... View more

    ArcGIS QuickCapture version 1.11 is now available in the Apple, Google Play and Microsoft app stores. At first, you will not be able to tell the difference and that is by design. Read on to learn more because this new release has some pretty juicy enhancements!   About ArcGIS QuickCapture   ArcGIS QuickCapture is Esri’s rapid data collection mobile app. Use QuickCapture to give field users the simplest and most effective experience for documenting field observations. QuickCapture is as simple to use as the camera app in your phone, but much more powerful. It helps you collect the location of events in the field and automatically enrich your observations with multiple attributes. A single tap in your phone records the what, the where and the when. Once collected, you can share that information through ArcGIS. Not familiar with the BIG button user experience of QuickCapture? Give it a try through the various sample configurations we share through this gallery. Photo inspections, quick asset damage reports, bioblitz and much more!   Ready to get started? Follow this tutorial to create your first project from scratch. What’s new in 2 minutes       Oriented Imagery   I bet you use ArcGIS attachments to associate photos with GIS features. After all, photos are a big part of field data collection.  While oriented imagery may be a new concept to you, I am sure you will become a fan once you know what it can do for you. Example 1: Do I have photos of a particular location?   Let’s pretend you want to click on the map and automatically discover any photo attachments in your layer that depict that particular location. Oriented imagery, can do that for you. See how in the animation below. Oriented Imagery Animation.gif     Example 2: What is the geographic footprint of my photo?   Your photos no longer need to sit idle within a popup. With oriented imagery, the map and your photos work together. See below, for example, how you can dynamically show in a map the field of view of a photo. Oriented Imagery Animation 2.gif     Example 3: Highlight in my photo a geographic location   Oriented imagery keeps your photos and maps in sync: Click on a location in the map, and that location is marked in the photo. Oriented Imagery Animation 4.gif     While the broader world of oriented imagery may seem intimidating, we put a lot of care to make sure you can get started with it with QuickCapture easily. We trust you will quickly find many good uses for it. Click on this link to learn how you can get started with oriented imagery in ArcGIS QuickCapture.   Online web map caching   It is not a secret that you can configure QuickCapture projects with your own web and offline maps. To learn more about the basics, check this blog post. What is new, is that starting with this release, QuickCapture will cache your vector basemaps locally as you use them. Why is web map caching important? Because it allows field users to see your basemaps while offline, even when no offline map has been configured.  You can rely on web map caching for workflows where users run into sporadic network interruptions. To try out the basics of web map caching do this: Open your QuickCapture project. Switch to the map view and navigate the map a bit. Turn airplane mode on and check the map again. You will now easily tell which areas have been cached for offline use.  QuickCapture will keep your local map cache until the project is closed. Do not look at web map caching as a replacement to configuring your offline maps. For workflows where users work disconnected for long periods of time, a good map package is the way to go. However, for the many situations where people work mostly connected, web map caching will make a great difference!   Predefine the Autosend interval   The autosend interval dictates how often the QuickCapture mobile app should send collected data to ArcGIS.  Starting with this release, the administrator of the ArcGIS organization can set a default autosend interval for all QuickCapture users. That’s one less thing to worry about for field users.   Autosend.jpg   This is a handy new option. Make the right call for your field users, and they will appreciate it. Now, if you want to let them choose, you can too!   Next steps   The QuickCapture Early Adopter program is open to all you. In it, you will find access to the latest beta builds and documentation about upcoming features. What is coming next? Tracking! We are working hard to have Tracker capabilities into QuickCapture before the end of the year.     Other resources   Check the What’s new in ArcGIS QuickCapture help topic for additional features in this release. The ArcGIS QuickCapture group in Esri Community features a user forum, technical articles and more.       ... View more

A Quick Fix Survey123 release is planned to be made available on October 8, 2021. The mobile app will be updated in the Apple, Google Play and Microsoft stores. The new Windows and macOS installers for the Survey123 field app and Connect will also be available in the Survey123 download page. This update includes no new functionality or UX changes. It includes 6 focused fixes: Improved survey load time for large surveys when collecting a new record or opening existing records. Fixed a bug that prevented sign-in to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise through an external browser. BUG-000143256  Fixed a bug that caused signature images to appear cropped and display excessive black background when viewing the image. BUG-000143018  Fixed a bug when editing existing records, that caused the required message to display even when an image question does have an image already submitted. Fixed a bug where choice list values were not repopulated when selecting a different choice filter value in cascading selects. Fixed a bug where choice list values were cleared when opening an existing record that uses the search() appearance populated with a URL. The version numbers for the Survey123 field app and Survey123 Connect will be 3.13.234 and 3.13.239 respectively. They are both available, for testing purposes, in the Survey123 Early Adopter website. Many thanks to @ZakBrown @BenWan @JürgenBiendara @SimonNigh @erica_poisson @DerrickWestoby @KajsaWivstad @JasonJordan00 for bringing these issues to our attention.  A Release Candidate of the 3.13 Survey123 website installer was also made available today in the Early Adopter website. ... View more

Updated August 23 [Replaced div tags with span]   It is not news that using Survey123 Connect,  you can use HTML tags to format labels of questions, groups and even list choices an repeats.  Some popular uses for HTML formatting include: Change the font color of a warning message to red to make it stand out Center the label of a group and use a big font to create a nice header for a form section Set the background color of a repeat group to help users navigate the form more easily Change the font color of choices in a list Many of you have reported that starting with version 3.13 your HTML formatting rules are being ignored in the Survey123 web application and website. Below is an example that recently came my way. Note how the HTML tags used to center the text (<center>) and to enlarge the font (<H3>) are being ignored and displayed as plain text. Not good!   IsmaelChivite_1-1632415500833.png   The reason for this is that version 3.13 enforces limits to the HTML tags you can use.  Tags you could use before are no longer allowed.  This change was enforced for consistency with the set of HTML tags supported by ArcGIS. The good news, is that the new set of HTML tags will likely let you do what you did before, and it is not that hard to modernize them. Text color, size and alignment with span style   Use the span style to define the alignment, color, size and other properties of text. For an introduction to span styles, check the WWW3 Schools guide. In short: Enclose your text within a span tag. For example: <span>My Text</span> Add the style property to the span. <span style="">My Text</span> Add properties within the style following the syntax property:value; For example: background-color:powderblue;   color:blue;     Use any HTML color name or its hexadecimal equivalent (default is black) text-align:center;  Use left, right or center (default is left or right depending on your locale) font-size:large;  Use small, medium, large, x-large or xx-large (default is medium) font-style:italic;  Use italic, normal or oblique (default is normal) font-weight:bold;  Use normal or bold (default is normal) It is important here to use a colon (:) to separate the name of the property (color, text-align, background-color) from the actual value. Do NOT use the equal sign! If combining multiple properties within the style, make sure you separate them with semicolons (;) There is no need to enclose color names with quotes. color:"blue" is incorrect. color:blue is correct. The semicolon-separated list of property-value pairs you use within the style must be enclosed with quotes. For example, this old school HTML: <h3><center>Monoclonal Antibody (mAb)</center></h3> Could look like: <span style="text-align:center; font-size:large; font-weight: bold">Monoclonal Antibody (mAb)</span> IsmaelChivite_0-1632420635145.png This old HTML: <center><font color='red'>Enter a date in the past</font></center> Should look like: <span style="text-align:center; color:red; ">Enter a date in the past</span> Text colors, italic and bold   In truth, the <b> <i> and <font> tags continue to be supported. You can keep using them, or choose the span style syntax described above. For example. This will continue to work: <b><font color='blue'>Customer info</b> Will display text bold and blue You can also alternatively use the equivalent span style properties. <span style="font-weight:bold;color=red">Customer info</span> Will display the text with bold style If you keep using <b> <i> and <font> or a <span style=""> instead is your call. I see the motivation for using <b> and <i> as they are not as verbose.  Using the <span> tag may help you in the long run keeping syntax more consistent in case you need to center the text or set a background color. Background colors   You can set the background color of questions, notes and group labels. The old school HTML would look like this: <body bgcolor="#f6beb2"><font color="#cd3212">You cannot enter a date in the future</font></body> Again, you will want to use span styles now. The appropriate property is called background-color and it takes an HTML color name or an hexadecimal color value. In the example below, I changed the color and weight of the text and applied a background color to the label of a note. IsmaelChivite_0-1632422665137.png   The HTML syntax, applied to the label column of a note question, looks like this: <span style="text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:#cd3212;background-color: #f6beb2; ">You cannot enter a date in the future</span>   Other notes   The above shows the most common use cases for HTML formatting, but there are many more. You can use HTML to create breaklines in long labels, organize content into bulleted paragraphs and more. For a complete list of all the HTML tags supported, read the HTML formatting section of the Style your survey help topic. The Survey123 field app and Connect continue supporting old HTML tags. However, for maximum compatibility of your survey designs, I suggest keep the non-supported HTML tags behind.       ... View more