Why are we loosing location information for some of the records that are collected offline?

[LisaSievers]

We are collecting information about fish habitat within remote locations and are switching between Collector and Survey123.  We are using Arrow 100 GNSS receivers blue toothed to an iPhone and an iPad to increase location accuracy.  Both the iPhone and iPads also have integrated GPS receivers, however over half the data collected using Survey123 seems to lose the location information when its submitted back in the office.  None of the data collected using Collector has had this issue so I know that it is not a problem with the equipment.  Any suggestions as to what is happening?

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Lisa,

Can you provide some more information on how the location data is captured- there could be many differing issues depending on your workflow.  Is the location coming from the GPS directly or Collector (by app URL)?  The user verified that the location was present when they placed the survey in the Outbox?    Is the location question required?  When viewing the record in the sent folder, is the location present?  

[LisaSievers]

Hi James,

To tell you the truth I don’t know where the location is coming from for the data collected with Survey123.  We are using Survey123 for the data that had previously been collected using forms filled out by hand.  The fact that Survey123 also collects a location when you fill out the form was just an added bonus, so location is not actually a question in the form.  I created the form using Survey123 Connect on my desk top.   However, I included the feature service for the Survey123 data in the Collector map that our crew is using.  As a result they have been using that service to assist with QA/QC work of the data.  That was when they noticed that some of the data was missing from the map.  When I investigated further I found that the missing points collected with Survey123 are located off the coast of Africa at what we are calling Null Island. The interesting thing is that some of the data that they collect throughout the day shows up where it should on the map after synced and some ends up at Null Island.  None of the data that is collected with Collector has this issue.  As for Collector it is set to take the coordinates from the Arrow 100 GNSS receiver.  I assumed that Survey123 would default to whatever the mobile device is using, which from what I understand is whichever receiver has better accuracy, in this case either the Arrow 100.  Either way it should be getting some kind of satellite location at all times.  Since we are working in remote settings all data is collected off line and then synced at the end of the day.

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the description.  Given your survey form, you are correct- you should be reading the location from the device.  With the Arrow & Collector, is that configured for a direct connection to the GPS or are you just connecting it to the iPhone and getting the reading from via the phone OS?  If it is a direct connect, I could see a situation where perhaps Collector or another program is 'connected' to the GPS instead of it going to the phone, but I'd need to test that out.

[LisaSievers]

The Arrow is connected directly to the mobile device, in this case either an iPhone or iPad depending on who is collecting the data, through a Blue Tooth connection.  However the data is collected using the mobile device.  The Arrow 100 is only a GNSS receiver and cannot store or collect data, it is essentially a highly accurate external antenna and receiver for mobile devices.  

[JamesTedrick]

Thanks- I was double-checking to see if an app on the iPhone/iPad was directly connecting to the device (as in Use high-accuracy GPS—Collector for ArcGIS | ArcGIS )

[LisaSievers]

Collector is directly connecting to the Arrow 100 receiver, however we're not having an issue with the data collected through Collector.  Survey123 is not connected directly to the Arrow 100, didn't know it was possible to this yet with Survey123.

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Lisa,

It's not yet possible to directly connect the GPS.  This is the scenario I was thinking might be the case- I'll need to test, but I'm wondering if Collector isn't letting go of the GPS connection quickly enough for it to return to the phone.

[Anonymous User]

Lisa,

Make sure that you are using the "EOS Tools Pro" app in conjunction with the "smart" device that you are using with the Arrow 100. The "EOS Tools Pro" app will override the "smart" devices GPS reading with the data streaming from the Arrow 100; this is our current setup and we have no issues. The app is fairly easy to use and straight forward.

Make sure that you go into the "Alarms" tab and set up the accuracy that you want to capture and then the app will configure itself to collect data at that level of accuracy.

Also, I'm not sure if this would be helpful. I created a blog posting that describes passing the GPS metadata generated by GNSS receivers from collector into Survey123. You might be able to utilize the custom URL schema to pass the Lat/Long coordinates from within Collector into the Survey123 form. Let me know if you have any questions about the blog.

https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2017/05/31/blog-high-accuracy-gps-data-collection-o... 

I hope this is helpful information for you

Mike

[LisaSievers]

Thanks Mike,

We had the EOS Tools Pro app on the device although I don't think it was running when we were actually collecting data.  We will make sure that the app is working in the background and have set the accuracy warnings.  Thanks for the suggestion, Lisa.