Advice for giving a dataset/webmap to non-GIS people to update.

[WhitneyNewcomb]

Hi everyone! Happy Halloween! 

Here's the background for the project I am working on and what tools my company has:

I am creating a map application using the Web AppBuilder. My company employs both Desktop licenses and AGOL at an enterprise level. The application I am building is a series of points depicting public art within my city. More art is predicted to be installed in the city each year which means I want to leave my application behind to be updated - potentially by non-GIS-ey people. 

I currently have a spreadsheet of the data.

My question to you are what ways are there available to me to set this data up in a way that can be easily updated in future years? Whatever method that may be I will leave a thoroughly documented guide on how to update.

If you have any questions or need clarification please let me know.

Thank you in advance!

[WhitneyNewcomb]

Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

[ChristopherMcClain]

Have you looked at the Collector or Survey123 apps.  I find both fairly user friendly but of the two Survey 123 is a little less intimidating.  Both are free and fairly easy to configure to your needs.  I would publish the data to AGOL and update maintain it using which ever app fits your needs.

[WhitneyNewcomb]

Hi Christopher! 

I don't think that Collector is a good fit for the project but...

I was actually looking at Survey123 very recently and had not even thought of using that. I will look into that and see if it's feasible for my project. Thank you!

[WhitneyNewcomb]

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? 

Thank you.

[XanderBakker]

Where will this update being carried out, in the field or in the office? What type of data do you want to collect (allow attachments of photo's)? In the field, as Christopher McClain already pointed out, you can use Collector and Survey123. In the office, it might be better to share a Web Application configured with WAB or use a GeoForm (see The GeoForm Graduates | ArcGIS Blog )

[DarrenWiens2]

My dreadfully boring two cents: if the data must be maintained by non-GIS people, leave it in a common format like your spreadsheet, CSV, or shapefile with instructions to update it with coordinates and attribute info, then give to GIS person to update the app. Points are easy enough to maintain in a list - if you were dealing with polygons or lines, that's a different story. Also, especially if the app is to persist more than a couple years, I'll suggest not relying on, dare I say, peripheral apps like Collector or Survey123, because who knows if they'll exist (gasp).