Offline filtering in Collector
Hi Laura,
Thank you for your response - I appreciate the effort you put in. I wanted to give you a little background on what I've tried to make Collector work for us.
When I first set up the Collector app for our field data collection, I used Collector Classic and hosted feature layers in AGOL. The problems we had were 1) the data is confidential, and the respondents were resistant to show where they searched for food. 2) Data is collected during interviews in people's homes. These interviews are extensive, and in order to minimize the time we spend disrupting their day, we collect a "rough draft" of the data at the time of interview, and then edit it in the evening. After collecting hundreds of records of data, the result was a spider web of features which we couldn’t edit in the field because the field crews couldn’t find or isolate the features they were looking for (see attached image for a small selection of our collected data). This left editing to me, who didn’t collect the data, and months after it was collected it was difficult for the field crews to remember any details that were in question.
I then looked into the new version of Collector to see if we could use views. This option was workable for data collection in that it allowed for only one household to be shown at a time. Unfortunately, that didn’t help with editing by our field crews, as we would have had to have a second map on the iPad for them to work on, showing the spider web of features.
I tried using offline map areas for each household, which would have solved both problems. But this created two new problems. 1) The tile package map that we use as a base map could only be used in 2 offline areas, since it is about 18 gb in size. I tried using other base maps, but we need the resolution set to state level, and when zoomed in to draw a feature in a specific place, the detail wasn’t there. 2) offline map areas disappeared from the iPad. My boss mentioned it to me, so I investigated. I had 5 offline areas on the iPad. I put it down and worked on something else. When I came back there were only 3. This was a deal breaker with using offline areas.
The other problem with the “new” version of Collector is that the location point doesn’t move. Field crews would have to move the map to draw a line of polygon. This is problematic for people who aren’t tech savvy, as not only are our field crews, but also the Native Alaskans who are being interviewed. This just won’t work for us.
In the end, I set up the classic version with multiple maps for each community visited. Each map was for 10 potential households, and with anywhere from 2-5 iPads for each survey, there is likely to be only a couple of households on each map. While this does create more work for me, and a data management challenge, it was the best workaround that I could come up with. Using the classic version also allows us to use our tile package, which gives us the resolution we need at every level from statewide to local.
What would be ideal for us is to continue to use the classic version (hopefully you don’t stop supporting that), with a simple filter on it so that our field crews filter by household (attribute). Specifically, this would look something like “Household ID = 15” utilizing a drop-down menu or some other relatively easy method of filtering. In this example, only household 15 would show up on the map for both data collection and editing later in the day. That’s all I foresee us needing in order to make this viable for us.
I understand that we are unique in our requirements. Our field crews work for weeks at a time in areas without wi-fi, or if it is available, it’s slow and unreliable. Certainly not something we will trust for syncing data. We require a base map with high resolution at many different scales that covers an area essentially the size of the Lower 48. For now the work around I came up with works, although it adds a lot to my workload. I've heard that there will be a new Field Apps product which will replace Collector. I'm both excited and concerned about what this will mean for my particular needs. If we lose the functionality we have, then we will have to look for a product elsewhere.
