Auto record GPS coordinates

Is it possible to use JR:Preload to record the co ordinates of the
enumerator with out them having to activate the GPS. At the moment I can
automatically record start date and time and end date and time and would
like to do the same for location.

this is what I have at the moment

what parameters would I need to make this work automatically?

I would have to include "accuracythreshold="??">
to stop it searching forever

any help greatfully received.

Graham

1 Like

Graham,

It's not possible to do location automatically in ODK.

Your options:
Code it yourself: Look in the PropertyManager class. GeoPointActivity
will also help.
File a feature request: https://code.google.com/p/opendatakit/issues/list
Hire a developer: http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire

Things to consider:
What happens if you have a one short one prompt form, you won't have
enough time to get GPS lock?
What happens if you are indoors and can't get lock (independent of accuracy)?
Do you want to block saving/closing to get location?
How will auto location impact your battery life?

Yaw

··· On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 4:15 AM, Graham wrote: > Is it possible to use JR:Preload to record the co ordinates of the > enumerator with out them having to activate the GPS. At the moment I can > automatically record start date and time and end date and time and would > like to do the same for location. > > this is what I have at the moment > jr:preloadParams="start"/> > > > what parameters would I need to make this work automatically? > jr:preloadParams="????????"/> > > I would have to include "accuracythreshold="??"> > to stop it searching forever > > any help greatfully received. > > > Graham > > > -- > Post: opendatakit@googlegroups.com > Unsubscribe: opendatakit+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com > Options: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en
1 Like

All
I'm now searching for what Graham asked in 2012.
Any update?

We find that users stumble on the location portion -- we train to wait for
the lock, but we still get too many reports with no geocoords.
I toyed with making it a required field, but there are real conditions
where a gps lock just isn't going to happen and we don't want that to
prevent the send. We just want to minimize the accidental no-gps
situations.

Messing now with using an acknowledgement screen if the GPS value is null.
How are others handling this?

Ruth

··· On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 10:41:25 AM UTC-5, Yaw Anokwa wrote: > > Graham, > > It's not possible to do location automatically in ODK. > > Your options: > Code it yourself: Look in the PropertyManager class. GeoPointActivity > will also help. > File a feature request: https://code.google.com/p/opendatakit/issues/list > Hire a developer: http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire > > Things to consider: > What happens if you have a one short one prompt form, you won't have > enough time to get GPS lock? > What happens if you are indoors and can't get lock (independent of > accuracy)? > Do you want to block saving/closing to get location? > How will auto location impact your battery life? > > Yaw > > On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 4:15 AM, Graham <jetw...@gmail.com > wrote: > > Is it possible to use JR:Preload to record the co ordinates of the > > enumerator with out them having to activate the GPS. At the moment I can > > automatically record start date and time and end date and time and would > > like to do the same for location. > > > > this is what I have at the moment > > > jr:preloadParams="start"/> > > > > > > what parameters would I need to make this work automatically? > > > jr:preloadParams="????????"/> > > > > I would have to include "accuracythreshold="??"> > > to stop it searching forever > > > > any help greatfully received. > > > > > > Graham > > > > > > -- > > Post: opend...@googlegroups.com > > Unsubscribe: opendatakit...@googlegroups.com > > Options: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en >

Hi Ruth,

I think the correct solution here is to allow for a GPS prompt timeout
that is customizable in the form. For example:

<h:body>

geopoint widget
</h:body>

When the timeout is specified, the GPS pop up dialog will wait up to
the timeout before the dialog can be closed. If the timeout is reached
without GPS lock, the dialog will return null GPS values (e.g.,
999,999,999,999) that allow the required GPS prompt to be bypassed.

My team at Nafundi has done something similar for a few our clients,
and we'd be glad to share that code with your developers to get it
merged into trunk.

Thanks,

Yaw

··· -- Need ODK consultants? Nafundi provides form design, server setup, in-field training, and software development for ODK. Go to https://nafundi.com to get started.

On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 3:29 PM, Ruth Little ruthl@kestrel-tech.com wrote:

All
I'm now searching for what Graham asked in 2012.
Any update?

We find that users stumble on the location portion -- we train to wait for
the lock, but we still get too many reports with no geocoords.
I toyed with making it a required field, but there are real conditions where
a gps lock just isn't going to happen and we don't want that to prevent the
send. We just want to minimize the accidental no-gps situations.

Messing now with using an acknowledgement screen if the GPS value is null.
How are others handling this?

Ruth

On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 10:41:25 AM UTC-5, Yaw Anokwa wrote:

Graham,

It's not possible to do location automatically in ODK.

Your options:
Code it yourself: Look in the PropertyManager class. GeoPointActivity
will also help.
File a feature request: https://code.google.com/p/opendatakit/issues/list
Hire a developer: http://opendatakit.org/help/help-for-hire

Things to consider:
What happens if you have a one short one prompt form, you won't have
enough time to get GPS lock?
What happens if you are indoors and can't get lock (independent of
accuracy)?
Do you want to block saving/closing to get location?
How will auto location impact your battery life?

Yaw

On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 4:15 AM, Graham jetw...@gmail.com wrote:

Is it possible to use JR:Preload to record the co ordinates of the
enumerator with out them having to activate the GPS. At the moment I can
automatically record start date and time and end date and time and would
like to do the same for location.

this is what I have at the moment

what parameters would I need to make this work automatically?

I would have to include "accuracythreshold="??">
to stop it searching forever

any help greatfully received.

Graham

--
Post: opend...@googlegroups.com
Unsubscribe: opendatakit...@googlegroups.com
Options: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en

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You can hide the gps recording from the enumerator but this can be done with surveycto collect. Odk collect will still show the page for the gps but surveycto collect will hide it.

1 Like

Yes you are right, i believe that still there is nothing from which we can hide of taking GPS in a forms.

But if we will hide taking GPS then might be in some cases where GPS points were not able to get in forms that time our interviewer will not know where GPS location has been captured or not. So, i think hiding of taking GPS location is not fruitful.

1 Like

I'm curious. Why do you need to hide the GPS recording from the enumerator? Is the problem that you don't want the enumerator to know you are collecting GPS? Or is the problem you think the user interface for collecting a geopoint is not good. Or is there some other problem.

1 Like

Fabla
Abdul-Majeed
1m
hi Yaw,

Thanks for your concern, this is how it will work on xlsform.
Type = geopoint,
name = gps or any name you want
appearance = background.

With this when you get to the gps page on surveycto collect, the gps page will not show but it will record when the gps location is active, you can also set the accuracy level at which it should record, by adding accuracyThreshold to the heading and give it 5 or 10 (accuracyThreshold = 5 or 10.) So during the survey, the gps will record whenever it get to an accuracy of 5 or 10 depending on which level you set it to. You can also setup a back up gps recording just in case the enumerator position is out of range, lets say
type = geopoint
name = gps2
relevance = ${gps}=""
With this, if the enumerator is out of range for the gps to record in the background, at the end of the survey the gps2 page will come for him or her to record it. So the gps2 should be at the end of the form.

Reasons for background recording of gps,

the employer may want to know whether the enumerator was at the asigned location

Sometimes the atmosphere is not stable for the gps to record easily and it delays and consume time in recording, so when it is set to record in the background, (hide) it will automatically record when the accuracy is good or when the accuracy get to the threshold you set it to, so if it doesn’t record on the background and the survey is at the end. The backup gps2 will be allow to record.
you can try it with both odk collect and surveycto collect and see the difference.

Thank
Fabla

2 Likes

@LN Background GPS would likely be a good feature for users. Is this something you find compelling for the Collect geotrace and geoshape improvements - #6 by LN?