I would like to add some fields that are invisible to the user. Specifically, our users are entering their address instead of using their GPS location. I am not using the location because some of the mobile devices are sending wild coordinates that are off by many hundreds of meters.
The data includes a standard photo which we use to count insects on a window within a defined area. We do not expect our users to do the counting so we do it for them but would want to add our count along with the known coordinates of their address after we receive their entry.
Has anyone done anything like this before? If so, can you advise me how you did it?
The project is called MIDGE WINDOW SURVEY
Thanks
Tom
Just a couple of thoughts:
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coordinates that are off by many hundreds of meters: you might instruct your users to proceed with the data collection only when the GSP accuracy is below a certain value, like 10 meters. For example, a GROUP with a README and a LOCATION questions. In the README you explain why the GPS accuracy is important and why entries with lower accuracy will be ignored.
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add our count along with the known coordinates of their address after we receive their entry. That can be done in the post-processing of data by using a third-party geocoding service. You usually upload a csv, pick what column contains your address, and perform the batch geocoding. For example https://www.geocod.io/upload/ or How to Geocode Addresses Using QGIS - GIS Lounge
Thank you for quickly responding. Your second suggestion was my backup plan. I can download the data from our users, load it into ArcMap and join a table of addresses with their coordinates to map the data. I had hoped to be able to use the mapping system embedded in epicollect to avoid this processing step. ArcMap will give me more options to symbolize the data which is an advantage for presenting the data.
On other epicollect projects I have required a minimum accuracy for GPS data but still found users who would do things like enter data well away from where they made their observations. Citizen scientists can not always be expected to understand how a system works no matter how much you coach them.
You might be able to automate the process by loading data from URL using our API https://developers.epicollect.net but we do not have experience with the ArcGIS ecosystem.