MapIt – GPS Tracking
GPS Tracking is available from application version 3.1.0 but MapIt Pro extension is required to use this feature. This tool is allowing creation of the line and polygon features using GPS tracking. It’s very useful tool if you need to gather the data quickly e.g. by driving around the site or recording track from point A to B.
To use this tool just start any line or polygon feature then the new ‘R’ button will show up on the screen. When you press the button a background service will start and new points will be automatically added to your feature as you move forward.
GPS Tracking in action
The track recording process is running in the background so you can do other things on your device and the points will be registered anyway even the app is not visible on the screen. To save battery you may switch the screen off as well. When the ‘Track recording’ process is active Android notification will be displayed showing the total length/perimeter of the active feature.
MapIt Track Recording – notification
Track Recording – notification
There are 3 methods of stopping a track recording process:
- by pressing stop button on the notification screen
- by pressing ‘R’ button on the map
- by pressing ‘END’ feature button on the map toolbar
Track recording button can be hidden if is not required in ‘Miscellaneous settings’ section. The tracking minimum distance between points or minimum time interval between points can be also changed there if required.
Miscellaneous settings – Tracking
Please note that tracking is creating lots of point and therefore having multiple line or polygon features on the map created using that method may have impact on the performance of the app. It’s recommended to use this tool responsibly and export data to desktop on regular bases to free up resources on the device.
There are also some known issues connected to tracking and polygon features caused by current SDK limitations:
- When number of points in single polygon exceed 2000 the polygon fill will not be visible
- When polygon does contain self- intersections the polygon fill will not be visible as well.
If you need to gather point data using the tracking facility please refer to the steps in this article: http://mapitgis.com/enable-tracking-for-point-layers .
Is there a way to periodically send this up to cloud like dropbox, say every 30 sec. to a minute? Also is there an easy way to import this into arcgis online? I would like to use this functionality as a way to track some contactor doing work for us. Please lete know.
Thanks,
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
Not at the moment – I will put your request on the list of things for consideration, but I am afraid it will be difficult to get it scheduled in the near future for implementation. Q1 of 2016 is probably more realistic.
Hi…..I dont know the correct content to do this comment, but is about the Datum availables, just Could be a good idea add the WGS84 UTM.
Hi Steve, for the class of devices like mobile phones and tablets there is no difference in terms of datum shifts between UTM WGS84 and NAD83 or ETRS89.
Is there the ability to take waypoints without turning the tracking feature off?
Hi Hanna,
No yet, but it was requested by few users already and it will be implemented in May 2016.
Wonderful. Thanks!
Hi,
I have recently been learning how to apply Map It to my survey needs and it works really well. I’m using it to survey marine megavertebrates (dolphins, whales, basking sharks etc) from a boat. It works really well to collect point data and the ability to create drop down menus is fantastic as it speeds up collection. As well as collecting the point data I am also trying to collect line data in order to represent our boat track. I have set the software to record position data every 30 seconds, which is a good interval for us. My problem is when I export the track data. The tracks export as one entry with no record of the location data collected every 30 seconds. Is it possible to set the track up so that it exports these features? If not then I will continue to have a gps logger running in the background recording the track.
Thanks for the great software and thanks for any help with this.
Duncan
Hi Duncan, In the next update (4.0.6) there will be an option added allowing tracking for the active point layer. If you would like to test this facility in the beta channel please let me know by email. When starting the recording for the point layers you will be providing the attributes for the first point – than all subsequent points will be logged automatically with the interval set for tracking.
Hi Osedok,
I’ll send an email as I would be happy to test the facility.
Thanks
Duncan
Just want to know the timeframe of integrating or importing this to the ArcGIS Online platform like Jamie asked? Thanks.
Hi Theron,
Due to other commitments I am not able to confirm the time-frames, I may start looking at possible options this summer, however cannot promise anything in terms when it’s get implemented into the ‘live’ product.