101/10/14, Andrew Tokmakoff
Collecting DataMobile field data collection with prescribed methodologies
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Objectives of this talk
✤ Gain an overview of what (mobile) field data collection means and what it can offer.
✤ Understand why you would collect your field data using mobile technologies.
✤ Benefits and Challenges of mobile field data collection.
✤ Familiarise with the AusPlots solution (Field Data collection App).
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What do we mean by “mobile field data
collection”?
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‘Traditional’ field data collection
✤ Out in the field, pen and paper.
✤ Data entry back in the office
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Mobile field data collection
✤ On-site electronic recording of collected data.
✤ Data curation (if necessary) back in the office
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Mobile field data collection: Benefits
✤ Less data-entry drudgery back at the office (but more in the field?)
✤ Less chance of transcription errors (handwriting legibility)
✤ Collecting highly consistent data (which is easier to curate and to analyse)
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Mobile field data collection: Costs
✤ Potential for slower collection of data (slow and unintuitive User Interfaces, bugs).
✤ Screen visibility in high sun and robustness of hardware in harsh conditions (consumer vs ruggedised).
✤ Time and effort required to select a solution and to customise it to own needs.
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The ‘R’ word…
✤ So, what are your “requirements”? Scoping is key.
✤ Cost-benefit trade-off
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Considerations
✤ Complexity of collected data
✤ availability of “commercial” off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions vs custom
✤ relations between data items and associated integrity of data
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Considerations
✤ Data collection turnaround times
✤ are there data consumers waiting on you?
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Considerations
✤ Importance of data ”cleanliness”
✤ i.e. costs of “clean” data collection vs subsequent curation and cleansing.
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Considerations
✤ Do you have external tools or other software systems that expect your data in a certain format?
✤ i.e. analysis tools, data warehouses, archives
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Considerations
✤ Where is your data going to go? Will it be shared/published/backed up?
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Typical scenarios
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✤ Pen and Paper with laptop (spreadsheet or database)
✤ Off-the shelf App on mobile device
✤ Custom App on mobile device
Decision time..!
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The AusPlots Approach
SystemArchitecture
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cronInternet
DataUpload
Apache/PHP
Field App
Web-based Admin Interface
(Cloud) SWARM Server
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Field App: what is it, and who is it for?
✤ It’s an (Android) mobile application that electronically collects field data according to the AusPlots data collection specification.
✤ Who wants it? Anyone (i.e. ecological scientists and assistants) who:
✤ collects, manages and shares AusPlots field data
✤ wants to minimise data entry errors and transcription effort
✤ wants the data to be automatically archived for easy use later on.
Field App: Plot Creation
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Field App: Site Description
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Field App: Veg. Vouchering
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Field App: Point Intercept
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Field App: Basal Wedge
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Field App: Structural Summary
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Field App: Plot Upload
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Data Management: Curation
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Field App
Web-based Admin Interface
cronREST/JSON
Apache/PHP
(Cloud) SWARM Server
✤ Apache/PHP web “site”provides a User Interfacefor data curation.
✤ Allows “cleaning” of data and entry of new items such as herbarium determinations.
✤ Soils 2 Satellites offers visualisation
✤ (e.g. for land managers, consultants)
✤ Aekos offers raw data access, data enrichment and search
✤ (e.g. for ecological scientists)
Publishing: 3rd parties
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Field App
cronREST/JSON
(Cloud) SWARM Server
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A demo of the App
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Benefits and Challenges
✤ Benefits:
✤ Speed of data availability
✤ Integrity of data
✤ Challenges:
✤ getting the UI right; resistance when it is slower than “recording audio with subsequent data entry”.
✤ dealing with legacy data at the same time as introducing new tools.
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Looking ahead…
✤ New Woodlands and Forests modules w/ protocols
✤ veg condition and Fauna likely to be first
✤ iOS support
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General Recommendations
✤ Try to think ahead, but avoid gold-plating and over-engineering.
✤ Take some time to design your schema / tables.
✤ Add some mechanisms to “enforce” your data cleanliness.
✤ Assume you will need to iterate.
Summary
✤ Have a good think about your genuine requirements and your budget…!!
✤ The AusPlots Field Data Collection App has been used to collect field data from over 250 (of 450) plots.
✤ It has been developed iteratively, based upon experience from field use.
✤ It produces “cleaner” data than existing techniques.
✤ Data is uploaded to a server and is curated there.
✤ A “demo version” of the App is being developed forgeneral availability
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