Geopaparazzi (almost only) bugfix release 4.1.1

A user from the Italian GFOSS mailinglist made me aware of a nasty bug in the new polygon editing system. Basically when merging two polygons creating a new polygon, the result would not be written on a multipolygon layer, which is simply wrong.

This has been fixed and since there was also a small leftover checkbox on the new project creation dialog (which looked really really ugly) I decided to do a bugfix release.

I also threw in language updates.

Why were they necessary?
Well because obviously in the meanwhile a new feature entered Geopaparazzi.

It is now possible to continue a previously closed log. When you start a new log you will now have a checkbox available that by default is set to off. If for any reason you want to continue from the previously closed log, check that one. No new log will be created, data will be attached to the last inserted.

Pay attention to what you do though. The system will not care about the fact, that the previous log was closed a week before. You might have strange results in the speed chart :-)

Enjoy!!

Geopaparazzi 4.1.0 is out: beam it to me!

Well, as sad as I am that Geopaparazzi 4.1.0 doesn't support Android versions before 4.1, it was definitely time to move on from version 2.3. For those with older devices version 3 of geopaparazzi will hopefully work.

This gave me finally the possibility to do something I dream of since watching Star Trek as a kid: BEAMING!!!

So this will be presented as feature number one for this new version. :-D

1) Beaming of gps logs between devices

Assume you are on a survey and your battery is dying. Assume you have a second device you can use with full battery. You need to send the data over in order to continue your project there.

Well, one version is to somehow share your project database through wifi (if available) or connecting to a pc.

Well, now you have a much quicker way, even if for now only for gps tracks (and only if your phone supports NFC).

Make sure NFC is activated and follow this short howto:

Isn't that incredibly cool? :-)

2) Share your current position

Well, lately one thing made me very upset. My mother, which uses geopaparazzi when she goes hiking, used to share her position through the SMS function (the one available from the panic view). She recently upgraded her mobile plan with internet connection and started to share her position through telegram instead:

Do you see the problems? First, at least family has to stick together and she has to use geopaparazzi to share her position :-) and second I can't have her using Google Maps instead of Openstreetmaps to show me were she is. It simply doesn't work.

So I removed the send data via sms function, which was quite experimental and not used and added the Share Position function, which is now available in the maps view menu:

This will take you to the usual android sharing screen and if you select for example telegram, the OSM link to the position + marker will be sent:

And the link will bring you to:

3) Spanish localization

I am very happy to welcome on board a new translator for Spanish. That translation has been unmaintained in the last years, so I am very happy this important language is supported properly!


4) Bugfixes

Apart of the two above features, some last minute bugfixes went in:

• zoom to track start/end not working
• crash with enquiry on Spatialite layer with null attribute
• GPX exports only node

As usual you will have to wait until google play throws out the version.

Enjoy and beam!!!

GISMAP and HydroloGIS together on international projects for cooperation in developing countries

GISMAP and Hydrologis have signed an agreement to strengthen their collaboration in the framework of international projects for cooperation in developing countries. The main goal of this partnership is to jointly implement advanced tools for field data collection and analysis with related training activities.

GISMAP e HydroloGIS hanno firmato un accordo per rafforzare la loro cooperazione nel quadro di progetti di cooperazione internazionale nei paesi in via di sviluppo. L'obiettivo principale è la realizzazione di strumenti tecnologicamente avanzati per la raccolta e l'analisi dei dati di campo insieme alle attività di formazione collegate

GISMAP et HydroloGIS ont signé un accord pour renforcer leur collaboration dans le cadre de projets internationaux de coopération dans les pays en développement. L'objectif principal de ce partenariat est de mettre en œuvre conjointement des outils technologiquement avancés pour la collecte et l'analyse de données de terrain ainsi que la réalisation des activités de formation y référant.

GISMAP und Hydrologis haben ein Abkommen zur Konsolidierung ihrer Zusammenarbeit auf internationalen Projekten in Entwicklungsländern unterschrieben. Hauptziel dieser Partnershaft ist es zusammen sowohl fortgeschrittene Werkzeuge zur Felddatenerfassung und Analyse zu entwickeln also auch dafür Schulungen zu bieten.

GISMAP y Hydrologis han firmado un acuerdo para reforzar su colaboración en el marco de proyectos internacionales de cooperación en países en desarrollo. El objetivo principal es implementar conjuntamente herramientas avanzadas para la recolección y análisis de datos de campo junto con la realización de las actividades de formación relacionadas

وقعتGISMAPوHydroloGISاتفاقيةلتعزيزالتعاونبينهمافيإطارالمشاريعالدوليةللتعاونفيالبلدانالنامية.
الهدفالرئيسيمنهذهالشراكةهوتنفيذبالاشتراكأدواتمتطورة من الناحية التيكنولوجية لجمعالبياناتالميدانيةوتحليلهاو تقديمأنشطةالتدريبالمتعلقة بها.

I am particularly excited by this announcement. HydroloGIS and GISMAP will be working together tightly to supply open source tools and training in developing countries. It is an amazing synergy for us, that will among other things push Geopaparazzi on cheap devices to do good for the people. Bringing open source tools to the people has been HydroloGIS' dream and aim since its beginning.

Thanks to GISMAP for reaching out for us in this quest.

 

How to properly create spatialite data for geopaparazzi

This has been asked quite some times and too often people complain about the fact that spatialite databases created in QGIS are not visible in Geopaparazzi.

I know, I also wish it was always simple and straight forward.

What I can do right now, is to show you the procedure I follow to create vector data to work with in geopaparazzi. It uses Spatialite-GUI though, not QGIS.

1) Download the Spatialite-gui

You can find it on the spatialite homepage, at the time of writing a good version for windows is version 1.7.1 available in this download area.

Open it and find yourself with:

2) Create a new empty database in which to load the shapefile data

You will be asked to save the database somewhere on disk. Once done, you should find yourself with something like this, but with different path:

3) Load the shapefile

To do so locate the Load Shapefile icon:

In this example I will import a set of shapefiles from the Natural Earth dataset, in particular the following onces:

that can be found here.

The import dialog is the important one to fill the right way:

The really important things to take care of, are underlined in red:

1. the SRID, i.e. the EPSG code of the data projection. If that one is not right, then you will not be able to see the data in geopaparazzi. Don't even hope in miracles!
2. the Charset Encoding. Make sure to choose the right one. For example Japanese people might want to choose SHIFT_JIS if they want to see the labels rendered properly
3. force the creation of the spatial index

If you then the push the ok button, you should find yourself with an ok message like this after the import:

You are almost there, one last step to go.

Right-click on the database name and select the Update Layer Statistics command.

Depending on the amount of data it should keep your harddisk working for a bit. Don't think it finished unless you see a result like the following:

Once this result appears to you, you are good to go.

Move the spatialite database to your device, fire up geopaparazzi and go directly to the spatialite data view (from the mapview).

You should see something like:

Enable the countries and places layer, maybe also activate the labels for the places layer. And voila'!

This has always worked for me. I hope it will solve any issue people might have.