Creating a New Observation
For CoMapeo Mobile v8
What is an Observation?
Observations are the heart of CoMapeo. Observations are the data points you collect or create, where you can save GPS coordinates associated with text notes, photos and audio according to different categories.
Create a New Observation
🟢 Try it
👣 Steps
Step 1 From the
map view or the
camera view, tap the
capture(/orange?) button to create a new Observation.
Step 2 Choose a category for the data you are collecting.
Step 3 Add a description, any further details,
audios as needed. (Described in detail below)
Step 4 Save your Observation. It will now appear on your map and in the Observation list.
👣 Step by step
From either Map view or Camera view, tap on the
Choose a category - chose the one that best represents what you want to document with the Observation. CoMapeo comes with a set of default categories which you can use, or you can create your own customized set.
The observation editor will appear. You will see the GPS coordinates as currently captured, and the accuracy (this might change as you wait). You can add a text description to your observation in the box that says “What is happening here”.
PHOTO of New Observation editor screen - circle the GPS coords and the notes screen.
You can add details, photos, and/or audio if desired. The instructions for those are below.
When ready, tap on the blue check in the upper right to Save your observation.
Video: @document_4997224092760278339_trimmed.mp4
Adding Details
Details are extra questions that are set up for some of the categories, to enable you to collect specific information to help with reporting and evidence collection. Not all categories have extra details questions associated with them. Answering these questions is not required in order to create or save an observation, but might be important for your project. If you set up your own, customized category set, you can choose what questions to add for each category.
👣 Try it!
When in the New Observation Editor, tap on the Details button in the lower task bar.
You will see the first question, and also able to see how many questions there are to answer in total.
Tap NEXT to move to the next question, and tap DONE when you have finished the last one. You have to move through all the questions in order to tap DONE, but you don’t have to answer all the questions.
Adding Photos
You can add photos to your observation, which means they will be associated with the notes and GPS coordinates collected, and can later be exported or shared together with the other data in the observation. You can only add photos taken from within the CoMapeo app at the time you gather the observation, you can not add photos from your general photo library or other sources.
👉🏽 Practice
When in the New Observation Editor, tap on the
To remove a photo from a draft observation, tap on the thumbnail of the image. You will see the photo together with further details. Tap the DELETE PHOTO button, and then confirm deletion with DELETE PHOTO. Once deleted, photos can not be recovered. If you don’t wish to proceed with the deletion tap CANCEL then return to the Observation Editor with the back arrow.
REMEMBER we have an extra callout “Photos can not be recovered once they have been deleted” and Photos can not be removed once an observation has been saved.
Adding Audio
Adding audio recordings to Observations can provide context, serve as oral testimony, be evidence or data for monitoring purposes, or serve as an alternate manner to collect information on occasions when writing notes in CoMapeo is difficult or dangerous.
Audio recordings will be associated with the notes, photos and GPS coordinates of the observation, and can later be exported or shared together with the other data. You can only add audio taken from within the CoMapeo app at the time you gather the observation, you can not add audio from other sources.
Each audio recording can be up to 5 minutes long. You can add multiple audio recordings to a single observation.
👉🏽 CoMapeo in Action: Learn how this feature is used to document biodiversity
👣 Steps: Start recording audio
Step 1: Select
Recording will begin immediately.
Note: If this is your first time recording audio with CoMapeo, you will need to grant permission to use this feature.
Step 2: Stop recording
Select ⏹️ stop when done
Step 3: Choose next step
When you stop the recording it saves automatically.
Choose to ▶️ listen to the recorded audio.
Return to the observation editor with “Back to Editing” or Delete the audio.
TIP: Audio recordings will stop automatically if the screen changes, if you navigate away from the recording screen or start using another app during recording, or if the phone screen times out and goes to sleep. To avoid this happening, in your normal phone settings, change your SCREEN TIMEOUT to at least 5 minutes
Save your Observation
Save your observation by tapping the blue checkmark at the top of the screen.
Once an observation has been saved it will appear in the observation list and on the map screen.
After an observation has been saved you can edit some aspects of it, but other aspects can not be edited, including the time and date it was created, the GPS coordinates and you can not add further photos or audio.
PHOTO
Saving when there is Low Precision
If the GPS signal, at the time of saving the observation, has an accuracy of worse than ±10m, or if you have no GPS signal, CoMapeo will offer you some options when you try to save an observation. This is to make sure you are aware of the level of accuracy, and can take other steps if necessary.
PHOTO
Tap CONTINUE WAITING to wait until the GPS signal improves, if better accuracy is important to you and you have time, and perhaps can manouever the device to try and get better accuracy.
Tap SAVE ANYWAY to use the current GPS coordinates, even if accuracy is worse than ±10, this might well be good enough for your purposes.
Tap MANUAL COORDS to manually enter the coordinates for this point. You can do this if you have access to another device which has better accuracy and from which you can copy the coordinates, such as another phone or a GPS device. If you do this the internal CoMapeo verification of the observation will be compromised as the app did not collect the coordinates itself. An alternative to this option, depending on your needs, is to take a photo of the coordinate screen on the other device, as a photo attached to this observation, and choose SAVE ANYWAY with your current level of accuracy.
👣 Steps: Manual entry of coordinates
Step 1: Select Manual entry of coordinates
Step 2: Choose your Coordinate Format, to match the format of the other device you are copying the coordinates from. You can change between Decimal Degrees, Degrees/Minutes/Seconds or Universal Transverse Mercator.
PHOTO/PHOTOS
Step 3: Enter the coordinates, copying really carefully from the other device. If they copied incorrectly you will not be able to edit them.
Step 4: Save the observation by tapping the blue check in the corner
TIP: If you are going to enter coordinates manually, try and take a photo of the other device showing the coordinates, as one of the observation photos, to be able to verify these later. Do this before you enter coordinates as you can not add photos to an observation after it has been saved.
TIP/WARNING: If you save an observation without GPS coordinates it will not appear on your map, but it will still appear in your observation list.
Related Content
[Concise paragraphs]
🔗 Go to Exploring the Observation List (this link does not exist yet)
🔗 Go to Reviewing an Observation (this link does not exist yet)
Having problems?
Common issues with track are associated with … doing this…. will help reduce this…
🔗 Go to Troubleshooting Gathering observation (this link does not exist yet)
Coming Soon
[Known improvements and tentative timelines]