FieldMap v3.5.1

1. Select Start/FieldMap
2. Skip to All Platforms

NOTE that many of the screen shots in this manual are from v3.4. When using the J9 JVM with v3.5, the menu bar appears at the bottom of the screen.

On starting, the initial Preferences display appears.

An appropriate user name should be entered in the User: field. This will be used to record the author of any notes created.

The drop-down Map: list shows all available map sets. On changing the selected map, the Notes and Layers lists below are refreshed to show the layers available for the chosen map.

The active note layer is selected using the drop-down Notes: list. The active layer is the one in which new notes are created. A new note layer may be created by pressing the New button and entering the layer name in the subsequent dialog. A new layer is automatically set as the active note layer. The active layer and new note layers may also be set on the Notes Preferences page.

Layers may be selected/deselected as required. The All and None buttons provide quick ways to select or deselect all layers.

After entering the user name, choosing a map and selecting the required layers, press the OK button to complete the initial setup and run the mapping program.

Next, the Map View appears, and map loading commences. As each map is loaded, its name appears in the message area near the top of the screen. Note that the first raster layer may take some time to load, but subsequent layers are loaded much more rapidly.

When map loading is complete, the message Map ready appears in the message area. The example shows several tiles of a scanned topographic map, part of a soil map (a colour raster layer exported from a GIS), and two vector layers representing roads (red) and water (blue).

Map view

First, a quick tour of the menus:

The View menu provides options to

• Prefs: switch to one of the Preferences pages
• Map Map Preferences
• Grid Grid Preferences
• Context Context Preferences
• Notes Notes Preferences
• GPS: switch to the GPS view
• Rangefinder: switch to the Rangefinder view
• Refresh the view.

The Notes menu provides options to

• Manually record a point, line or polygon note.
• Use GPS positions to record a point, circle, line, polygon, multipoint or Roving Mode note.
• Use remote positions from a rangefinder device to record a point, line or polygon note.

For further details, see Creating FieldNotes.

The Zoom menu provides options to

• Zoom in, from x2 to x16.
• Zoom out, from x2 to x16.

The Exit menu provides a single option to confirm termination. Tap anywhere else to cancel.

Active areas in the Map view

Several areas of the map view respond to pen taps or mouse clicks. Tapping or clicking on

• the message bar (central text area between menubar and map) refreshes the map display
• the activity indicator (square area at right hand end of the message bar, shown here in red to indicate that the GPS component is not running) switches to the GPS view
• the scroll areas (narrow margins along all four edges of the map, indicated by faint grey lines) causes the map to scroll in the required direction.
• FieldNote icons on the map results in a popup menu giving the option to display the note content.
• anywhere else on the map results in the coordinates of the point being shown in the message bar.

GPS view

When first opened, the GPS data view shows the message GPS Stopped with all remaining fields empty. Note that certain fields (the coordinates at the top, number of satellites (SVs:) and the time field at the bottom) appear with a red background. This indicates that the data in these fields is missing or unreliable.

The View menu provides options to

• Prefs: switch to one of the Preferences pages
• GPD GPS Preferences
• FixQ Fix Quality Preferences
• Context Context Preferences
• Satellites: switch to the Satellite view
• Map Server: if an Internet connection is available, uses the web browser to fetch a map centred on the current location.
• FieldMap: switch to the FieldMap Map view

The GPS menu provides options to:

• Start: enable input from a GPS receiver. See also, Using a GPS receiver. When the receiver connection is stopped the menu choice is Start as shown here. Once the connection is running the menu changes to Stop and selecting this item again will close the connection and reset the menu option to Start.
• Record Location (local): records location fixes in the current coordinate system in the log file.
• Record Location (WGS84): records location fixes in WGS84 latitude and longitude in the log file.
• Record Velocity: records velosity (speed and direction) fixes in the log file.
• Record GPS Data: records information about GPS fix quality in the log file.
• Record SV Data: records information about GPS used in location fixes in the log file.

GPS Satellite view

When first started, the Satellite view is also empty. It consists of two areas. At the top is the sky map, used to show positions of GPS satellites. At the bottom is a row of vertical bars, used to show the signal strengths received from satellites. see also Satellite view when running.

The Satellite View menu provides similar options to those on the main GPS view:

• Prefs: switch to one of the Preferences pages
• GPD GPS Preferences
• FixQ Fix Quality Preferences
• Context Context Preferences
• Location: switch to the GPS Location view
• Map Server: if an Internet connection is available, uses the web browser to fetch a map centred on the current location.
• FieldMap: switch to the FieldMap Map view

Map Preferences

• User: a text field for entering the user name.
• Map: a drop-list used to select the map collection to be used. When the selection is changed, the Layers list is reloaded to reflect the contents of the selected map collection.
• Notes: a drop-list for selecting the current active note layer.
• New button shows popup dialog for entering the name of a new note layer.
• Layers: multiple selection pick-list of layers available in the current map collection. Determines which layers are shown in the map view
• All: select all layers in the current map collection.
• None: deselect all layers in the current map collection
• OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

Grid Preferences

The first group of settings affect how the grid, coordinate lables, scale and scroll areas are shown on the MapView.

• Ticks draw tick marks around edge of map.
• Lines draw full grid lines across map.
• Labels show coordinate labels for grid ticks/lines.
• Scale show the scale bar.
• Scroll show and enable the scroll areas.
• Note Labels show note id labels adjacent to symbols.

• Rec record the track as a vector map layer.
• GPS map is kept centred on GPS location.
• Line show the track as a line.
• Pts show individual recorded points on the track.
• Min dist the minimum distance in metres between recorded track points.
• Max dist the maximum distance in metres between recorded track points before a new line is started.
• Min t (s) the minimum time in seconds between recorded track points.
• Max t (s) the maximum time in seconds between recorded track points before a new line is started.

• OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

GPS Preferences

These settings control communication with the GPS receiver and the behavious of the GPS view.

• Protocol the communication protocol used by the GPS receiver. Usually, this is NMEA, but FieldMap can also be configured to work with Trimble TSIP, Garmin binary protocol and others. certain options below are only enabled when they are provided in the selected protocol.
• Coords the spatial reference system used for coordinate display in the GPS View. Normally this should be set to the same as that used in the map data.
• Velocity unit choose between kilometres per hour (km/m), metres pers second (m/s) or miles per hour (mph).
• Port the serial port device used to communicate with the GPS receiver. Available values are discovered automatically.
• Baud the baud rate (roughly, the speed in bits per second for the serial communication with the GPS receiver.
• UTC offset the offset in seconds between GPS and UTC time standards. Will be set automatically when this information is supplied by the receiver (only with some binary protocols).
• Set clock when selected, the computer system clock will be set using the UTC time derived from the GPS receiver.
• Alt MSL where available, show altitude relative to Mean Sea Level, rather than the geoid model.
• PR/CP rate where available, controls the rate at which raw pseudorange and/or carrier phase data is captured.
• Dbl prec where available, requests double precision fix data from the receiver.
• Static filter where available, use the static filter mechanism in the GPS receiver.
• Mask angle where available, set the mask angle in degrees. The mask angle is the elevation above the horizon below which satellites are not used in position fixing to minimise the atmospheric errors associated with low-elevation signals. Typically set to between 5 and 15 degrees.
• OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

GPS Fix Quality Preferences

These settings control the levels at which warnings about poor fix quality are enabled.

• 3D only set if only 3D fixes are acceptable.
• Avg count not used.
• Max PDOP Position Dilution of Precision figures above this level are flagged by warnings.
• Max HDOP Horizontal Dilution of Precision figures above this level are flagged by warnings.
• Max EPE Garmin receivers produced an "Estimated Position Error" figure in metres. values above this level are flagged by warnings
• OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

Rangefinder Preferences

FieldMap rangefinder mode enables observations of remote points to be recorded. Rhe current implementation is designed for use with the Leica Vector rangefinder binoculars.

These settings control the operation of the rangefinder:

• Device: select the protocol used to communicate with the rangefinder. At present, only the Leica Vector system is supported.
• Port: select the serial port used to communicate with the rangefinder.
• Baud: select the speed for the serial port.
• Mag dec: if the rangefinder has been calibrated with the local magnetic declination, set this to zero. Otherwise, enter an appropriate value here so that FieldMap can apply the compensation.
• OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

Context Preferences

These settings control some aspects of the context-aware components of FieldMap and its interaction with context services. For stand-alone operation of FieldMap, only User is relevant. All others may be ignored, and should not be changed, other than as detailed below.

• User enter the user name to be recorded as author or editor of recorded FieldNotes. The user name may also be set on the Map Preferences page.
• Update interval interval at which updates are sent to the remote HTTP ContextService. WARNING: if you value you privacy, set this to "none", otherwise your device will send information to the MobiComp Context Service where it may be visible to anyone with a web browser.
• URL of the remote HTTP ContextService. This defaults to the address of the MobiComp Context Service.
• OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

Notes Preferences

The General FieldNote settings are described line by line:

1. The current Project name and Group name. The note group may be chosen from a drop-down list, and is used for subsequent FieldNotes recording. The project name and group list contents are updated whenever a different map is selected on the Map Preferences page
2. New Group Press this button to create a new note group. Enter the name of the new group in the subsequent dialog. The new group becomes the current group in the above list. This button has exactly the same function as the New Note layer button on the Map Preferences page
3. Note prefix an arbitrary string (max 4 characters) used as a prefix to note identifiers. The only reason to change this is when several users may be creating FieldNotes at the same time, in which case it is advisable to set this string to a different value on each machine.
4. Form when selected, HTML forms are used for note entry
5. Voice when selected, the mcvr voice recorder is used for note entry. Voice may be selected alone, or with Form. NOTE: this mode is highly experimental. At present, voice notes may be recorded, but only their form representation may be viewed in the browser. Voice notes are recorded as .wav files, which may grow quite large, and the files are named using the equivalent FieldNote identifier.
6. Region size (m) notes are pre-fetched within this distance of the GPS location whenever the map scrolls or zooms. 500m is a reasonable setting for most purposes, but may need to be increased when moving rapidly, e.g. in a car on a major road. Some improvement in note loading speed may be gained by reducing the size when moving on foot in regions of high note density.
7. Trigger range (m) active range around each note. When the GPS location enters this range, the note is triggered.
8. Trigger triggered notes appear as a web page. Disable to prevent automatic triggering.
9. Once when set, notes are triggered once only, rather than each time they come within range.
10. Beep when set, sound an alarm when a note is triggered.
11. Edit enable editing of notes.
12. OK button: accept changes and switch to previous view.

Using a GPS receiver

After selecting Start from the GPS menu, the message at the top of the screen changes to Waiting for GPS. During this phase, the GPS tracker component attempts to open a connection to the GPS receiver

The message GPS Running appears as soon as a connection to the receiver is established. Soon after, the background of the date and time field at the bottom of the screen should change from red to green. This indicates that the time shown is derived from the GPS receiver. A red background indicates a date and time from the computer's internal clock. The GPS time is always UTC, taking no account of local time zones.

The delay between starting the GPS tracker and the appearance of reliable location and velocity data as shown here can be anything from a few seconds to a couple of minutes depending on the acquisition time of the receiver.

The picture gives an example of a good position fix. The first line below the GPS Running message shows the east and north coordinates. The coordinate system in use, in this case the British National Grid, and altitude appear on the second line, and the third line shows the current velocity and heading (in degrees). No heading is shown in this case as the velocity is zero.

On the fourth and fifth lines are details of the satellite constellation and the quality of the location fix. In this example, data is being collected from 7 satellites, the Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) is 4.0, and the receiver is operating in automatic 3D mode.

In the second picture of the running GPS view, the mode has changed to indicate that a differential correction signal has become available. In this case it is European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) test signal from one of the Inmarsat satellites. This service is due to become fully operational in 2004.

The quality of GPS Positioning is dependent on many factors, and may not always be as good as in the previous two illustrations. A 3D fix requires at least four satellites to be visible at the receiver.

Ideally, the available satellites should be spread evenly around the sky in order to provide a geometrically 'good' constellation and minimise errors in calculating the location. The PDOP figure is a measure of the quality of the constellation. The ideal figure of 1.0 is never reached, but anything below 4 is generally considered to be reasonable.

Here, the PDOP has risen above 4, so the program draws attention to the possible reduction in fix quality by showing Poor DOP against a red background in the message area and also turning the background of the PDOP figure red.

With only three satellites, the receiver can only provide a 2D fix. Here, the message area shows 2D Fix against a red background, and both the number of satellites and PDOP have a red background to draw attention to their poor figures.

An altitude figure is still shown but cannot be relied upon as most receivers continue to show the altitude unchanged from the last 3D fix

In the third picture, the situation is even worse! The number of satellites has dropped to one and the receiver can no longer provide position and velocity data. The message Not Enough SVs, the coordinates, altitude and number of satellites are now all shown with a red background.

Note, however, that the time field background remains green because it is still possible to maintain an accurate time signal from a single satellite.

After selecting Stop from the GPS menu, the message area again shows GPS Stopped, but now all of the data remains on the screen. Red backgrounds indicate that this is all out-of-date information.

This screen may also appear during normal running if the connection to the receiver fails. Typically this happens if the computer or receiver are switched off. Under these conditions, the program usually detects the failure after about 30 seconds. It then closes the connection, waits for 5-10 seconds, then restarts it.

Finally in this sequence covering the GPS data view, this picture shows what happens if an error occurs when attempting to start the GPS connection. Instead of the usual Waiting for GPS message, the message area shows Failed to start GPS.

There are several possible reasons why this may happen. Sometimes, the program may simply fail to synchronize with the incoming data, in which case, a second attempt to start is invariably successful. Other common causes include a physical failure such as a cable between computer and receiver, or the receiver has been switched off, or the receiver batteries have expired.

Satellite view when running

When the GPS is running, the satellite view shows information about received signals. It is divided into two panels. The upper panel has summary information on the left including the total number of satellites above the horizon, PDOP, HDOP, velocity and direction of travel. HDOP is the Horizontal Dilution of Precision. It is the 2D equivalent to the 3D PDOP and its lower value indicates the higher precision of horizontal location in comparison with the altitude figure calculated by a GPS receiver.

On the right of the upper panel is a "sky map" showing the location of visible satellites. North is at the top, the outer ring represents the horizon and the inner ring an elevation of 45 degrees. The centre of the circle is the point vertically overhead. The satellites from which a good signal is being received and which are being used in the position calculations are shown in solid green. Solid red indicates those from which a signal is being received, but which are not yet being used, whilst open red circles represent satellites from which a signal has not yet been received.

. The small blue square in the lower left of the upper panel is an activity indicator. This toggles on and off with each message from an active receiver, and turns red if the connection is lost or no position is available.

. The lower panel shows relative signal strengths for each of the available satellites. Solid green and red bars are used to indicate satellites in the same way as on the sky map.

When the GPS module is running, the map view shows the current coordinates in the message area, updated with each new fix from the receiver. The activity indicator to the right of the message area now shows green, turning on and off with each new fix. If the GPS signal fails or the connection is lost, the activity indicator reverts to red.

. Within the map area, the cursor moves to track the location and, if enabled in the Grid and Track Preferences, the recent track is shown as a green line

Using a Rangefinder

The Rangefinder view provides a means of testing the rangefinder device without recording any data..

The View menu includes links back to the main FieldMap window, and to the preferences pages. The Rangefinder menu is used to start and stop communication with the instrument.

When the GPS receiver is running, the upper part of the display shows the current position against a green background. In the absence of a GPS signal, the background is red.

On receiving a fix from the rangefinder, the range, azimuth and elevation figures are presented in the central panel. The remote location coordinates are calculated and presented in the lower panel. The background of the lower panel turns green to indicate a valid calculation.

Creating FieldNotes

FieldNotes may be attached to points, circles, lines, polygons or multipoints. Point or vertex coordinates may be entered manually, or using the GPS location. Additionally, survey grid units may be recorded using the GPS location, see Recording Survey Grid Units.

The procedures for recording a note are similar whether the GPS or manual input is used. The note geometry is always recorded before completing the note entry form.

First, select Manual or GPS from the Notes menu, then choose Point, Circle, Line, Polygon or MultiPoint as required.

Manual input:

• The message Waiting for Point is shown, and the geometry input indicator changes to an orange colour. This indicator is a similar size and shape to the GPS activity indicator, but appears at the left hand end of the message area.
• Now, click or tap in the map area at the location of the required point.
• The point is marked on the map and the coordinates appear in the message area.

GPS input:

• The coordinates for a single point, or the first vertex of a line or polygon is captured at the next position fix from the GPS receiver.

In either case, if Point was selected, the FieldNote entry form will appear in a web browser window, see FieldNotes Entry Form. If Line, MultiPoint or Polygon was selected, continue with the next picture below.

When recording a line, multipoint or polygon, the geometry input indicator turns orange whenever the system is waiting for a point. The indicator also shows the count of points captured so far.

Manual input:

• Subsequent points are captured as with the initial point by clicking or tapping in the map area at the location of the required point.
• The new point is marked on the map, a line is draw from the previous point to the new point, and the coordinates appear in the message area.
• In manual mode, the indicator always remains orange because the system is ready to accept a new point as soon as the previous one has been entered.

GPS input:

• The geometry indicator turns green to show that the system is idle.
• To request collection of a new point from the GPS, either click or tap on the geometry indicator, or select Add Point from the Notes menu.
• The geometry indicator turns orange, then, when the next GPS location has been captured, it reverts to green and the point count is incremented.

When recording a circle, the first point represents the centre. A second point on the circumference can then be added in the same way as described above for lines, multipoints and polygons. The FieldNote entry form appears in a web browser window immediately after the circumference point is entered.

Continue adding vertices in the same way until the line, multipoint or polygon is complete. Note that there is no need to try to match the final vertex of a polygon with its first, as the polygon will be closed automativally.

After capturing the final vertex of a line, multipoint or polygon, select End from the Notes menu. For polygons, an final line from the last to the first points is added automatically.

Geometry input may be abandoned at any time by selecting Cancel from the Notes menu.

For more information on templates, see Creating new FieldNote templates.

FieldNotes Entry Form

When the note entry form appears, the FieldNote already includes some information, the project and note group names, a unique FieldNote ID, the name of the author, the date and time or creation, and the recorded geometry.

Note that the form has a reddish colour. This indicates a new note that has not yet been saved.

The picture shows a simple note created without a template. Such notes contain only two editable fields, a text area and a drop-down list of map symbols.

Text can now be typed into the note.

If a template was specified, the template fields may also be completed..

When entry is complete, press the Save button at the end of the note. On a small screen, it is usually necessary to scroll down to find this button.

When the FieldNote has been saved, the web server returns a copy to the browser with a yellow background. This indicates a note that has been saved previously.

After changing the note, always remember to press the save button. However, this is not necessary if the note is not changed.

After saving changes, the revised note is returned. Now, however, it includes additional fields to indicate the name of the last editor and the date and time it was last changed.

It is also possible to add arbitrary fields to a note. To do this, scroll down beyond the Save button to the section Add a new data item. Then enter the field name and value, and press the Add button.

When a field has been added, it appears as an editable text field in the entry form.

When note entry or editing is complete, close the web browser and return to FieldMap.

The new note should appear as a symbol on the map.

Recording Roving Mode Grid Units

To create a new SurveyGrid note, select GPS.../Roving Mode... from the Notes menu. This leads to the New Unit dialog shown here. The Unit number is automatically incremented from that last used.

If necessary, edit the following fields:

• Length the intended length of the unit in metres.
• Separation the distance in metres between each walker
• Left the number of walkers to the left of the FieldMap user
• Right the number of walkers to the right of the FieldMap user

When ready to start walking the unit, press the Start button. This starts the distance recorder and changes its lable to "Stop".

As walking proceeds, the Distance field is updated with the distance in metres from the start of the unit. An audible signal indicates every ten metres covered, this point is recorded, and the geometry input indicator shows an updated point count. When the distance reaches, or exceeds, that set in the Length field, a more urgent signal is sounded and the background of the field turns orange. Stop walking immediately and press the Stop button. FieldMap then invokes the web browser and sends a request to the web server to display a new FieldNote Entry Form, as for normal note entry.

The Cancel button may be pressed at any time while the unit recorder is active to abandon recording.

When the new unit has been recorded, it will appear on the map as a graphic representing the area covered by the walkers. The outermost parallel lines are at half of the walker separation beyond the outer walkers, and represent the limits of the area covered by them.

Recording Voice Notes

NOTE: this feature is experimental, use with caution. It is only available on the PocketPC 2003 version of FieldMap.

To record voice notes, the Voice option must be checked in the Notes preferences. If the Form option is also checked, then the voice note will be recorded first, then an input form will appear to enable further annotation. If only Voice is checked, no input form will appear.

To create a note, choose the appropriate mode (Manual, GPS or Rangefinder) and geometry (point, line, polygon) from the Notes menu, as described in Creating FieldNotes. On completion of geometry capture, Fielmap invokes the mcvr voice recorder. This includes a simple recording control consisting of five buttons:

From left to right, the button functions are: record, stop, play, save (OK), cancel (x).

To record a voice note:

1. Press the record button and speak into the microphone on the device.
2. When finished press stop
3. The recording may be reviewed by pressing play. If you are not satisfied with the recording, press record and try again.
4. To save the recording as a voice note, press OK. If the Form mode is also selected, a normal data entry form will appear in the web browser for further annotation.
5. To abandon note creation, press the cancel (x) button.