North River Geographic Systems Inc

Spatial Problem Solving

Fulcrum

The Quarantine Server Shuffle

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No I’m not doing a post about Covid. Well I sort of am doing a post about covid.

I have a client that placed me on retainer to help them sort through their GEO life. They are an ArcGIS/QGIS/Trimble/Fulcrum/Collector/Compass/Paper map kind of group. Which isn’t any different than anyone else I run into these days. ArcGIS does some of what they want. QGIS does some of what they want. Shapefiles are spread everywhere. Paper maps make an appearance when the digital side of things don’t make sense. They have a GPS and there is something of a workflow – it’s just not great. Every non-profit/conservation group I deal with wrestles with GIS. There is some sort of desktop software, some sort of pile of data. The system is so unimportant you spend 0 dollars on it until the moment it’s important and then there’s a certain amount of hand wringing and everyone just keeps doing what they are doing.

I have some stories to tell on this but the important one is: Pandemic. We were close to the end of things with new gps, new data collection techniques, and a debate on how to store the data. Then Covid happened and I received a text of “Hey we’re closing up for a while…like in 15 minutes we are closing”. Everything (software/data) is stored on one computer and they have one map sitting on AGOL. Probably the last email from that computer was the File Based Geodatabase that stored the important stuff. I don’t think the myriad shapefiles and photos made it out – BUT – that’s not the important part.

The MASH Bugout Episode

The important part is we were able to move the whole project up into “the cloud” with minimal effort. I had an instance of Postgresql/PostGIS running on a Virtual Machine out in the uncharted parts of the internet. So in 2 hours:

  • exported the data out of the File Based Geodatabase into PostGIS
  • Connect QGIS to the postgis instance
  • Connect the important person so she can see it all
  • Set up a backup so that we all feel better.

Which with the exception of a few things (like dealing with their ESRI License), this isn’t terribly out of the ordinary of a setup. I’ve done it for other clients. Why write about it? It’s the first time I’ve done this for a conservation group. Way back in my past life of Federal and early days as a consultant it was “spend one day on IT problems and spend 1 day on what they needed to buy”. You spent half the time being an IT Technical Sales Person vs the guy that helps you with your data. I take for granted how easy stuff is in 2020. If you have $240 US you can have a server sitting out ‘THERE’ (points towards Atlanta because I think that’s where it is). A “I can edit GIS data” powerful enough server. In 2001 my department received a server that was probably in the top 10 in the state for processing power for a small amount of time – I won’t even mention the cost but put 6 numbers down before you get to the decimal space. So Conservation people – in your next line item for IT stuff -> $240 dollars a year for the base of a GIS system (computer included in that).

So in short we:

  • Panic’d
  • Shoved the data into a VM.
  • Keep working with a slightly new setup.

So the rest of the story is going to play out something like:

  • PANDEMIC
  • Making the Fulcrum import a little bit smoother
  • Documentation
  • Cartography I hope
  • AGOL Account

…..and the ultimate question is “is this better than what they were doing” and so far I think we’re 80% better. It would be nice if we weren’t in the middle of a crisis BUT since they are also in the middle of a project this hasn’t been something with a deadline. So this week I lay out permissions, map templates, and we try and figure out “Training” to make GIS less this giant black box and fade into the background and make it normal…and with the pandemic we have some room to adjust and play around if it’s not working as they want. Hey and I mentioned ESRI more than once and it didn’t end with “we deleted it” because it has a role also.

 

 

 

The 11th day of XYMas….Mobile Data Collection

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So flash back to 2002 or so. My manager went to a conference and won a GPS Backpack unit with receiver running windows mobile or maybe Palm OS (it was a thing) or something. I don’t even remember the brand. We were rocking (at my federal job) year 3 or 4 of creating ortho imagery. Yes we would fly an area and get film (yes film) and scan it (it was a pain) and then create ortho photos.

Most of the time we did one of two things:

  • If the client did care we used USGS 7.5 minute quads for control.
  • If the client did care we sent the surveyors out to mark control.

BUT – we had this new Backpack unit that collected Submeter GPS. We had a job and I decided “You know – we don’t have much of a budget so lets to collect out own information with this shiny new GPS Unit”. What a pain. I went out and collected data on the ellipsoid and messed it all up. I had to drive back and recollect the data. The surveyors laughed at me. Rightly so – I deserved it.

My first year in business i bought a cheap yellow GPS unit from Trimble (Juno) with arcpad.

Flash forward to 2013 and in order of the 4 things I’ve used in 2019 to collect data:

  • Fulcrum – So I discovered this one on a job and after reaching out to Spatial networks  I was in business. Create forms. Save your data to a big “cloud bucket” in the sky. It’s pretty simple.
  • GeoPaparazzi – Discovered this one day just digging around some FOSS4G software. So I drove around town recording my tracks and fixing some OSM data. Granted the name is a bit off putting for me  – BUT – it works pretty well.
  • QField – “Hey – can I run QGIS on a mobile device?” Well – yes with QField. Create a project and move that and your data over to your Android Phone or Android Tablet and collect data.
  • Input – “Hey can I run QGIS on a mobile device?” Well – yes with Input. Create a project and move that and your data over to your Android/IOS Phone or Android/IOS Tablet and collect data. This option takes it one step further with Mergin so you can take data from any device and push it to Input and then pull it back to your main computer.

At some point all of these will be a longer blog article. I’ve been telling myself that for a bit and I’ve started the Input one. Are there more data collection options? Yes – ESRI has a whole suite of data collection apps as well as Trimble – but I’ve not touched those.

So for the 11th of XYMas – Mobile data Collection ain’t that hard anymore. In fact there’s a scratch for all your itches. So go out and collect some data.

 

Fulcrum Community and Hurricane Irma

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As of Saturday September 9th 2017 the graphic from the National Hurricane Center looks like:

For those of you in the path who are going to have immense fun with high winds, flooding, and possible flying houses carrying a small girl and her dog – Sign up for Fulcrum Community!

Fulcrum (http://Fulcrumapp.com) is providing Fulcrum Community Free to people dealing with Hurricane Irma. If your organization/group whoever needs a data collection app to use during this event all you need to do is download Fulcrum and request access.  It was (and still is) deployed for Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Request Access Here: https://web.fulcrumapp.com/communities/hurricane-irma/?_ga=2.247777031.1408167726.1504721105-337609111.1500995109

Fulcrum runs on iOS and Android devices. Data (shapefile, File Based Geodatabase, PostGIS, excel, etc) can be retrieved from their cloud and used in any GIS Platform you might have (I use it with QGIS and feed the data live into there). It can also be pushed into any online accounts you might have (from Carto to ArcGIS Online).

It’s preloaded with:

  • Urban Search and rescue App
  • Disaster Shelters assessment App
  • Public Assistance Applicant Damage Report App
  • Individual Assistance for Inundation App
  • Aid Facility App
  • Hurricane Evacuee Info App
  • Wind Damage App
  • Damage Inspection App

Once again – It’s Free. Fulcrum has made employees available to help you with data collection.

Good luck to those of you dealing with the Hurricane.

Fulcrum Live at FOSS4G 2017

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While I was at FOSS4G 2017 this happened on the Tuesday before the Conference.

Yes – A one day conference on Fulcrum.

Fulcrum is one of those software programs I enjoy. It’s not open source but it has a lot of open source DNA built into it and it just works. NRGS is a business partner with them.  Customers can run it on Android or iOS. Your data gets pushed into the cloud. It works offline. It works with bluetooth GPS units.

I missed the first half of the conference. I was teaching a class for FOSS4G on using QGIS and Fulcrum as one workflow (Planning is for dullards). Not my best class – but I think with a few more edits it will blend in well with the QGIS Class I teach occasionally. I arrived at 12 and had a chance to watch as a number of people got up to discuss how Fulcrum is used in their organizations.

People discussed using Fulcrum with utility companies, environmental companies, engineering companies…..companies even my size using Fulcrum for about everything. Two days before the conference I used it to log equipment being used by the FOSS4G Conference. One company is using it to log time sheets in the Yukon. One group is using it to clear land mines.

For me personally I’m always curious how people are using Fulcrum. I know how I use it. Am I using it as well as I can? There is no right or wrong answer. You can do whatever you need to do with it as long as it’s providing what you need.

Three things I remember walking out of this conference:

  • Fulcrum has had 75% growth every year for the last three years. Two years ago I said “Fulcrum” and people would go “Huh?”. As of late I say Fulcrum and people go “yeah I’ve tried it or <fill in the blank> is using it”.
  • Fulcrum Desktop – I can now sync my account to a local postgis/spatialite database. Which is now giving me a few more “things” I can do to play with the data.
  • It’s flexible enough to allow you to hang yourself. You can collect all types of data to the point you should ask yourself “Do I need to collect this?”. I always lean more into “No” but sometimes complicated is needed. One person in my QGIS/Fulcrum class created a form that no doubt would stretch about 3 or 4 feet long if printed. All used on an Ipad. they gave statistics at the end and it seems like one application had well over 1000 photographs attached to it for one point. I may have that wrong but I don’t think I do.

I had a chance to talk about one of groups using Fulcrum Community: a local non profit collecting stream quality data. Not as exciting as oil drilling or utility location – but it’s important.

Update!

It’s been two weeks since the conference and I’ve been meaning to hit publish and life keeps getting in the way. I’m glad it did as an interesting thing happened called Hurricane Harvey:

The map you see is being generated out of Fulcrum Community. Spatial Networks stepped up and offered this to aid the recovery effort. People are crowdsourcing about everything you can think of and more. Fulcrumis making it’s way into first responders hands and people about to do damage assessment. Got a disaster bearing down on you? Worried about Data collection. Remember the good old days of paper forms?

Anyway, I hope this conference happens again. With as much growth as Fulcrumis having I can’t imagine it won’t. Something else to mark on your calendar and attend.

Caribbean SEA and Fulcrum’s Community Program

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I’m a business partner with Fulcrum.  Sometimes cool things happen and I get to play with with Fulcrum outside of “normal working hours” –  Like Fulcrum’s Community Program. So what am I doing with Community?

My volunteer time is a closely guarded thing. I’ve scaled back – but I’m still helping Caribbean SEA. “…But Randy that’s in the Caribbean….” – Well actually they are based out of TN and do quite a bit of work with local watersheds.  The big one right now is the Mountain Creek Watershed.

There has been a dream about a mobile application for a while. We’ve had some starts and some misses but that’s alway been a want: Something stupid simple that will let people go out and collect data about a stream. Plus a GIS of some sort. We’ve used a lot of maps but haven’t tried to actively maintain a Geographic Information System.

The Application is running off Fulcrum’s Community Plan – which means we can stick as many people on there as we need and Fulcrum was awesome enough to donate the plan. Right now we have about 40 people out collecting data in the world. The plan is to get this up to 50 people before we go “THIS IS A THING” and push it to as many people as we can.  What type of data are they collecting? Data about pollution and issues around a stream.  Data that is more “soft” as in “How do you feel about this area” and data like “Do you see trash in the water or on the banks” and “Do you see fish?”. Data that is pretty concrete as in water tests for turbidity and fecal coliform.

The App is in three parts:

  • An Emergency (you find an active problem)
  • A Survey (you describe the stream and it’s surroundings)
  • Water Sampling (you record some information and then perform a water test).

The big problem for me – trying to learn how people like the application or don’t like it. I’ve had a few ideas and I thought they were brilliant – only to have the users go “That’s Terrible”.  So I started a Google Group. I send out periodic emails and remind people to sync the app for more changes and attempt to engage (enrage as I call it) the users to make suggestions on what data we need to record we aren’t recording….. or how to make the app more self explanatory.

So far what have we done?

 

We’re leveraging a lot of data:

  • We have a GIS on the Watershed residing in PostGIS/QGIS.
  • We have data getting shoved into Fulcrum (the red dots)
  • We have LIDAR Data so I can break out the watershed into ever smaller pieces.
  • We’ve got a running record of data that is now digital.
  • We’re also collecting data in the Caribbean. Yes – How generic can I make this and still make it useful? We want one app to rule all the data collection.

 

Things I am working on around the data collection:

  • Assigning a value to the user experience so we can “rate a stream”.
  • Keeping the app up to date
  • Data clean up.

So – if you’re on the Facebook – Look them up: https://www.facebook.com/CaribbeanSEA/

If you happen to find yourself in St Lucia – Track them down.

If you happen to make it into Chattanooga – Buy some gear: http://gearcloset.org/

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