LMSS Forest Inventory Newsletter #1

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the LMSS Forest Inventory Newsletter. The goal of this newsletter is to increase communication with our InventoryManager, MobileMap, and TCruise clients and provide updates, tips, and tricks. If you have a suggestion or question for a future topic, please let Claire know, and we try to address or answer it in one of the next newsletters! Also, feel free to share this with anyone who might benefit from reading it. Enjoy!

MobileMap Version History

Curious about MobileMap app updates? Check out the MobileMap version history document here to read about recent releases and what has changed.

Do you need to update? If everything is going well, you likely do not need to update, and we recommend you stay with your current version. If there are changes you would like to take advantage of, or if MobileMap is not working as expected, call us, and we can help get you updated in about 15 to 30 minutes.

How can I check which version I have now? Open MobileMap, go to the Actions menu (hamburger button, second from the right), scroll to the bottom, click on About MobileMap, and your version should be displayed.

MobileMap updates are included with your subscription cost.

Data Backups

Question: If something happened to your data, do you know where your backups are? When was the last time your ArcGIS Online data was backed up? If data is accidentally deleted or somehow gets messed up, would you be able to go back to a version before the incident?

Data is not automatically backed up by Esri. Check out this Esri documentation here to get started.

For more advanced backups that preserve things like symbology, try opening data in ArcGIS Pro and saving as a Project Package. Read more about this here.

How often do I need to back up my data? Consider your organization type, how many users you have, and how much and what kind of data you are storing. A question to ask yourself is: "How much data am I ok losing"? A day, week, or month? Then back up data accordingly.

There are lots of ways to back up data and set up some automation. Let us know if you need assistance.

GPS Settings

Is your GPS not quite working as expected? There could be several causes, including location, canopy, weather, age of the device, program limitations, etc.

Here are some common issues and their fixes:

• GPS accuracy not as good as expected - go to the tablet home screen > Settings > Location > Location Services > turn OFF Location Accuracy (this is looking for Wi-Fi to "help" improve signal, there is not usually good Wi-Fi in the woods), turn OFF Wi-Fi scanning, turn OFF Bluetooth scanning.

• Want to change the number of points averaged in Mobile Map - open MM > go to Settings (upper right) > GPS and Compass > Number of GPS Locations to Average > select the number of points and MM will automatically take you back to the previous screen > click the back arrow at the top until you return to the map screen

• Want to change the frequency of points when GPSing a line or polygon - open MM > go to Settings > GPS and Compass > Tracking Mode Spacing (meters) > select a number, and MM will automatically take you back to the previous screen > click the back arrow until you are back to the map screen

• GPS Filtering (MM 5.1.19 and above) - is your Archer 4 lagging or jumping more than expected? You can adjust the GPS filter to try and find the sweet spot to get better results - open MM > go to Settings > GPS and Compass > GPS filtering > if your GPS is jumping, pick a lower number; if your GPS is lagging, try a higher number; if your GPS is "stuck" when you go to navigate to the next plot, try None. After updating this setting, restart the app.

Click here to read the Knowledge Base article on GPS data collection and editing.

Need an update to your Template?

With the beginning of fall and new fall projects starting, are your TCruise templates and MobileMap ready to collect the data? We can often make simple updates in under an hour. More complex updates that require a new data model can take a few weeks. Be sure to plan ahead when planning your schedule, and allow time for testing and validation before starting a new large project.

Forest Technology Simplified!

Contact us at 866-395-5440 or www.landmarkspatialsolutions.com