Geopaparazzi and gvSIG allow for digital field mapping and data synchronization. Geopaparazzi is used on Android devices to collect geotagged notes, photos, and GPS tracks. GvSIG prepares background data and forms, and imports Geopaparazzi projects. The Geopaparazzi Survey Server syncs project data to a central server, accessible via a web interface.

1. GEOPAPARAZZI AND
GVSIG
NEVER OUT OF DATA IN THE FIELD
Andrea Antonello, Silvia Franceschi
HydroloGIS s.r.l.
Foss4G-2018 Dar es Salaam
August 27th 2018

2. HYDROLOGIS
small (very small) engineering company
Bolzano (north Italy)
2 cofounders: Andrea Antonello, Silvia Franceschi

3. HYDROLOGIS
environmental engineers specialized in hydrology,
hydraulics, geomorphology and forestry
PhD in Environmental Sciences and Mountain
Environment and Agriculture
developers of
the HortonMachine library in the fields of: hydrology,
hydraulic, forestry
Geopaparazzi app for digital field mapping
gvSIG/uDig plugins and customization
OSGeo Charter Members

4. PART 0: WORKSHOP DATA AND
INSTALLATION

5. THE WORKSHOP DATASET
Data come from , , a georeferenced
screenshot of (only for educational purposes).
Mapsforge Geofabrik
Google Maps
dataset/
|-- dar_es_salaam.sqlite
|-- ortophoto_dar.mbtiles
|-- tanzania.map
|-- raster
| |-- ortophoto_dar.tif
| |-- ortophoto_dar.tfw
| |-- ortophoto_dar.prj
`-- shapefiles
|-- my_gis_osm_buildings_a.shp
|-- my_gis_osm_landuse_a.shp
|-- my_gis_osm_roads.shp
|-- my_gis_osm_water_a.shp
|-- my_gis_osm_waterways.shp
software/
|-- gvSIG-desktop-2.4.0-2850-final-win-x86_64-standard.exe
|-- gvSIG-desktop-2.4.0-2850-final-lin-x86_64-standard.run
|-- spatialite_gui.exe

6. GVSIG INSTALLATION
gvSIG is available for different platforms
download the most recent release for your favorite
platform from the
you can choose to use the portable version which is a zip
file containing all the data you need to run the program
otherwise you can use (workshop folder):
for windows machines gvSIG-desktop-2.4.0-2850-final-
win-x86_64-standard.exe
for linux machines gvSIG-desktop-2.4.0-2850-final-lin-
x86_64-standard.run
gvSIG website

7. GVSIG PLUGIN INSTALLATION
the plugins are supplied as a gvSIG package using the
gvSIG addons manager
enter the Addons manager from the Tools menu
select the third option Installation from URL and then
select the url of the Testing version push on next

8. In the Fast Filter search for the plugins that start with
org.hortonmachine.gvsig and install them

9. THE MOBILE FORMS DESIGNER
PLUGIN
Then do the same with the Mobile forms designer plugin.
Once everything is installed, restart gvSIG.
If everything worked properly, you should have the
following menu:

10. PART 1: GEOPAPARAZZI

11. INTRODUCTION
Geopaparazzi is a tool for digital field mapping. Originally it
has been developed for fast qualitative engineering /
geologic surveys but it can be used also as a tool for
emergency management, general field activities and
tourism.
Geopaparazzi is available on the . Search
for Geopaparazzi on your phone or get it from the online
android market.
 Geopaparazzi doesn’t work on iPhone and Windows
Phone.
Android Play Store

12. MAIN OBJECTIVE
The main aim of Geopaparazzi is to have a tool that:
can be always at hand when needed
gives the possibility to take georeferenced pictures during
the survey
gives further possibility to import pictures and data into a
main GIS application
is extremely easy to use and intuitive, providing just few
important functionalities

13. MAIN FEATURES
The main features available in Geopaparazzi are:
georeferenced notes: text notes, pictures, sketches, forms
gps tracks logging
a map view for browsing and navigation of the data
easy export of collected data
simple generation of any type of background map

14. INSTALLATION
1. connect your Android device to
internet
2. open Play Store
3. type geopaparazzi within the
Search textbox

15. DASHBOARD ICONS

16. ACTIONBAR ICONS

17. TAKE NOTES
1. simple notes: text, picture, sketch
2. possibility to insert GPS or last map
center coordinate
3. possibility to insert GPS or last map
center coordinate
4. complex notes based on structured
forms

18. PROJECT INFO
1. remove/add new data
2. edit and save the project’s
metadata

19. GPS LOGGING
1. enter a new
log name
2. possibility to
continue from
the last log
3. logging button
shows
enablement

20. MAP VIEW
long tap the
upper right
floating button
to clear the
map from tools
tap again to
get them back

21. MAP VIEW TOOLS
1. notes
tap: add new note
long tap: open notes list
2. bookmarks
tap: add new bookmark
long tap: open bookmarks list
3. activate log analysis tool
4. activate measure tool

22. EDITING TOOLS
long tap:
select
editable
layer
tap: enter
editing
mode

23. IMPORT
1. GPX
2. csv files bookmarks_xyz.csv (label,
lat, lon, zoom)
3. import WMS as mapurl definition
4. create a simple spatialite database
with a point, line and polygon table
5. download a project from a server
6. download a profile from a server

24. EXPORT
1. KMZ: only export that supports
proper complex notes representation
2. GPX
3. bookmarks
4. extract all images into a folder
5. export notes as PDF
6. upload the project to a server

25. SUPPORTED BACKGROUND DATA
From the select tile sources menu:

26. MAPSFORGE
1. open source project under LGPL
license
2. .map extension
3. binary vector format
4. maps available for download at:
5. lot of data in little space
http://download.mapsforge.org/maps/

27. MBTILES
1. open specifications:
2. .mbtiles extension
3. image tiles format
4. can be created in many different
ways (ex. hotronmachine, gvSIG,
gdal)
5. small regions need huge space
Mapbox
presentation page

28. MAPURL
1. simple textfile describing an
online/offline TMS or WMS service
2. .mapurl extension

29. EXAMPLES
online
mapnik
offline
mapsforge
online TMS offline
mbtiles

30. SUPPORTED OVERLAY DATA
Spatialite databases:

31. PROPERTIES: COLOR AND SIZE
set shape
set stroke width
set fill and stroke
color

32. LABELLING
set dimension
set field

33. PART 2: DATA PREPARATION IN
GVSIG

34. PREPARE AN MBTILES
Launch gvSIG and create a new view. Then enter the
properties and set the right projection. It needs to be the
one of the data (EPSG:4326).

35. Then drag the shapefiles and the raster in the view and put
the layers in the proper order:

36. Now open the integrated tiles creator:
set name and folder and (very important) the max
zoomlevel (15 for testing here)…​ and push the OK button.

37. PART 3: DATA PREPARATION IN
SPATIALITE

38. SPATIALITE GUI
Open the spatialite gui and create a new database

39. Once the db is created, select the Load Shapefile button

40. Import the shapefiles: example of buildings

41. Important, the Update Layer Statistics command needs to
be executed manually Make a refresh of the database
before this operation.

42. Check your data with the map preview

43. LOAD THE DATA ON THE DEVICE
When connecting via USB-cable, we experiences many times
database corruptions, so we started using the app: Airdroid

44. PART 4: CREATE A SIMPLE FORM

45. WHAT ARE FORMS
Geopaparazzi supports complex notes called form based
notes. To use them, a tags.json file needs to be created and
placed inside the geopaparazzi folder inside the sdcard. In
that file a json format description of the wanted tags and
forms needs to be placed.
By default, to help the user to start, a sample tags.json is
created in the Geopaparazzi installation. It contains form
samples and examples to show all supported form widgets.

46. CREATE A FORM WITH GVSIG
gvSIG has a simple yet powerful form designer, created by
the gvSIG Association, which is accessible by the HMachine
menu.

47. CREATE A SECTION
Before doing anything, the section needs to be created. The
section is what in geopaparazzi will be a button.

48. CREATE A FORM
A Form is a tab in the actual geopaparazzi form. Let’s add a
General Info tab from the form toolbar.

49. CREATE FIELDS
Once a form (tab) has been created, fields can be added to
it. Fields can be of various types. Let’s add a string and a
boolean.

50. PREVIEW THE FORM
At any time one can preview the form in the preview panel.
The first time you need to save the form before the preview.

51. SAVE TO TAGS.JSON
the form can be saved to
file at any moment.
it is best to name the file
tags.json, since that is
the name geopaparazzi
will look for.
Upload the form to your device into the folder
geopaparazzi.

52. CHECK THE FORM ON THE DEVICE
The form will appear in the add notes view.

53. PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY
PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY
PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY
PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY
PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY
PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY
PART 5: DO YOUR SURVEYPART 5: DO YOUR SURVEY

54. PART 6: PROCESS YOUR SURVEY
DATA

55. VIEW GEOPAPARAZZI PROJECTS
Open the geopaparazzi projects viewer

56. The viewer allows to choose a folder of existing projects.
Select the folder and hit the refresh button.

57. To load the data of a project, right click on it and push load
project, double click to expand the content.

58. OPEN AN IMAGE
For the projects select to zoom to right click and Load
Project in Viewer, for every item (notes, tracks, images) right
click for options (ex open image).

59. OPEN A GPS LOG

60. EDIT METADATA
Right click on the project to edit metadata.

61. CONVERT A PROJECT TO GIS DATA
In gvSIG do an add layer, it will present you Geopaparazzi as
an option

62. When loading a project, the metadata of the project are
checked and a list of available data is presented.
1. in the upper part we have the
project metadata
2. the list of available layers that
will be created on import is
shown
3. it is possible to create memory
layers instead of shapefiles,
but it is not recomended

63. The new layers of gps logs, notes and media are created
containing most possible information in the attributes table

64. PART 7: THE GEOPAPARAZZI SURVEY
SERVER

65. THE SERVER
The Geopaparazzi Survey Server (GSS) is a web application
that allows geopaparazzi users to synchronize their projects
data with a central server.
Its companion is an Android app named Geopaparazzi
Survey Server Sync (GSSS) .
The app can connect to geopaparazzi projects and
synchronize the data contained using the unique device ID
to upload the data to the server.
The server can be installed through docker only on linux
pcs.
available on google play

66. INSTALLATION
Installation instructions are available on
.
Long story short installation is all about having docker
installed and then just run:
This will download and install the docker image on your
system.
the project
documentation site
docker pull moovida/gss:v2.10

67. RUN THE SERVER
To run the server just do:
This will start a server that uses /home/hydrologis/GSS as
data folder and port 8080 for its webservice.
Open your favorite browser and enter the url:
docker run -v /home/hydrologis/GSS:/home/basefolder
-p 8080:8080 moovida/gss:v2.10
http://localhost:8080

68. You should get the following login screen:
You can login with user=god and password=god, which as
you can guess is an admin.

69. THE DASHBOARD
The dashboard view shows a simple chart listing the
amount of information for each device.
If no data are available, as in our inizial case, the folloing will
be shown:

70. THE MAPVIEW
The mapview features the Surveyor list and a map panel.

71. The surveyor can be actived by selecting the checkbox in
the table. Once the data of the surveyor are loaded, through
the zoom button on top of the table it is possible to zoom to
the surveyor’s data extent.

72. THE SETTINGS VIEW
In the settings view it is possible to:
create web users and groups. There are two levels of
users: admins and normal users.

73. configure surveyors. New devices that connect and
upload are automatically added. The name of the
surveyor by default is the id of the device. This can be
changed by right-clicking on the surveyor.

74. configure background maps. Several map services can be
added to the background maps.
 Make sure that you have the rights to use the maps
you select.

75. THE MOBILE APP: GSSS
The GSSS can be installed from the .play store

76. Once installed and launched it will complain about the fact
that no project database has been chosen yet:

77. THE SIDE MENU
In the side menu it is possible to access several features.

78. CHECK YOUR DEVICE ID!
The first thing to do is to check if the device has an own
unique device id. If it has one, the following screen will be
shown

79. SET THE SERVER URL
To be able to connect to the GSS server, the url of the server
needs to be inserted. The url has to end with upload.

80. CLEAN UP AND MAKE DIRTY
From the side menu it is also possible to access some basic
settings:
the possibility to reset the connected database to be in a
complete dirty state. After that the database will upload
everything as if it never had done before.
the possibility to reset the database to a clean state. After
that no data are synchronized. Only new data surveyed in
geopaparazzi will be uploaded again.

81. LOAD A PROJECT
Once the app is configured, it is possible to load a project by
browsing for its file (*.gpap).

82. SYNC YOUR DATA
To synchronize, the floating action button at the bottom
right part of the screen can be used.

83. SEND A LOG
If you experience issues or problems of any kind, you can
use the send debug log button to send some debug
information about the error to the developers. This will help
them to solve the issue and create a new release.

84. GEOPAPARAZZI AND GVSIG: NEVER
OUT OF DATA IN THE FIELD
Andrea Antonello, Silvia Franceschi
email:
HydroloGIS s.r.l.
Foss4G-2018 Dar es Salaam
August 27th 2018
silvia.franceschi@hydrologis.eu