Use Case: Conducting a Site Visit in Landscape Mobile 4
The Landscape Mobile app is designed to help you collect data in the field for routine obligations like Annual Monitoring. This article covers the steps to conduct your monitoring using a Site Visit Work item. This is both the recommended workflow and how most organizations approach monitoring with Landscape.
This article does not cover every nuance of the mobile app, or more complex workflows. For full documentation, browse the related Knowledge Base articles or reach out to Landscape Support at support@dendroyka.com.
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Monitoring with a Site Visit: VIDEO TUTORIAL
Monitoring with a Site Visit: READ-THROUGH
Monitoring with a Site Visit: Video Tutorial
Monitoring with a Site Visit: Read-Through
There are three phases to a successful monitoring visit in the app: getting logged in, understanding the mobile app interface, and moving through the monitoring workflow. Depending on your familiarity with Landscape, you may need to review all or some of each phase's instructions.
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Getting Logged In
First-Time Users
- Download Landscape Mobile 4 from the App Store or Google Play Store. Look for the blue logo with a white arrow.
- Open the app and log in with the Landscape username and password that you received in your email invitation.
Read more about common login issues and steps to resolve them HERE.
- When the app asks for permissions, grant all of them. Denying these prompts may prevent features like GPS tracking and photos from working as intended. If you accidentally deny a permission, you can fix it later in your device settings.
- If you're a user on multiple accounts, select the appropriate account to load initially.
Returning Users may not be prompted for login information unless you signed out of the app at your previous session. If you need to switch accounts because you conduct monitoring for multiple organizations, go to Settings > Switch Accounts after you've successfully logged in.
All Users — Make sure you're connected to Wi-Fi the first time you open the app. It needs to download your initial set of property boundaries and property data, which can take a few minutes depending on the size of your account. Future synchronizations are much quicker and happen any time you open the app (you can adjust this behavior in Settings).
Quick Tour of the Mobile App
To start and execute a site visit in the field, you will need to become familiar with a few key elements of the mobile app.
Read more about general mobile app functionality HERE.
Read more about all Work Item functionality in the mobile app HERE.
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The Record Page
1 — Settings is in the upper left. From here you can switch accounts, manually synchronize, adjust a few other settings, and access help resources or contact support.
2 — Record page. Select a record to open its record page. Adjust the size of this pane by swiping up or down on the bar at the top. From here you can view record details, contact details, notes, and attachments.
If you can't find the Portfolio Record you are looking for, review THIS ARTICLE for a list of common causes and troubleshooting steps.
3 — Map Layers. When the map is visible, the layers button gives you access to various basemaps and other contextual layers. To switch to satellite imagery, tap Basemap and select Satellite with Streets. This is also where you will see any custom map layers from your account.
Linked online service layers, like a public parcel dataset, are only available when you're connected to a network.
The Work List
4 and 5 — Use the Filter and Search buttons to find specific work items. For example, to find the baseline report for a record, tap Filter, choose Baseline Reports, and tap Apply.
The Work List shows you all of the Work Items in the record. By default, it is sorted so the most recently added or modified items appear first. This means the information likely most relevant to your Site Visit — like recent Site Visits or Issues — appears at the top of the list. You can also adjust this sorting if needed.
6 — Use the map button to toggle map data on and off for individual Work Items.
7 — To display multiple items at once, apply a filter (for example, Issues) and tap Show All Map Layers. You can then tap any point on the map to examine it. Clear the filter at any time by tapping Filter and then Clear All.
The Monitoring Workflow
Once you're logged into the mobile app, follow these step-by-step instructions to conduct your Site Visit. Following these instructions will help ensure a seamless experience between your work in the field and back at the office.
Step 1: Download Records for Offline Use
- While you're still connected to Wi-Fi, navigate to the record you plan to visit using either the search bar or panning around on the map.
- Tap the record to open it, then tap the Download button at the top of the record page.
- Choose whether to include files and/or specific map tiles. The app will provide an estimate of the download size prior to download confirmation.
Unless you are highly concerned about limited storage space on your device, it's usually best to download everything. You can always remove offline data later.
You can download as many records as you need for offline use. To see all the records you've downloaded for offline use, tap the search bar and select the Downloaded filter. This is also where you will return after your visit to remove downloaded data you no longer need.
Important: Before removing any offline data, make sure your Site Visit has fully synchronized by checking the sync status in the app Menu. You don't want to delete data that hasn't made it back to the cloud yet.
Step 2: Collect Your Data
CREATE OR OPEN A SITE VISIT WORK ITEM
Monitoring begins with a Site Visit Work Item. Depending on your organization's internal procedures, you may be instructed to create a new Site Visit or open a pre-created one.
To create a new Site Visit
- Open the record page and tap the Add Work button OR tap Work, then the + (plus) button.
- Select Site Visit. The other Work Item types you may see in this menu depend on how your organization's permissions are set.
- Select the appropriate Site Visit Type. This varies by organization, but will usually be something like "Annual Monitoring." You can also change the Site Visit Name from here.
The toggle buttons on the Site Visit creation page automatically kick off everything that needs to start with your visit, including your GPS track and time tracking. Leave these toggled on.
- Tap Create.
To use a pre-created Site Visit
- Tap Work, tap the existing Site Visit record to open it, then tap Start.
The subsection immediately below describes the tools available to you while you are recording your Site Visit. If you are already familiar with how to use these tools, skip to Step 3: Polish and Sync.
DURING THE VISIT
- You can stop your GPS track and time tracking at any point with the Stop button at the top of the page. Don't worry if you tap it by accident — just go back into that page, tap Edit, restart your existing time tracking entry, and continue. All points, lines, and areas that are associated with your active site visit are shown in yellow on the map.
- Slide the tray down to get back to the map and give it plenty of room. You can return to the site visit page at any time with the Active Work button.
- When you see something worth documenting, take a photo with the Camera. This drops a point at your location and numbers it automatically. You can override the number by selecting the point after it's created, or later from the desktop using the point renumbering tool.
"How do I use the camera?"
- Tap the Camera button and take a photo.
- Add a caption with Add Caption.
- Take another photo at the same point with Save and Take Another, or head back to the map with Save Photo.
Remember to close the camera every time you're ready to move on to a new location — otherwise, every picture you take will be collected in the same point where you first opened it.
OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO
Copy Photopoints from Previous Work
Your organization's workflow may involve collecting the same photos at the same points from year to year. To do so:
- Turn on the required Work Item layer (e.g., a Baseline Report) from the Work list.
- Select a point and tap the Copy button. All captions and other details carry over to the new photos, which are stored in your Site Visit.
Map New Features
Use the Map Tools button to draw new points without opening the camera, new lines, or new areas on the property.
Read more about using the Map Tools HERE.
Add Linked Work
The + (plus) button lets you add linked Work Items to the Site Visit, like an Issue or a Species Observation.
Only add these if you've been instructed to do so and your organization has a workflow set up for managing them. Otherwise, everything about your visit should be captured in your photos and the form data for your Site Visit.
If you do add linked work, keep in mind that the points and photos you collect within those objects are also collected in the Site Visit you're performing. This is intentional — your Site Visit should be a record of everything you saw during your time on the property.
Step 3: Polish and Sync
When you're done with your visit, tap Stop on the Site Visit page. If you minimized the page, pull it back up or tap the Active Work indicator to get to it.
Stopping the Site Visit will update that item's End Time and calculate the total time spent during the visit.
"Wait - I forgot to edit something!"
In most cases, if you need to get back into the visit after you've pressed Stop, it will be at the top of the Work List. Select it and tap Edit — you don't need to start recording again, but you can edit form entries and other data associated with the site visit. Tap the Checkmark to finish editing and return to the Work List.
Last but not least...SYNC!
Synchronization happens any time you open the app (including switching between apps), or by tapping the Synchronize option in the app Menu. Internet connectivity is required for synchronization to happen.
Check the Synchronization status in the app Menu to ensure that everything is up to date before you clean up any records. Once you are satisfied that your data has been collected and synced appropriately, you may continue your organization's internal procedures for reporting.
IMPORTANT
The following actions DO NOT create the annual monitoring report:
- Stopping the Site Visit
- Changing the Site Visit status to "Completed"
- Answering all of the Form questions
- Synchronizing your Site Visit
The ONLY way to create a monitoring report is by doing so in the web app. Discuss this part of the procedure and who is responsible for it with your organization.