A Appendix - E-device Survey
A.1 Survey Questions
The IEP electronic data entry survey was distributed on June 15, 2022 and responses compiled on August 1, 2022. This survey may be downloaded from the following link:
Download IEP_Edevice_Survey.pdfA.2 Survey Responses
The survey responses were separated into responses from experienced e-device users and responses from non-experienced e-device users.
A.2.1 Responses from Experienced E-device Users
| Affiliation | Your Field Application | What Hardware Using? | What Software Using? | Key Reasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDFW |
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Trimble GPS (not sure which unit) - cost about 10,000 dollars each; software licensing separate. The FieldMaps app is free - can be used with any tablet or phone but works best with apple devices. We use it with a BadElf GNSS unit for GPS position information but accuracy is not great (cost - 700 dollars) |
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| CDFW | Location, species, length, weight, water quality. | iPad, tablet. | Custom software developed by contractors or internal state IT deparment. | Purchase restrictions, ease of use, and formatting. |
| CDFW | Used iPad for electronic data entry | Not sure | Not sure | Not sure |
| USFWS | Salmon and Steelhead spawning ground surveys | Juniper Systems Mesa Tablet | ArcCollector | NA |
| USFWS | I am a data manager on the tributary monitoring team of the red bluff USFWS office. We collect all of our data digitally, using either field tablet, laptop or cell phone. 1)spawning surveys 2)Rotary screw trap data 3)Habitat surveys |
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Our applications require waterproof devices. This shapes much of our hardware selection. Juniper Mesa and Juniper Mesa were selected for our purposes following some extended testing in 2017. We are transitioning away from the Juniper Mesa tablet as ESRI field maps in not being developed for windows OS (and USFWS does not support the other OS offered android). We are transitioning to IPADs as they are what USFWS supports and will work with our intended software. |
| USGS | Water quality Velocity Discharge Water Level Field Notes | Laptops (usually Dell – various models) | SVMAQ (USGS Site Visit) Win River (Teledyne) | laptops are synchronized weekly with station meta data and any field software updates through the USGS network. They are powerful enough to run the various software packages and are the systems that our team uses for office-based tasks as well. |
| DWR | water quality and fish data (from beach seine, screw trap, fyke trap) | ipad - not sure what model | Survey123 | ipads were already being used by others in our department and the software was free |
| UC |
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1). Trimble Geo7x Handheld Data recorder and GNSS receiver. 2.) A variety of android 4G tablets and phones (mostly samsung, but others as well). | 1.) Trimble commercial software - Devices runs windows mobile, with Trimble TerraSync for data collection. Trimble Pathfinder desktop software required for post-processing of files. Post-processed files compatible with any OGC-standard GIS software. 2.) DJI flight planner, Drone Deploy, and Pix4D (all have various strengths and weaknesses in the field). | 1.) Ease of use, integrated camera and laser range finder, high accuracy GNSS location, and full-integration with GIS and compatibility with ESRI. Warning, these are pricey, but if you need cm-scale GNSS locations, these are some of the best for handheld devices. 2.) We’re still exploring best options. Usually start with manufacturer installs and recommendations and go from there. No strong opinions yet. |
| DWR |
I piloted use of e-devices for fish and zooplankton surveys with the fish restoration program. Types of data:
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iPads, don’t remember the brand Trimble field computers | Pendragon forms Experimented with Survey 123 and ArcCollector | Pendragon forms allowed for more nested forms and flexibility than any of the other options. Ipads were the cheapest and most user-friendly option that came with weatherproff cases. |
| DWR | My group uses a customized application for Windows (MOPED) to collect and save water quality data during our field runs as well as data from our bbe FluoroProbe. We also use an iPad to record field data on a PDF when this is not available. | Windows Desktop computer, Apple iPad. | MOPED (custom software for DWR), Adobe Acrobat for iPad, FluoroProbe custom softwater (bbe moldaenke). | Convenience (iPad) and robust data applications (MOPED). |
| ICF | Wetlands, nesting bird surveys, Aquatic species surveys, botanical surveys, wildlife surveys, arborist surveys, carcass surveys, other custom data collection efforts. All are able to collect point, line and polygon data. | All iPad models. Found that 64gig models are sufficient. Recommend purchasing cellular models in order to get built-in GPS. Don’t need to activate cellular network to use GPS. | iFormbuilder, Survey123, Fieldmaps, Collector, Fulcrum, Excel, Adobe PDF, Zoho | Software reasons include, free with Esri licensing, customization, robust capabilities for automating reporting, robust mapping capabilities, survey grade mapping. Hardware - Apple iPad/iPhones. They tend to be more stable and support a larger more robust suite of app capabilities. Easier to manage devices of the same make/model then a variety of devices. |
| CDFW | ArcGIS QuickCapture - Application collects GPS coordinates during our aerial survey flights as well as tracking out flight path. | Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, iPad 9th gen, Iphone - all supported models | ArcGIS QuickCapture has an online editor to edit data collection application for smartphones or tablets. | ArcGIS QuickCapture works on any current smartphone or tablet so the list of devices used with this application is because our program had it available. |
| CDFW | Tablet devices were used to collected commercial fishery landings data as well as well as basic data from collecting biological data from those landings. | ASUS Transformer Book T100HA-C4-GR 10. 1 - inch 2 in 1 touchscreen laptop (Cherry Trail Quad-Vore Z8500 Processor, 4GB RAM, 64 GB Storage) | Windows 10 and Microsoft Access |
We did look at Dell Venue 10 Pro and iPad Air 2, but most the ASUS had the most RAM for the price which made it faster than all other options under $500 and it had the best battery life I’ve found, even of more expensive models (10-12 hours), Our data was stored in Access so we needed something that would run Access data entry forms for easier upload into our larger database systems. |
| NEON | e-devices are used to collect field and lab data and metadata for about 100 of over 180 data products produced by NEON (freely available on data.neonscience.org). All of our observational data products use e-devices for at least part of the data collection and the aquatic instrument field calibration and maintenance data is collected on e-devices. I am happy to go into more details if there are questions about specific types of data that we collect. There is a lot of variety! | We use a variety of devices supported by our IT department that run iOS, android, windows, and apple OS. These include ipads (large and mini), iphones, android tablets (these are being phased out possibly), PC, and mac laptops. | We primarily use Fulcrum (www.fulcrumapp.com) for field data collection. However, we also use other software for interacting and troubleshooting sensors in the field, such as lab view and putty. There might be some others if I really dug into it, but they are more specific- than general-purpose. One of the biggest benefits that we have found with Fulcrum is the ability to write custom javascript code for validation of data prior to ingest into our database and create widgets and warnings for field scientists to address while collecting data. I think there are a lot of fee options that can be used like fulcrum to build forms, but don’t have a lot of familiarity with them since we don’t use them. Our data is ingested into our own database from the fulcrum cloud database on a nightly basis with different delays depending on the field data collection procedures. Also happy to demo or answer other questions! | Hardware decisions are made by the IT and Field Science departments for NEON. I have no direct involvement in that choice. I could reach out to folks for more details if that would be helpful. |
A.2.1.1 Responses from Non-Experienced Seeking E-Solutions
| Affiliation | Type of Data | Key Challenges | Device Considering |
|---|---|---|---|
| DWR | Genetic samples (fin clips, mucus, water for eDNA detection) | device overheating in sun, clumsy data entry forms, staff preferring paper and pen | ipad |
| CDFW | station data (secchi, weather, substrate, depth), tow data (lat/longs, flowmeter numbers, current, bearing, distance), biological data (fish, jelly, crab ID, lengths, counts), shrimp subsample info, | clean user interface (eg sometimes hard to tap the correct numbers vs writing), responsive buttons (need to record a lot of lengths quickly), QAQC in real time (eg flowmeters, depths, fish lengths out of range), checks in place (eg a pop up saying “are you sure?”), ability to look back and edit data, viewing collected data in context of historical data, using other apps to help determine current, connectivity, data storage/backups downside of not having hard copy datasheet to refer to. | some kind of tablet |
| USFWS | Data for KDTR and 20mm trawls including environmental data, catch data, and coordinates/location | Uploading data on our database for real-time data entry. We have a quick turn around on reporting EDSM findings, so making sure we have a e-device that will achieve this would be helpful. | tablets and ipads |
| CDFW | Tabular fish data alongside environmental data | The learning curve of the devices, is it as simple as pen to paper? The ability to quickly change things on the fly when things are hectic (pen and paper = very easy to grab new datasheet/cross things out) Ability to back up data without fear of loss of data (although datasheets can get lost, a datasheet doesn’t simply blink out of existence if an iPad fails) Forgetting an iPad, back up system in place is required. Go back to datasheets? | Current using pen and paper |
| CDFW | Survey site information, fish tag data, fish morphometric data | Device must be fully waterproof, reliable, and work with a wet screen. Integration with electronic measuring boards and PIT tag scanners would be a plus. | N/A |
| CDFW | A variety of field data pertaining to fisheries. Environmental data, fish data, tag data, etc. | Getting the money for the devices. Convincing the crew and managers that it is a good use of resources. Figuring out the new QAQC protocol and downloads/data management needs. | I have previously used Android based tablet in the past with a lot of success. Garmin tablets with built in high accuracy GPS is very useful is collecting spatial data. |
| CDFW | Not sure what is possible. Likely improve environmental recording measures (salinity, temp, etc.). | File conversion between existing database and new e-devices. I have had to help develop interfaces to get seacat profiler data into Access databases. | None |
| CDFW | -secchi measurements, flowmeter measurements, sample time, date, location information | -is it worth the cost/time to use direct database entry in the field? Current methods don’t require that much extra time to enter data sheets into the database at the end of the month. | None |
| CDFW | Station and tow data, fish catch and length, crab catch, length and sex. | Digital measurements, communication between measuring device and laptop, backing up data in near real time (Skylink or cellular?) | Hardened laptop |