This tutorial is for the new, online project designer. The tutorial for the Desktop Designer is available
here
.
This point allows you to capture GPS positioning information using the device's readily available GPS hardware. The GPS point can be easily integrated with the Map Point to provide a live map with the current location.
The GPS point can be integrated with the
Map point
in order to display a live map of the GPS coordinates, as the GPS is updating. To do this, the GPS point's
format string must be set with the format
%lat%,%long%
and the
Map point
needs to be configured to use the GPS point for coordinates.
When a GPS location is obtained, you can extract information from the GPS location and save this information to other points in the project.
This information can be saved to the session by adding
Reference Points
to the project. This can be done easily by selecting the GPS point and in the point's properties tab, click on the button to
Generate Reference Points
. This will open a window which provides options to select from a variety of dynamic references as well as the point type of the points that will be generated.
The GPS point can be configured in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer to customise the behaviour of the point. See below for details on each of this point's properties.
The format settings allow you to customise which GPS information is recorded in the GPS point's value. The
Insert Token
dropdown allows you to select from various GPS information that can be added to the point's recorded value,
including values such as latitude, longitude and much more. The token will be inserted where the cursor has
been placed in the format string.
A preview of the format is available in the Format Editor window as well as in the point's properties tab.
These settings allow you to customise how the point functions when the point is used on a mobile device.
When this option is enabled, any points with dynamic references to this point will be set automatically whenever the value of this GPS point changes.
When enabled, the device will keep the GPS location services active while the project is open which can reduce the time taken to capture coordinates, between sessions. This option can be disabled to save on battery usage if the GPS point is not used often.
By default, the GPS point will need to be tapped once to start searching for a GPS position and a second tap will stop the search and capture the most recent location. When this option is enabled, the GPS point will automatically stop searching and capture the location as soon as a location has been found.
Apple iOS devices require permission to access the location services on the device. The app will prompt you to grant permission with the prompts seen below:
You can check on the status of permissions from within
the app by opening the
Settings page
and scrolling down to the
Location & Privacy Settings
section.
The location service status will be one of the following:
Status | Meaning |
---|---|
Not Set | Permission has not been requested yet. The app will request permission access when location services are required. |
No Access | The user has denied access to location services. Location services cannot be used by the app until the user changes the location service permissions for the app. |
Limited | The user has only granted permission to allow location services while the app is in use. The user has not granted permission for the app to use location services while the app is in the background. This will impact the performance of points such as the GPS Tracker point where location information needs to be tracked over time. |
Full Access | The user has granted permission to access location services while the app is any state. This will allow all points to use location services as required. |
To change the permission settings for location services, you will need to open the Location and Privacy settings on the device. For devices running recent versions of iOS (iOS 8+) you can quickly navigate to the location and privacy settings from within the Mobile Data Anywhere app:
Location & Privacy Settings
section.
Location and Privacy Settings
button.
Location.
Always
to provide the best experience.
The
Basic Points Sample
project contains examples of how to use many of the various points that are available. This project also contains a
page that demonstrates some of the ways that this point can be used in your projects.
In the provided sample project, basic_point_samples.ppc there is a page for the GPS Point , which demonstrates how a GPS point can be integrated with a Map point as well as many other points using dynamic references as point ID's. Open this project in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer for a closer look at how each point has been customised on each point's properties window.