Location Gathering

Abstract

Mobile field spatial data collection is the act of gathering attribute data, including spatial position, about features in a study area. A common method of field data collection is to use a handheld computing device attached to a global navigation satellite system in which attribute data are directly inputted into a database table. The market for mobile data collection systems was formerly dominated by bulky positioning systems and highly specialized software. However, recent years have seen the emergence and widespread adoption of highly customizable and user-friendly mobile smartphones and tablets. In this research, smartphone devices and smartphone data collection applications were tested and compared to a conventional survey-grade field data collection system to compare the capabilities and possible use cases of each. The test consisted of an evaluation of the accuracy and precision of several mobile devices, followed by a usability analysis of several contemporary data collection applications for the Android operating system. The results of the experiment showed that mobile devices and applications are still less powerful than dedicated conventional data collection systems. However, the performance gap is shrinking over time. The use cases for mobile devices as data collection systems are currently limited to general use and small to mid-size projects, but future development promises expanding capability. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to give a special thanks to the graduate students of the SJSU Department of Geography and Global Studies for providing feedback to improve my writing, Dr. Richard Taketa for all his guidance in helping me design and execute the research, Mr. William Harmon for providing the initial research inspiration, and Ms. Sarah J. Faulkner for editing my writing. I would also like to thank Dr. Gary Pereira, Mr. William Harmon, and Dr. Kathryn Davis for discussing my ideas, providing helpful feedback, and helping me begin my undertaking. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, SCCI Telecommunications and Radio Systems, and the City of San José Department of Transportation for loaning the equipment used in this research. vi