wiki:BluePrint/GIS/GPSSharing

Version 4 (modified by Fran Boon, 14 years ago) ( diff )

--

Share GPS Data

Problem Description

  • Field staff for NGOs (both Humanitarian & Development) visit Programme sites with handheld GPS (e.g. Garmin eTrex).
  • They collect data as they go (Tracks & Waypoints).
  • They would like a way of easily sharing this information between each other:
    • uploading data to a central repository
    • managing this master repository to have a reference dataset: no duplicates, names checked for consistency
      • this management should work offline
    • download the reference dataset to each GPS
  • A secondary benefit will be in terms of wider communications (e.g. reporting to Donors)
  • A potential future enhancement would be to be able to download GPX routes from/to specific locations.

This requirement is defined by Oxfam in Haiti, but is applicable to many other organisations & locations.

High-Level Architecture Proposal

It would be ideal if as much of the reference dataset as possible could be incorporated into the Base Map - OpenStreetMap is ideal for this.

Propose to:

  • Set up a Virtual Machine containing all necessary software (to make it easy to install on any available PC - this setup may need replicating in several offices, although no need to sync between offices except via main OpenStreetMap database at this time)
  • Local OSM Server
  • Build a GUI within Sahana to allow the uploading/editing of GPX data

Other Options Considered

  • Garmin MapSource
    • can't load more than 1 GPX file at a time
  • Google Earth
    • doesn't work offline

Detailed Architecture Proposal

Sahana

The current GPX layer interface is probably insufficient.

Instead have 2 tables:

  • WayPoints (where each point is individually editable for a label & marker - often the raw data will just have numeric labels, so we'll need to add a prefix to distinguish for when re-labelling from written notes)
  • Tracks (where all points are equal - we don't need to keep track of time or person: if we wish to see a specific track we can use the current GPX file interface for that...so maybe we keep the file uploads but add to the main table via an onaccept?)

Can we develop a Flash(?) interface to actually manage the transfer to/from the unit of the GPX &/or basemap?

Local OSM Server

Edit Base Map

  • Potlatch2
    • Editing local database or only main one?
    • Need better integration into Sahana:
      • passing in the area of the current viewport
      • seeing Sahana overlays inside Potlatch (can export as either GPX or OSM)

Sync Base Map

Our local install needs to be kept up to date from the global repo:

If we're making local edits then we need to feed those back to the master repo.

Export to Base Map


GIS BluePrints

Note: See TracWiki for help on using the wiki.