Location Aware Smart Forms

By Tom DeWitte & Tom Coolidge

Field data collection on paper forms has always struggled with defining a location. Too often, the top portion of a paper field data collection form asks the mobile worker a series of questions to describe where they are located. These questions ask for imprecise location descriptions such as state name, county name, city name, service area, construction project area, street name, and property number. None of these vague location descriptors will provide the follow-on mobile workers with the precise understanding of where the buried wire or pipe is located on the property to allow them to quickly locate these assets.

To solve this location accuracy issue, most paper forms ask the mobile worker to draw a sketch in addition to answering those vague location descriptor questions previously mentioned. These “dumb” paper forms require more than conversion to digital; they need conversion to location-aware smart forms.

Unfortunately, too many IT teams miss this opportunity to improve mobile worker efficiency by automatically populating these location questions. ?They miss the opportunity to lower Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs by eliminating the need for mobile workers to draw a sketch. Instead, they simply convert the questions on paper into digital form. When this “dumb” digital form is deployed to the mobile workforce, the mobile worker does not benefit. Often, they get frustrated and ask this simple question: If my mobile device knows where I am, why doesn’t the digital form?

Location Aware

Today’s mobile phones, tablets, and even laptops know their location. Many have built-in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chips. Others use cell phone triangulation or wi-fi network node location. These mobile devices can put a blue dot on the map to show the mobile worker where they are located.

Where am I?

The simple question of “Where am I?” is at the heart of location-aware smart forms. Leveraging the device’s understanding of location is a great first step in eliminating vague location questions.

Remember that even the cheap GNSS receiver card in today’s mobile phones provides a more accurate location definition than a street address. According to Apple documentation, an iPhone 15 GNSS card has an average spatial accuracy of? +/- 10 meters. That translates to a search area of 314 sq meters. A quick Google search for the average square footage of suburban single-family lot returns an estimate of 1300 sq meters. Doing some quick math shows that using the mobile device GNSS card to identify location results in a 75% reduction in the search area to locate the buried utility.

Knowing where you are, can be refined further by providing an interactive map with a basemap. Then allow the mobile worker to move the blue dot location to a new location based on the basemap. This will improve the spatial accuracy of your location, further reducing the potential search area for the buried utility.

What Area am I in?

With the location now defined, a location-aware smart form such are ArcGIS Field Maps can leverage this information to automatically answer other questions, such as, what service area am I in? What construction project area am I in? What city, county, or governmental region am I in????????????

These questions can be easily answered with the appropriate data to reference, and a geospatial function to overlay location against the reference data. Below is an arcade script for use as a calculated expression within ArcGIS Field Maps. This script uses the Intersects() arcade function to compare the feature’s location against a Construction Project polygon map layer.

In this example, the construction project polygons were included in the map. This ensures the required reference information is always available, even when there is no network connection.

What is Near Me?

A location-aware smart form can also identify other features near you. For example, if you are inspecting buried hazardous pipelines and want to know if you are near a school.

The question, “Is this near a school?" can be automatically answered with a combination of a buffer of your location and an intersection of the buffer area against a layer containing schools.

Location Aware While Online

When creating location-aware smart forms, it is important to know whether the field data collection activity must be available when the mobile device is not connected to a network. When offline support is not required, the referenced datasets do not have to be included in the map.? This is very useful when referencing Living Atlas of the World datasets, such as USA Current Wildfires, USA Structures, or USA Flood Hazard Areas, to name a few of the many available data layers.? A minor change in how the referenced dataset is called is all that is needed.

The arcade function FeatureSetByPortalItem() allows the form's calculated expression to reach out to another portal and query its data.

Location Aware While Offline

When the field data collection form must function even when the mobile device is not connected to a network, then all referenced data must be in the map. These referenced data layers or tables must be correctly configured per Field Maps' offline map area requirements.

When a data layer of the data table is correctly configured for offline map area usage, the syntax to call these reference information items is the same, regardless of whether the mobile device is online or offline. The FeatureSetByName() arcade function with the $Map parameter is the arcade function to call the reference items. This function is the same whether the referenced map item is a layer or a table.

Completing Paperwork Faster

Using a location-aware smart form simplifies the field data collection process. These smart forms improve a utility’s mobile worker productivity by auto-populating the form's location questions and removing the need for manually created sketches. For utility organizations, this location-based intelligence reduces O&M expenses by allowing mobile workers to spend less time doing paperwork and more time managing utility assets.? For IT professionals, location-aware smart forms avoid the embarrassment of mobile workers asking them: If my mobile device knows where I am, why doesn’t your digital form?

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