The original version of this document is located at https://docs.qfield.org/success-stories/ecological-surveying
By Ryan Bell, GIS Consultant, Delta-Simons Environmental Consultancy
To conduct ecological surveying more efficiently than has been
previously achieved through traditional non-digital techniques, using
QField as a medium for standardised and flexible field data collection.
To facilitate effective field work, regular consultation with the
Ecology team is required to ensure that QField projects are prepared
appropriately. Firstly, basemaps comprising aerial imagery and proposed
development plans are prepared by georeferencing and constructing
pyramids in QGIS. Point, line and polygon vector layers are then created
to support digitisation and associated data collection. Using a range of
widgets, attribute fields are customised to meet the requirements of the
Ecology team. These include:
Style
: drop-down list of selectable styles tailored for conducting
ecological surveys
Scale
: drop-down list of selectable scales for point and line feature
Info
: space for inserting a feature description
Image
: location for images to be captured and stored
Geometry
: contains self-populated geometry values, e.g. area, perimeter,
length
Timestamp
: records the time and date that a feature was created/last modified
Delta-Simons are saving approximately 40% of the time previously
consumed by traditional ecological field data collection. QField has
significantly improved the ecological surveying workflow by: