Geosurvey Documentation
User guide for Geosurvey, the Android field surveying app — offline-first GPS data collection, geotagged photos and videos, and GIS-ready exports.
This documentation is being written. Sections are outlines with placeholders for the screenshots being captured now.
Basics
- Getting Started — Install the Android app, grant permissions, create your first survey, and get to know the four tabs.
- Surveys & Sessions — Surveys (sessions) are the container for everything you collect: GPS track, media, and features.
- Map & Navigation — The Map tab is your daily workspace: basemaps, the tools drawer, and live GPS status.
- GPS Tracking — Tracking modes, the accuracy gate for data capture, background recording, and GPS point averaging.
Collecting data
- Photos & Videos — Geotagged photo and video capture with watermarks, EXIF control, and full camera settings.
- Points, Lines & Polygons — Draw survey features on the map with live measurements, then refine geometry vertex by vertex.
- Survey Forms — Design structured data-entry forms once, then fill them on every photo, video, or feature.
Getting data out
- Export & QGIS — One tap produces a GIS-ready package: GeoPackage, a pre-styled QGIS project, and optional extra formats.
Planning & reference
- Destinations & Navigation — Ordered waypoints to navigate to — with distance, bearing, and arrival alarms.
- Landmarks — Reference points, lines and areas that persist across surveys — plot boundaries, base stations, access paths.
- Geofences — Virtual boundaries that alert you on entry or exit — stay inside a work area, or get warned near hazards.
Maps & data
- Basemaps & Offline Maps — Online basemaps with tile caching, downloadable offline areas, and your own georeferenced rasters.
- Import & Reference Layers — Bring existing GIS data into the app: overlay reference layers, or re-import a previous survey.
- Data Management — The Data tab, trash and restore, storage, and cache housekeeping.
Reference
- Settings Reference — Every setting explained: GPS, coordinates, drawing colors, map, storage, photo & video, camera, watermark.
- Subscription & Trial — How the Google Play subscription works: trial, plans, offline grace, and managing your plan.
- FAQ & Troubleshooting — Common questions: GPS signal, battery, storage, and recovering data.