With continued support for emergency operations, the Disaster Response Team within Esri has provided ready-to-use Damage Survey templates for use with iPhones, iPads and Android devices. You can publish these templates within your ArcGIS Online organization and deploy to your response and recovery teams.
The following steps describe how you can download, configure and use the ArcGIS application within your organization. To illustrate the effectiveness of the templates and the mobile application, the Disaster Response Team have created a sample map and Downed Trees service that you can use to familiarize yourself with the application. Please note that this is only a sample.
If you would like to publish the Downed Trees service within your organization, please download the template and step-by-step guide for publishing. The steps below apply to your own services – simply enter your organization name when connecting and browse to find the web maps that you have named and shared within groups on your organization.
To start, download the ArcGIS application:
Once you have the ArcGIS app on your smartphone device, you can then connect to the Disaster Response Organization that is hosted within ArcGIS Online and open the Initial Damage Survey [Sample] map.
The following details the process of creating a Damage Survey Report on an iPhone device. This process is conceptually the same on an Android device or Windows Phone 7 device however individual steps and locations of buttons/tools differ.
Connect to the Disaster Response Organization
From the Maps button, tap on GIS Connections to connect to the Disaster Response organization, then type in the name of the organization (disasterresponse.maps.arcgis.com) and press Done to access the organization’s maps.
NOTE: If you have published the template on your own organization please make sure that you replace the URL above with the URL of your organization.
Find and open the Initial Damage Survey [Sample] map
Once connected to the Disaster Response organization, you can quickly search for the Initial Damage Survey map by tapping the search button on the top right of the app and then type Initial Damage to locate the map. Tapping on the map will open it inside of the app.
Creating Damage Survey Reports
With the Initial Damage Survey sample map open, you can now create a new damage survey. First tap the GPS button on the map to center the map on your location and then tap on Tools (wrench icon) to access the collection capabilities.
From the Tools list, tap on Collect to create a new Damage Survey report. Here you are presented with a list of feature templates to choose from – tap UNASSIGNED. You are then presented with the damage survey report form that you need to fill in, set the location for the report and attach photos to.
Tapping on each blue icon you can enter a value for each of the fields.
As you work your way through the form you will notice the toolbar at the bottom of the form that lets you set the location for the report and attach photos. Tap on the shape button to view the map and set the current location. Here you can either tap on the map to set the location or you can tap on the GPS satellite tool to use your GPS position as the location.
With the location set, you can now take a photo and attach it to the report. Simply tap on the paperclip button and then tap the Add button to either choose a photo from your camera library or start the camera and take a photo.
With the report complete, all you need to do is tap the blue Done button to finish. This will create a new Damage Survey report along with attached photos inside of the service hosted inside of the Disaster Response organization.
Replacing paper damage survey reports with mobile GIS applications you can streamline the reporting process and use GIS to make decisions for dispatching work crews for cleanup.
Mobile and Disaster Response Team