Smap

About Smap

The Smap-Suite project aims to provide low cost solutions for mobile phone based data collection. The genesis of the project was a group of like minded IT people thinking about how to improve the digital infrastructure available to people in developing countries, specifically digital maps. Currently we are are working with Smap Consulting, RMIT and World Vision Australia to conduct effectiveness surveys for aid programs.

Our solutions aim to:

1. Provide direct access to the collected data in relational databases. A survey is defined to populate an existing database such as the program effectiveness analysis system. Uploads from the mobile phone are then written directly to this database.
2. Support iterative data collection of small amounts of data. As data is uploaded an expert system or a person can request additional data in real time. For example if the number of reported cases of dysentery exceeds a threshold within a given geographical area then a request can be sent automatically to collect water samples from specific locations.
3. Collect geographical data. The process of iterative collection of data described above can be used for Openstreetmap data. In this case the data uploads use the Openstreetmap API to update the database.
4. Support community mapping initiatives. Because location is important for the analysis and use of collected data we encourage contribution to community maps such as Openstreetmap.

Our philosophy is for the solutions to be:

1. Low cost
2. Collect data with location
3. Use manual entry of data by a person completing a form
4. Use mobile phones as collection devices

One of the benefits of using a mobile phone to record the data is that ultimately a human answers the questions and hence the types of questions can be quite flexible. This allows new questions to be created in real time and sent to people capable (due to their location or skills) of answering them.

Task Management

A survey can be considered a task where questions, including read only questions, are instructions to the field worker on what to do and what data to record. A collaborative project between Smap and RMIT, called Smap7, has created an API, a server and defined a protocol for the management of these tasks.

Task templates, like surveys, are defined as an XForm. When a user is assigned a task, the mobile phone application, such as fieldTask or odkCollect, can download the appropriate XForm which will guide the user through the completion of the task. These tasks can be large and complicated, with hundreds of questions, and sophisticated embedded logic. They are also flexible as a new task can be quickly designed using an XForm editor.

However Smap7 have also defined a Micro Task Protocol. This is designed to allow tasks to be completed by custom iPhone or Android applications. Features include:

• Applications can be customised to perform tasks very efficiently.
• The application can be implemented on any type of mobile phone that supports a data connection.
• The tasks will tend to be smaller as large tasks can be effectively completed using tools like fieldTask. Hence the term "Micro Task".

Tools

All software that we develop is open source (GPL V3, with the exception of FieldTask that is licensed using Apache License Version 2) and can be accessed from this site.

Third party tools include:

• ODKCollect
• Openstreetmap
• Platform
• Postgresql
• Apache
• Birt

More information

• System Overview
• User Documentation
• Project Roadmap
• Downloads

Can I Contribute?

Yes, we'd like that. In fact, that's one of our goals of this project. We'd recommend you start by joining our discussion list, downloading/browsing our source code, and using our issues tracker to discuss any features you'd like added or bugs you've found.