Collect Data in the Field

Use Mobile Devices Offline or Online

One Click Access

Release 9 includes built-in integration with the world's most widely used standard for data collection in the field, the same ODK/Enketo/KoBo W3C web standard technology that is utilized by Esri's Survey123 application for field data collection.

Manifold delivers that technology in a non-proprietary form that does not tie you to any proprietary servers for data collection, but allows you the choice of either free use of servers hosted in the cloud (up to 10,000 data points and 5GB collected per month per account for free) or totally free data collection servers hosted on your machines.

With a single click onto a favorite connection, Release 9 connects to your collected data, dynamically providing direct access to your collected data stored on servers as if it was local to your Manifold projects. That makes it effortlessly easy to use that data in Manifold maps, or to copy it and to paste into your organization's data storage resources, such as enterprise DBMS servers like Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, or PostgreSQL/PostGIS.

See the Connect KoBo to DBMS and GIS page for how Manifold enables collect once, use everywhere access to KoBo data.

No extra cost: You get field data collection, including Android mobile and dynamic Enketo web form apps for mobile devices, with dynamic, one-click use of collected data in every Release 9 license for no extra cost. No need to buy or to license separate apps or to pay for online storage. You get it all built into every Manifold license for only $145.

"I had an initial play last week and found it very intuitive. I simply dragged the xlsx file from a simple Survey123 form provided by a colleague into my KoBoToolbox and deployed it." - Forum post [Many Survey123 forms can be used as is. Some will require modifications.]

Videos

  • 10 Minute Tutorial - Create and Use a Survey Form - Create a form to collect information and locations for restaurants in Chartres, France. Capture data with automatic sync to our KoBo server.
  • 10 Minute Tutorial - Connect to Data Collected in the Field - Point and click to form a dynamic connection to the KoBo server storing our survey data, automatically linking tables and drawings into our Manifold project. Create a map with a satellite layer as background. See how when we add more data using mobile or other devices, those new locations are automatically captured in our map.
  • 5 Minute Tutorial - KoBo to PostgreSQL in One Click - Connect to our KoBo server with one click, and then copy and paste data from the KoBo server into our organization's PostgreSQL DBMS server. The video also shows how to save data from KoBo into a shapefile or into any of hundreds of other formats or data sources.

How It Works

Release 9 includes a sophisticated dataport for KoBoToolbox, a widely used open source technology for data acquisition using mobile clients or a web browser that provides an easy to use implementation of ODK/Enketo data collection technology. The data can be hosted on a server provided by KoBoToolbox (there are generous free options), or on your own system with KoBoToolbox.

The Manifold dataport provides a sophisticated, live, dynamic connection utilizing the extensive KoBO API to make it seem like the server hosting your collected data is part of the Manifold project, with dynamic refresh to automatically capture any new data collection projects, and to update data in existing projects. Manifold automatically creates drawings to visualize collected data that includes geolocations such as point, line, or area geometry. The dataport automatically captures rich media attachements, like images, video, and audio, as URLs. See the Collecting Data in the Field user manual topic.

Highlights of using KoBo and Manifold include:

Form Builder

  • Design forms quickly and easily using an intuitive form builder.
  • Reuse existing questions and blocks of questions and manage them in the question library.
  • Build complex forms with skip logic and validation.
  • More than 20 different question types available including location, image, video, rating, matrix, and many others.
  • Easily share projects with colleagues and set granular permission levels.
  • Import and export industry-standard XLSForms. Import via URL or upload from your computer.
  • Use forms from other ODK/Enketo apps, like Esri's Survey123. Many work "as is" with no need to edit.
  • Enjoy vast support for learning, with endless "how to" websites and tutorials.

Collect Data

  • Collect data online with an Internet connection or completely offline.
  • Collect data on phones, tablets or any browser using the free KoBoCollect app on Android devices and Enketo on any modern browser.
  • Automatic synchronization between mobile device and server via SSL, ensuring data cannot be read by a third party.
  • Strong safeguards against data loss, even on very long interviews / data acquisition sessions.
  • Data is immediately available right after it is collected and a connection can be found by the mobile device.

Illustration: ODK standard web forms that are easy to create let you capture data on mobile devices, including Android and Apple iOS phones as well as Windows and Linux tablets. Click to capture locations using the device's built in GPS/location services, or by clicking on a map.

Direct Connection

  • New Manifold dataport connects directly to KoBo servers from anywhere in the world. No need for manual downloads and imports.
  • See dynamically linked content within the server, with dynamic updates of new projects and new data added.
  • Connect to KoBo for everyone, KoBo Humanitarian, or your own KoBo server.
  • Connect directly to a specific asset, handy when an account has very many assets.
  • One click to update all assets in an account.
  • Refreshes automatically update assets with any changes in records or fields.
  • The KOBO dataport translates image / audio / video / file sentinels to URLs.
  • Manifold automatically creates drawings to visualize geopoint, geotrace, and geoshape data acquired.

Automatic Refresh

  • Manifold automatically refreshes opened KoBoToolbox tables every five minutes.
  • Near-zero overhead: Changes are fetched only when they occur.
  • Automatic refreshes capture any change that advances the table version.
  • Automatically updates when new records are added in the table in the KoBoToolbox server, and also when fields are added or deleted to tables in the server.

Collect Once, Use Everywhere

  • Enjoy effortless copy/paste dispatch of KoBo assets to other organizational assets, for example enterprise databases like Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and many more.
  • Manifold is the fastest way to get data from KoBo collection apps into Esri GIS apps: Just copy from the KoBo server shown in the project and paste into your geodatabase or other Esri data store.
  • Save your KoBO data into hundreds of file database and file formats, like SQLite, GPKG, Microsoft Access, Excel, shapefiles, and many other formats.
  • Apply unmatched, built-in spatial expertise to handle survey data involving geographic data.
  • Manifold knows thousands of coordinate reference systems, including the entire EPSG system and all SRIDs used by enterprise spatial databases.
  • Use hundreds of point and click transforms and functions to get the most out of your survey data, and to prep it for maximum utility and value to your organization.
  • During emergencies, saving time can mean saving lives: fully CPU and GPU parallel Manifold is by far the fastest spatial analytic engine, often doing in seconds what takes less advanced packages hours or even days.
  • Use the free Manifold Viewer to review KoBo assets from anywhere in the world.

The new capability makes it easy to acquire data in the field using survey forms and to instantly make that data available within a Manifold project or pasted into your organization's database servers or Esri apps.


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Manifold runs parallel on all cores

Faster by Design: Manifold running 48 threads with 100% utilization on an inexpensive 24 core / 48 thread AMD Threadripper. Running 48 threads with 100% utilization Manifold takes only 9 seconds to compute Path Distance. ESRI's Spatial Analyst on the same machine takes 12 minutes, using only nine threads with poor utilization. Add Manifold to your ESRI toolset for faster geoprocessing.

About Manifold

Manifold is a deep technology company creating advanced, parallel algorithms, next-level technology, and computation know-how that powers faster performance and smarter operations.

License Manifold® technology to power your company's products, or take advantage of Manifold's off-the-shelf commercial products. Jump decades ahead of your competition.

Manifold® brand products deliver quality, performance and value in the world's most sophisticated, most modern, and most powerful spatial products for GIS, ETL, DBMS, and Data Science. Total integration ensures ease of use, amazing speed, and unbeatably low cost of ownership. Tell your friends!

Questions? Contact sales@manifold.net. We're happy to help!