Hello
I have a problem with the synchronisation of pictures saved in a DCIM folder under files/imported datasets.
Normally when I´m in a project and take pictures it saves the pictures in the defined folder in the project path as shown below.
I define the Project (here Vermessung) as the default basemap because I want to collect data with pictures in a Layer named Punkte within the Project Vermessung. Then I add/open an imported dataset and start to collect Points within the Layer Punkte in the Project Vermessung and add some pictures to it.
What happens is that the project path changes to files/imported datasets and there is a folder DCIM created.
This folder is not going to be synchronized.
My question is, is that meant to be like this? And is there a smart way of synchronizing that folder as well, can I do something to solve this?
Thank you
hello @WilliFlip !
It sounds like maybe you’re mixing the workflows for working with “external datasets” between the “wire transfer” and the “qfieldcloud” ways, since your project is on the .../cloud_projects/ folder and your imported dataset is just on ...ch.opengis.qfield/files.
Did you copy the imported dataset directly via wire transfer? If that’s the case, check this page of the documentation to see how to prepare the external datasets to use them with QFieldCloud projects. In short, you have to create an additional project on qfieldcloud that will host all your external datasets online in a particular way that lets the system know that it should also update that project whenever you make changes on other projects that use those files.
This of course will eat up storage on the cloud. The alternative is to work only on the “wire transfer” workflow (without qfieldcloud in any part of the chain).
@WilliFlip
It sounds more like that you have not set a dedicated image path to your layer.
When you configure your project, make sure that you select the relative image path - https://docs.qfield.org/how-to/project-setup/attributes-form/#attachment-widget
hello @cuprio
thank you for your reply and the ideas.
We use the basemap solution with DEM, topographic maps, and other large datasets, and it works great.
We use the shared dataset solution for datasets that are updated regularly. These need to be available to all of our field staff. That works well, too. We do have another issue with that, but that’s not relevant here right now.
I’ll try again to describe the workflow we’re currently using.
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There is a project for surveying.
Within this project, there are three layers—points, lines, and polygons—that our field staff use to document things in the field.
This project includes links to shared datasets, which work.
There are also basemaps stored on the field staff’s tablets, which also work.
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I want to capture points, lines, and/or areas in the field within the project, and that works well.
I can also take photos of the features, and the photos are saved in the DCIM folder within the project. Wich is fine and working.
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Some of my field staff occasionally need access to individual geometries in the field. We make these available via the cloud (OneDrive). The data is provided in a *.gpkg file on the cloud.
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The surveying project is then defined as an “individual dataset base map.”
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On the tablet, the cloud (OneDrive) gets opend and through click on the geopackage it opens within QField.
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The geopackage opens in the project defined as an “individual dataset base map,” which also contains the survey layers: point, line, and area.
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If you now record points, lines, or areas here, it works. However, if you take photos of the objects, these photos are saved in a DCIM folder that is no longer located in the project path—which is automatically synchronized—but rather within the “Imported Datasets” folder.
I hope that gives a better picture of what my problem is.
Hello @beanzmo
thank you for your reply.
within my project I have the setting relative to project path for the image path of my layers.
oh, sorry for the confusion then. I didn’t know about the “Individual Datasets Base Map” function!
Checking the documentation, it is not clear to me how this works (can’t try it right now); does qfield create a new “project” after each time you directly open a supported file format (or zip)? If that’s the case, how are you “setting relative to project path for the image path of my layers”? do you transfer these new projects to your PC and set that up on QGIS?
Hi cuprico,
that ist exactly my problem.
I define the individual Datasets Base Map out of the project “Vermessung” in wich the settings are relativ and everything is fine.
Now when I open a supported file format, the project path within QField switches to imported datasets instead of staying within the project path of the project wich i defined as individual Datasets Base Map. I think it is strange and should not be. Therefore the question.
The project path for the imported dataset is created only on the device and it is not a real project wich you could download. So I do not transfer these new projects to my PC.
Still haven’t had time to test this, but rechecking everything I think I now better understand what is happening.
My guess is that you are losing your “Vermessung” project configuration by using this workflow. When you directly open a file, QField is probably creating an ad-hoc project with some default configurations, especially on some less trivial settings such as attachment path definitions (such as relative/absolute and other details). When you open the “Vermessung” as a “Individual Datasets Base Map”, you most likely aren’t bringing the whole project “plus some layers”; it sounds reasonable that the ad-hoc project’s settings get precedence over the Base Map’s because the function might have been designed to provide just a “custom background”.
The way you describe you are using the “Individual Datasets Base Map” sounds more like a workaround to dynamically add layers to a project on QField, and not just as a way to have some custom background to accompany the isolated dataset. If this is the case, sadly it is a big current limitation of QField; if you want to add layers to a project, you have to do it on QGIS.
If you need this functionality, consider adding your voice on the Ideas platform so that the developers can know there is demand for features that address this issue. For example, there currently is this request to add the ability to create new layers. Maybe an alternative to what is proposed there is to be able to just “copy” a layer into an existing project; perhaps an option to add it as a temporary/scratch layer can be helpful to avoid polluting the actual project. Scratch that, I keep forgetting about this plugin by the man himself! Maybe that can be of help.
