Getting Started

Install the Android app, grant permissions, create your first survey, and get to know the four tabs.

Install

Tavak is an Android app for Android 7.0 and newer, from Google Play. The free version installs with no account and nothing to sign in to: one survey and up to 100 objects, with every feature present, the export and the QGIS project among them. See Free Version & Subscription.

First launch

First launch, deliberately in airplane mode: the Map tab draws, the GPS bar reads, the tools rail waits on the right. The only thing in Tavak that needs a connection is fetching online basemap tiles you have not seen before.
First launch, deliberately in airplane mode: the Map tab draws, the GPS bar reads, the tools rail waits on the right. The only thing in Tavak that needs a connection is fetching online basemap tiles you have not seen before.

The app opens on the Map tab. A strip under the title bar shows where you stand with the free version (0 of 100 objects created). The card at the top explains the one idea worth knowing: points, photos, videos and tracks are all collected into a survey, and the map tools only switch on once a survey is open.

There are four tabs along the bottom. Map is where you collect. Surveys lists every survey with its contents and its export. Library holds basemaps, datasets, geofences, landmarks and forms. Then Settings.

Your first survey

New Survey: a name, with today’s date filled in for you, an optional description, and the layers you will be collecting into. You can add more layers later.
New Survey: a name, with today’s date filled in for you, an optional description, and the layers you will be collecting into. You can add more layers later.

Tap New Survey on the card, or on the Surveys tab. Give it a name and, if you like, a description. The Layers row is where you say what you will be collecting; Layers & Fields goes into it properly. Start Survey begins recording the GPS track straight away.

Permissions, when they are needed

Tavak asks for each permission the first time it actually needs it, and tells you why before Android asks.

Starting a survey: the app has explained that recording carries on with the screen off, and now Android asks. Choose Allow all the time. With “while in use” the track pauses every time the screen goes off.
Starting a survey: the app has explained that recording carries on with the screen off, and now Android asks. Choose Allow all the time. With “while in use” the track pauses every time the screen goes off.
Straight after that: let the app run in the background, so battery optimisation does not interrupt a long walk. Choose Allow.
Straight after that: let the app run in the background, so battery optimisation does not interrupt a long walk. Choose Allow.
Camera and microphone are asked for the first time you take a photo or record a video, and not before.
Camera and microphone are asked for the first time you take a photo or record a video, and not before.

The permissions page lists every permission and what it is used for. Your location never leaves the phone unless you export it; the privacy policy has the detail.

Check the sky

Satellite Status, opened from the GPS bar: 36 satellites in view across five constellations, average signal 35 dB-Hz, HDOP 0.5. That is about as good as a fix gets, at ±4 m. Wait here until the accuracy chip turns green before you place anything that matters.
Satellite Status, opened from the GPS bar: 36 satellites in view across five constellations, average signal 35 dB-Hz, HDOP 0.5. That is about as good as a fix gets, at ±4 m. Wait here until the accuracy chip turns green before you place anything that matters.

Long-press the accuracy chip in the GPS bar, or tap the GPS status, to see what the receiver is seeing. GPS Tracking covers the modes, the accuracy gate and point averaging.

Where next

Questions? support@spatialize.dev · Tavak home · Video tutorials on YouTube