A number of apps have been developed recently that facilitate developing and deploying highly customizable data collection tools for use on cellphones and tablet computers. When networked, they allow teams of people to simultaneously and independently collect field data, which then can be uploaded to a common GIS repository. When managed well, this can help speed the collection, processing, and analysis of field data. This poster presentation shows how the Collector app for ESRI�s ArcGIS Online web-based GIS is being used in an introductory principles of range management course at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo to teach methods of field data collection and principles for organizing and managing field work. In this course, Collector and ArcGIS Online have (1) replaced Garmin GPS receivers and paper datasheets with students� smartphones for field data collection exercises in lab activities, (2) reduced the time required for processing results, and (3) created opportunities for learning about the design and management of data collection processes.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.