Mapeo Support Materials
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English
  • Introduction
  • Overview
    • About Mapeo
      • Mapeo tools
      • Peer-to-peer & Mapeo sync
      • How Mapeo is being used
    • Is Mapeo right for me?
    • FAQs
  • Quick start guide
    • Getting started
    • Mapeo Mobile
    • Mapeo Desktop
  • Complete Reference guide
    • Welcome – Introduction
    • 🗒️Essentials for a successful Mapeo project
      • Planning a Mapeo project
        • What is the project goal?
        • What outputs do you want?
        • What information to collect?
          • Data types within Mapeo
        • Who should be involved and how?
        • What are the parameters?
      • Security & risk assessment
      • Creating user protocols
    • ✔️Will Mapeo work out-of-the-box for me?
      • Default configuration
      • Default background map
    • ⚙️Customization options
      • Translating Mapeo & default configurations
      • Custom configurations
        • Creating custom configurations
          • Planning configuration & data structure
            • Categories
            • Icons
            • Details fields
          • Coding configuration
            • Adding icon files
              • Creating and exporting SVG files using Adobe Illustrator
              • Creating and exporting SVG files using Inkscape
            • Creating details fields
            • Creating categories
            • Defining geometry defaults
            • Adding a project key
            • Adding project name and version
            • Building configuration file
              • Via the command line
              • Using GitHub Actions
          • Testing and iterating
      • Custom background maps
        • Creating custom background maps
          • Generating map files in .mbtiles format for the experimental Background Maps feature
    • 📱Mapeo Mobile installation & setup
      • Installing Mapeo Mobile
      • Choosing Mapeo Mobile settings
      • Experiments: Turning on experimental features
        • Directional Arrow
        • P2P (peer-to-peer) App Updates
        • Background Maps
        • Security
          • App Passcode
          • Obscure Passcode
      • Importing configurations into Mapeo Mobile
      • Adding custom background maps to Mapeo Mobile
      • Updating Mapeo Mobile
    • 📱Mapeo Mobile use
      • Activating GPS and viewing current location
      • Creating observations
      • Viewing observations
      • Editing and deleting observations
      • Sharing data externally
      • Syncing data via Wi-Fi
    • 💻Mapeo Desktop installation & setup
      • Installing Mapeo Desktop
      • Choosing Mapeo Desktop language
      • Importing configurations to Mapeo Desktop
      • Adding custom background maps to Mapeo Desktop
      • Updating Mapeo Desktop
    • 💻Mapeo Desktop use
      • Mapeo Desktop for managing Mapeo Mobile data (Observations mode)
        • Synchronizing data
          • Synchronizing via Wi-Fi
          • Synchronizing with a file
        • Viewing observations
        • Editing and deleting observations
        • Exporting data & sharing externally
      • Mapeo Desktop for creating territory data (Territory mode)
        • Navigating around the map
        • Creating and editing territory data
        • Changing background maps in Territory mode
        • Importing and using external geospatial data
        • Exporting and syncing data
      • Synchronizing data with Mapeo Desktop
    • 💡Mapeo trainings
      • Defining goals and format
      • Structuring a training
        • Best practices for planning a training
        • Structuring the agenda, content and activities
          • Suggestions for the different sections of a training event
          • Tips and suggested activities for training key features of Mapeo
          • Materials and resources available for the training event
      • Preparing equipment and supplies for a training
        • Recommended equipment and supplies
        • Tech preparation before doing in-person training
    • 🔧Troubleshooting
      • I can't start Mapeo
      • Mapeo closes automatically
      • I have problems with the GPS in Mapeo
        • GPS is not activated in Mapeo
        • My GPS signal is very weak
      • I have problems with the camera in Mapeo
        • I get a black screen when using the camera
      • I want to update Mapeo Mobile permissions
      • I have sync issues
        • I want to connect to Wi-Fi
        • I want to create local Wi-Fi networks
          • With a portable router
          • With a smartphone
        • The device I want to sync with does not show up on my Synchronize screen
        • I get an error when I try to sync with another device
        • I can't sync with the sync file
        • The person I want to sync with has deleted valuable data
      • Sharing files between devices
      • Saving and printing Mapeo reference materials
      • How do I back up Mapeo Desktop data?
    • Glossary & quick reference sheets
      • Glossary of Mapeo related terms
      • Overview of Mapeo Desktop Territory mode screen
  • For developers
    • Mapeo architecture overview
    • Mapeo repositories
    • Localization
  • Support
  • Additional references
  • Digital Democracy website
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On this page
  • What is a .mapeosettings file?
  • Importing a configuration into Mapeo
  • Testing out your configuration
  • Making changes
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  1. Complete Reference guide
  2. Customization options
  3. Custom configurations
  4. Creating custom configurations

Testing and iterating

Once you've compiled your custom configuration, you will have a .mapeosettings file that can be imported into Mapeo Mobile and Desktop for testing and use.

What is a .mapeosettings file?

A .mapeosettings file is a tar file, similar to a zip file. For debugging purposes you can see the contents of the file by changing the file extension to .tar and using any application that can extract tar files.

Importing a configuration into Mapeo

For instructions on how to import a configuration file (.mapeosettings) into Mapeo, see:

Importing configurations into Mapeo Mobile

Importing configurations to Mapeo Desktop

Testing out your configuration

It's worthwhile to thoroughly kick the tires of your new configuration prior to introducing it into your project and beginning formal data collection.

A few things to look for when testing configurations:

  • Icons Do icons render clearly? Check how icons appear, especially in Mapeo Mobile on devices with smaller screens.

  • Categories Do categories appear in a logical order on the Categories screen of Mapeo Mobile? Changes can be made via the sort property in Creating categories.

  • Details fields Are text labels and placeholders easy to understand? Do details fields appear in a logical order? Fields will be displayed to users in the order they are listed in the fields array in Creating categories.

  • Colors If you added color to category map markers, are they distinguishable from one another and visible on your map background?

  • Name and version Does the name and version of your configuration appear as desired on the Project configuration screen of Mapeo Mobile or the Synchronize screen of Mapeo Desktop?

Making changes

Changes can easily be made to your configuration via steps in the Coding configurationsection. We often test, modify, recompile and retest several times before releasing a new config version.

As noted in Planning configuration & data structure, configurations can and often will evolve over time. As you begin collecting data, you will likely find categories, details fields and options you would like to add or modify.

Unlike some other survey or data collection tools, Mapeo allows a lot of flexibility for changing configurations over time and does not require that the database be wiped when changes are made. While changes to icons or color, name, label, or placeholder fields will be minor, more significant modifications like removing a category will impact how existing data is displayed in Mapeo and data exports. Regardless of these changes, no previous data will be lost or unviewable.

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Last updated 3 years ago

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