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See the pages below for troubleshooting tips on some common Synchronization issues:
Creating a hotspot, or portable Wi-Fi area from your smartphone, can be useful when synchronizing. Especially, if you don't have access to a Wi-Fi network or a portable router, you can use a third cell phone to create a hotspot and create a network to which other devices can connect and sync.
You cannot create a hotspot and sync at the same time, so you will need an extra phone to create the hotspot.
To create a hotspot, follow the steps below:
On the main screen of your mobile, click on Settings
Click Portable Wi-Fi hotspot and turn it on using the toggle
On the main screen of your mobile, click on Settings
Click Wi-Fi. Activate it and check the list of Available networks
If the hotspot network created does not appear, click Refresh
Click on the hotspot network created and enter the password
Click Connect. The connection will start shortly
With this method, you can share your phone's mobile data with up to 10 devices using a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Important note: Make sure to turn off Mobile Data on the phone that creates the hotspot.
Your telephone company may charge additional fees for using this feature.
Some of these steps only work on Android 9 and later versions.
Creating a local Wi-Fi network is especially useful when it comes to synchronization since Mapeo allows multiple devices to synchronize with each other without the need for the internet, simply by using a Wi-Fi network. Here are two ways to create a Wi-Fi network:
An error message during synchronization between two Mapeo devices can occur due to several factors. In addition, the messages may be different depending on the situation. The most common are:
Errors with a yellow or red symbol with the message "Error sync terminated"
or "Error: read ECONNRES..."
, occur when one of the devices has lost Wi-Fi connection or left the Synchronization screen during the synchronization process and when the synchronization has not been successful.
The white screen with the text "Something is happening with the Mapeo database"
also indicates a failed or interrupted synchronization.
Make sure both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Check that the Wi-Fi hotspot is working properly. You can see the Wi-Fi signal on the Synchronization screen of Mapeo Desktop. The higher the signal quality, the more secure the synchronization process will be.
Try to sync the devices again. It is very important that you do not close the Synchronization screen on any device while the synchronization is taking place.
If you still have problems, check the status of the database on Mapeo Desktop. To do this, click Help on the Mapeo Desktop top menu bar and select Database Status.
If Mapeo is not displaying the device you are trying to sync with on the Synchronize screen, start by confirming the following:
For two devices to sync via Wi-Fi, both need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. This Wi-Fi network does not need to have an internet connection.
Wi-Fi status for your computer may be displayed at the top of the Synchronize screen, under the "Available Devices" header.
Mapeo devices will only appear as available to sync if both devices have the Synchronize screen open. The Synchronize screen should be kept open until the sync process is complete.
See below for instructions on how to open the Synchronize screen:
In order for two Mapeo devices to sync, they must be using the same configuration. A Mapeo device using a different configuration file will not show up in the list of Available devices on the Synchronize screen.
See below for instructions on how to confirm which configuration is currently in use:
To confirm which configuration Mapeo Mobile is currently using, consult the white bar at the bottom of the Synchronize screen.
If you have confirmed all of the steps above and the device you are trying to sync with still does not show up on your Synchronize screen, try restarting Mapeo on both devices.
Turn off Mobile Data on your phone. Details will vary for each phone, but Mobile Data settings can usually be found in the Quick Settings menu, which can be accessed by swiping down from the top of the screen. Click the switch to disable Mobile Data.
Click Set up portable Wi-Fi hotspot and edit or review the password and hotspot name (SSID). You can view the password by clicking View.
​​​​​​
Check that your Mapeo database is not damaged. To learn more, see
If the problem is not resolved, please contact the Digital Democracy technical team via our multilingual mapeo-users chat on for advice.
For more info on how to connect to Wi-Fi, see .
On the Synchronize screen you can view your device's current Wi-Fi status. If connected to Wi-Fi, the name of the network will appear on the left-hand side of the navy blue bar. If your device is not connected to Wi-Fi, you will see a "No WiFi" message with a prompt to open your device's Wi-Fi settings.
If you are currently connected, you may see the name of the Wi-Fi network and the current strength of the signal. (Eg. FIOS 7S5YS **QUALITY: 70%
** ).
In some cases, Mapeo Desktop will not be able to access your computer's Wi-Fi information and no Wi-Fi details will be displayed on the Synchronize screen. This does not mean that your computer is not connected. For more on confirming Wi-Fi status from your computer's operating system, see .
To learn more about configurations, see .
To confirm which configuration Mapeo Mobile is currently using, tap Observations list on the home screen, then tap Settings. On the Settings screen, select Project configuration to view the name and version of the configuration in use.
For more on how to import a new configuration file into Mapeo Mobile, see .
For more on how to import a new configuration file into Mapeo Desktop, see .
As you know, when synchronizing with another Mapeo user, ALL DATA is shared in both directions. When you sync with someone, you will receive all of the observations on their phone and they will receive all of your observations. All edits and deletions that have been made to data will also be transferred to the other device during sync. For example, if a person deletes or edits an observation and then syncs with other devices, this observation will be deleted or edited on all synced devices.
Let's give a practical example:
It can happen that someone misunderstood the behavior of data syncing and deleted some of the data they collected in Mapeo Mobile after having synced with their peers, thinking that data would already be safe in a central database. This is not how Mapeo works. What will happen is that the data you delete on your phone, will be deleted from everyone's phones after syncing with them.
How to prevent the data deleted on one device from being deleted from other devices after syncing?
There is a work-around to prevent this, but it can be very time-consuming. Mapeo sync works under the premise that if multiple users edit the same observation before syncing with each other, the changes that will prevail after syncing are the most recent ones.
Knowing this, before syncing with the person that deleted the data, you can explore your database in Mapeo Desktop, identify the observations created and deleted by the person that deleted data, and make a small edit to each of them. After that, sync your Mapeo Desktop device with the other person's device. This way, after syncing with the person that deleted the data, not only will your data will not be deleted, but the person that deleted the data will get the data back.
Here you have an example of an activity that you can practice with your team to clarify this behavior:
How can you prevent this from happening again?
Mapeo sync can be a tricky and complex process and the functioning of the peer-to-peer database is not always easy to understand. It is important to create project synchronization protocols to ensure that all data becomes part of the project database. For more on that, see Creating user protocols.
We recommend using portable wireless routers of the TP-LINK type.
To connect to the router, follow the steps below:
Connect the router to a power source, such as a computer, using the USB cable.
Make sure the router is in 3G/4G mode (there is a button on the side of the router).
Enter the password on the cell phones and/or computers you want to sync. Now they should be ready to be able to sync Mapeo data.
To sync with a sync file, the configuration the sync file was created with must be the same as the configuration used by the device you want to sync with.
First of all, check that this is the case. To do this, check what configuration the computer you want to sync with is using, and find out what configuration the computer that created the sync file uses. You can check the configuration used in Mapeo Desktop at the bottom of the Synchronization screen.
If the configuration is not the same, you have two possible options:
Option A: Change the settings on the target computer
On the computer where you want to sync the file, import the configuration used to create the sync file. For it:
In the popup window, navigate to the folder on the computer where you saved the configuration file (.mapeosettings
) that you want to import. Click the file, then click Open. You may see a white screen for a few seconds while the configuration is changed.
Try again to sync with the desired sync file.
Option B: Change settings on the source computer
On the computer where the sync file was created, import the configuration you're using on the computer you want to sync with and recreate the sync file. To do so, follow the next steps:
In the popup window, navigate to the folder on the computer where you saved the configuration file (.mapeosettings
) that you want to import. Click the file, then click Open. You may see a white screen for a few seconds while the configuration is changed.
Re-create the sync file, from the Synchronization screen, by clicking the Create Sync File button. Do not close or exit the Synchronization screen until the process is complete. Closing in the middle of the process could create a corrupt sync file.
Share the sync file with the computer you want to sync with. For more information on this point, see Sharing files between devices
On the destination computer, on the Synchronize screen, click Synchronize with synchronization file.
Browse the popup window until you find the desired file and click Open. Do not close the synchronization screen until you have finished the synchronization process. Closing in the middle of the process could corrupt data.
Normally, the use of different versions does not cause problems when synchronizing, although if the versions are very different from each other, it can be problematic. If the sync file was created with a version of Mapeo that is very old or different from the one you use on the computer you want to sync with, you could have problems. To fix this problem, follow the steps below:
Make sure the sync file was created using the same version of Mapeo that the computer you want to sync with is using. In Mapeo Desktop, you can see the version used at the bottom left of the Mapeo modes panel.
If they use the same version, skip to the next step.
2. If they are not using the same version, you will need to update Mapeo on the device that is using the older version. For more information visit Updating Mapeo Desktop
There may be a few factors that lead to a corrupt sync file. One of them could be leaving the synchronization page before the process of creating a synchronization file has been completed. Another could be that you have synced the file with a corrupted database. But there could be more factors.
To address this issue, follow the steps below:
If possible, create a new sync file and try to sync with the destination computer again. Do not close the synchronization screen until you have finished the process. Closing in the middle of the process could create a corrupt sync file.
If it is not possible to create a new sync file again, or if you have tried it and it does not work, contact the Digital Democracy technical team through our multilingual mapeo-users chat on Discord.
To investigate on your own if the sync file is corrupted, you can use the following clues:
If when creating the synchronization file, Mapeo has been frozen for many hours, it is likely that you have corrupted data.
If when synchronizing with a synchronization file, Mapeo Desktop freezes for many hours in the synchronization process, without increasing the number of Data or Images, it is likely that the synchronization file contains corrupted data.
If there are observations with photographs in your Mapeo Desktop or Mobile database that you cannot open, it is likely that those observations are corrupted.
If in your Mapeo Desktop or Mobile database there are observations with dates that don't make any sense (for example, 1970), it is likely that those observations are corrupted.
You can try deleting that data and creating a new sync file (.mapeodata
), but we think it's safer to contact Digital Democracy's technical team via our multilingual Discord mapeo-users chat for advice.
See below for details on how to connect to a WiFi network:
The details may vary for each smartphone, but Wi-Fi settings can generally be found in the Quick Settings menu, which can be accessed by swiping down from the top of your screen.
Tap the toggle to turn on Wi-Fi, then tap the name of the Wi-Fi network you would like to connect to. Enter the password if required and tap Connect.
On the phones and/or computers you want to synchronize, search for the Wi-Fi network created by the router. The router has a label attached to it, with the name of your Wi-Fi network and the password.
SSID indicates the name of the WiFi Network, in this example, it is TP-Link_2088
KEY / PIN indicates the password, in this example, it is 57880457
Currently, only computers with Mapeo Desktop installed can sync with a sync file (.mapeodata
). If you're having trouble syncing with a sync file, explore the various solutions, in this order:
On Mapeo Desktop, on the Top menu bar, click File and select Import Configuration.
Restart Mapeo Desktop.
On Mapeo Desktop, on the Top menu bar, click File and select Import Configuration.
Restart Mapeo Desktop.
Click on the Windows menu button, select Settings, click on Network and Internet. In the left menu panel, click on the Wi-Fi option. Toggle the Wi-Fi option to On to enable your Wi-Fi adapter. Connect to the WiFi network you prefer. You might be asked for the password.
A short path is to click on the Wi-Fi icon in the toolbar in the lower-left corner of your computer screen. If it isn't there, click the arrow to see if it's grouped with the other icons on your toolbar. Click on the larger Wi-Fi box that appears in the pop-up menu and select the WiFi network you want to connect to.