FAO Working Group on FAW Monitoring & Early Warning Systems
Keith Cressman, Kenneth Wilson, Dave Hodson, Victor Attuquaye Clottey, Manuele Tamò, Roger Day, Negussie Efa, Joseph Waweru, Tobais Landmann, Tedele Tefere , Brie Finegold, Emily Kimathi, David Hughes, Hruska, David Hughes, Allan Hruska, and Shawn Carlisle Kefauver
Data uploaded via the Doctor X FAW ODKCollect app can be seen here in real time.
Steps to follow for collecting data using the “Doctor X LAI/FAW ODKCollect App”
- Download the mobile app ODK Collect, if you do not already have it.
You will need to connect to the internet with an Android device and go to Google Play, search for “ODK” and select “ODK Collect” from ‘Open Data Kit’. Click the button to install. Select OK at the security configuration. After installation it will appear in your app directory. Select the app to launch.
- How to connect to the server “Aggregate” of the UB Doctor X LAI
To change ODK Collect preferences, press your device’s dedicated Menu button when you are in the ODK Collect start screen. On Android 3.x and 4.x devices without a dedicated Menu button, the Menu button functions are accessed through the narrow vertical glyph of three small squares displayed in the top right of the menu bar. From “General settings” select “Server” and change the section in the middle labeled “ODK Aggregate Settings” to the URL: https://universitatbarcelonadoctorxlai.appspot.com.
- Download the form Doctor X LAI/FAW:
Now that you have connected to the correct Aggregate server select “Get Blank Form” to download the form called Doctor X LAI/FAW. Now that you have the form stored locally, you can collect data as much as needed without an internet connection.
- Measure the fields, pest infestation, and GPS data using the form in a basic transect-grid pattern:
Select an area about 10-30 x 30 m2 in a field of interest. The idea is to do transect lines of 5-10 m between each point and 10 m between each transect (for a total of 9 points numbered from 1.1 to 3.3). Try to space the points evenly with large steps, but the app will request GPS data at the end of each point. In each point follow the instructions in the form for Field Site Attributes, Pest Infestation Attributes, pictures of the pest, pictures of the ground cover, and pictures for the calculation of Leaf Area Index, and finally the time, date, and GPS location. Language support is provided to a limited level for English, French and coming soon in Swahili and Shona.
- Delivery of the data once done with the field collection:
It is imperative that you remember to send in your data as soon as you can establish an internet connection. It is very easy once you are back in the office or at any place with internet. Go back to ODK Collect and go to to “Send Finalized Form (9)” select all and press the button “Send Selected.” It will now start to send in the data and will confirm transmission once completed.
- Checking the state of your data:
To make sure that your data was recorded with regards to FAW and LAI (leaf area index = LAI), you can go to https://universitatbarcelonadoctorxlai.appspot.com and apply a filter for the “Doctor X LAI/FAW” form. You may also find some more information at https://sckefauver.com/doctor-x-faw.
Drafted by Shawn C. Kefauver, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Barcelona, Faculty of Biology, Plant Physiology, sckefauver@ub.edu, sckefauver.com
Shawn C. Kefauver 