GPS Data Does Not Seem to Be Collecting

Support
1

Hello:

I am trying Avicenna to see if it would be appropriate for a study we are launching. Primarily, we are focused on GPS and Movement Data of Participants. However, after running it with three people (members of the team) for about a day, it seems like no data has been collected? When I export the GPS Data/Location the .csv is blank.

When I go to the view, there is also no records.

Any assistance on this?

2

Dear Aaron,

I hope you are doing well.

Could you please provide me with your Study ID?

Kind regards,
Omid

3

Hello - Thank you @omid.dolatkia - it is 3673.

4

Hello Dear Aaron,

User_ids: 89007, 89009 have not granted GPS permission, and user_id: 89008 appears not to have used the app since the 19th. Everything is functioning properly with only user_id: 89006, and I was able to export GPS data for this user_id.

To ensure effective data collection, please consider the following tips:

  • Granting the necessary permissions in the app is crucial. If everything is set correctly, you should not see a red banner at the top of the application’s main page.
  • Specifically, you need to grant the Always Allow GPS permission.
  • Keep the app running in the background and avoid swiping it away from the application list.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or issues.

Kind regards,
Omid

5

Hi @omid.dolatkia

Thank you for the update. Could you let me know where you see that the others have not provided access? I helped them set up their data collection on their devices for us to test it - and all have permissions enabled.

I am also wondering about the point:
“Keep the app running in the background” - does this mean the application only collects data when it is open on the device? I worry about our participants turning it off.

Finally -
I am wondering how you were able to download the data. I noticed you moved the export date back a month.

I have about 15 downloads that are empty - but this current download does include the data I was looking for.

Thanks for your help!

6

Hi @aaron.guest,

Regarding your first query:
To verify permissions, you can refer to audit_log_type: 43 (also named available_notifications_changed) on the audit trail page, or you can query this in the Kibana audit_trail index by setting the appropriate time period.
Here’s an example for user_id 89009: Notification "Background GPS permission is not granted(15)" is Added. The term ‘Added’ indicates that the user either revoked the permission or did not grant it initially. Conversely, messages ending with ‘Removed’ signify that permission has been granted. Please note that for each notification type, you should review the most recent status.

Regarding your second query:
Not exactly. For GPS collection in iOS, if users grant ‘Allow Always’, the OS will automatically start the app in the background upon receiving any location updates, even if the app was terminated. Therefore, for more efficient data collection, it’s important to instruct users to grant ‘Allow Always’. user_id: 89006 is collecting gps data regularly so there should be no worries.

Regarding your third query:
I selected all participants for the last month’s time period. You can also check this in the Kibana gps index with your selected time range. So if the file is empty it’s indicating that there are no data for selected users in selected time range.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best regards,
Omid