Beta version 6.0.0(51) location problem?

Hi Graham!

This is a very early-stage testing release and I wasn't expecting you to receive this update just yet 😅  You're an 'alpha' tester and will receive updates much sooner than most other testers. I have now corrected it so that you will receive app updates a bit later in the development process. This update should be stable and fully working, though. I suggest updating the app to a newer build, v6.0.0 (58), which fixes some minor issues.

The map should work as previously but now requires a slightly longer tap to select a location. Let me know if you can't select it or feel this wasn't intuitive enough.

I would like to understand the community's thoughts on the new release. Now that you have the new app version installed, what do you think of it? Is there anything else you missed or would like added?

Hi Karolis,
I have v6.0.0(51) as well and was just coming on here to post my impressions.  To be honest, it feels as if it has made several things harder, unfortunately. 

There no longer seems to be the option to lock any of the fields, including site name - if this isn't changed it will make the app virtually unusable from my perspective. Particularly as on my app the site name is locked from the previous version and so I also have no way to unlock it, so for every record I have to delete the old locked name, then type in the new name.

We seem to have lost the bulk upload facility (Menu > App > Submit all) which I used extensively (sending each record individually is a pain once you have a lot of records accumulated, eg after a day recording in areas of spotty connectivity).

The 'moth survey' recording form has been restricted to moths only - this might be a feature rather than a bug, but it makes recording the full content of a light trap (or equivalent) much more painful as you now need to dip in and out of the survey form to record beetles, caddis, lacewings, etc rather than putting everything in together.

Having only one 'draft' record at once is a pain.  I quite like the idea of being able to mark records as essentially yes/no for upload (though would prefer a default to 'yes'), but this would be more useful (for me) if you could have multiple 'draft' records (ie, set to not upload) as I use this extensively to mark locations for records where I still need to confirm the actual species (from a collected specimen or pic).  Having just one permitted draft record basically means you can have the one you're working on but none stored.  Having draft records that aren't ready to go appearing identical to ready-to-submit records in previous versions isn't ideal either

I didn't find the longer map click intuitive, either

Hi rimo!

Thanks for the feedback. This is very useful 👍 

There no longer seems to be the option to lock any of the fields, including site name - if this isn't changed it will make the app virtually unusable from my perspective. Particularly as on my app the site name is locked from the previous version and so I also have no way to unlock it, so for every record I have to delete the old locked name, then type in the new name.

You can still lock/unlock an attribute by swiping it to the left in the menu. The reason why we have moved the functionality there is because this unifies the locking interface for all of the attribute types (e.g. location, radio buttons and also now enables to lock toggle yes/no answers). We are planning on adding a popup to inform users how this works.

We seem to have lost the bulk upload facility (Menu > App > Submit all) which I used extensively (sending each record individually is a pain once you have a lot of records accumulated, eg after a day recording in areas of spotty connectivity).

The bulk upload option is still available and appears in the main pending surveys screen (bottom right) when you have over 5 finished records in the list. We have also added the 'upload' button shortcut to individual record entries so it is easier to upload and doesn't require navigating to a record page.

The 'moth survey' recording form has been restricted to moths only - this might be a feature rather than a bug, but it makes recording the full content of a light trap (or equivalent) much more painful as you now need to dip in and out of the survey form to record beetles, caddis, lacewings, etc rather than putting everything in together.

The current moth survey species filter is something you could raise in the general forum. This app survey is guided by the https://irecord.org.uk/enter-moth-sightings form and we need to keep this in sync for now. But if you feel you want to open it up then please create another discussion and I'll forward it to the relevant people 🙂

Having only one 'draft' record at once is a pain.  I quite like the idea of being able to mark records as essentially yes/no for upload (though would prefer a default to 'yes'), but this would be more useful (for me) if you could have multiple 'draft' records (ie, set to not upload) as I use this extensively to mark locations for records where I still need to confirm the actual species (from a collected specimen or pic).  Having just one permitted draft record basically means you can have the one you're working on but none stored.  Having draft records that aren't ready to go appearing identical to ready-to-submit records in previous versions isn't ideal either

Thanks for the explanation. I see why holding multiple drafts can be helpful. We should be able to remove this restriction.

I didn't find the longer map click intuitive, either

We will improve the map tap UX. It should be more intuitive!

Thanks Karolis, that makes the new version a bit easier to use!  I don't seem to have a way to lock the grid reference though, just site name? 

No problem. Let me know if there is anything else you wish was changed in the app.

The location can also be locked in the same way as the location name - swipe the location menu attribute to the left. The app doesn't allow locking GPS-sourced locations, though.

The long press for selecting the 100 metre square on 6.0.0(58) is still causing me a lot of hit and miss problems. Going back to a simple touch to select would be a lot better for me.  Other than that I'd like the + quantity to populate 1 rather than 2 on the first touch.