Hi all! We sometimes send important announcements to everyone in the community. These are rare (at most every 3 months), so please don't unwatch or unsubscribe from this category or you will miss out on important information.
ODK and ODK-X now have separate websites
The biggest news we've got to share is that ODK and ODK-X now have their own websites, forums, and documentation. We've done our best to redirect all links and minimize disruptions. You can find out more by reading the post announcing changes to broaden our community.
The practical implications of this news are that ODK now lives at https://getodk.org and ODK-X (formerly ODK 2) now lives at https://odk-x.org. In the case of ODK, we've standardized on the getodk username, so you can more easily find follow us on GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, and more.
We have a lot of exciting improvements to ODK in the pipeline and we can't wait to share those with you soon. But until then, here's an update on where we are.
ODK Collect: Getting better with age
Collect turned 11 years old in April (first commit)! We've been continuously improving and modernizing it and here are a few of our favorite recent improvements:
- Form logic (relevance, constraint) now works on the same screen (watch demo)
- On-device mapping of filled forms (watch demo)
- Refer to the last saved value of any field and use it as a dynamic default (watch demo)
- Track all changes to answers in the audit log
- Use a Likert scale widget with customizable images
- Scan QR code from main screen to configure Collect quickly
Our priorities for the next release are to make it easier for data collectors to switch between servers, add a submission summary to the map view, and continue to make improvements to the overall user experience.
If you haven't used Collect lately, note that Google is requiring we make changes to how we store data on the SD card. Please read our storage migration topic to ensure you are prepared for this change.
ODK Central: Ready for production use
ODK Central, our replacement for ODK Aggregate, has been ready for production use for a few months!
Our goal with Central was to create a server that was easy to use, very fast, and stuffed with features that make data collection easier. Over the last few months, we've made great progress and added some of the most requested functionality. You can now:
- Add and remove questions on currently deployed forms
- Upload XLSForms directly without converting to XForm
- Use role-based user permissions to manage projects
- Enable encryption of form data with a few clicks
- Build live-updating dashboards with PowerBI, Excel or R
Over the next few months, we'll be adding localization support, web form submissions via Enketo, and making it easier for the server to sync forms and data to Collect.
If you haven't tried Central, there's no better time to try it than now. Message @yanokwa to get access to the sandbox.
Our commitment to helping with the COVID-19 response
As terrible as global crises are, they can also bring out the best in people. Thanks to all of you who have been involved in the pandemic response. We've seen many COVID-19 projects use ODK to do disease surveillance, rapid diagnostics, case reporting, and even vaccine trials. We are glad that ODK continues to be an important tool for so many.
If you, or someone you know, needs data collection help with the COVID-19 response, we are offering free and ongoing help for organizations working on the COVID-19 response. Fill out this request for data collection help with COVID-19 response to get started.
Stay well and thank you for being a part of the ODK community!