Direct Data Transfer From ODK Collect using Satellite

Support
1

What is the general goal of the feature?
To enable sending of Data from ODK Collect from places where Internet/Network Connectivity is not present

What are some example use cases for this feature?
Disaster Management in Sea and High Mountain Areas

What can you contribute to making this feature a reality?
We r trying to build a daily reporting and monitoring systems for the Fishermen in State of Kerala, India. The purpose of the project is to have a real-time information about the location of the fishing boats, which can be used in the event of an emergency.

Last month only the Okhi disaster has hit the banks of Kerala causing deaths of more than 100 fishermen, and the main issue faced by the rescue team was to figure out the exact location of the boats before the disaster had occurred.

If this system is established, then the Govt. will have better monitoring and reporting about the location and can provide a better services to the fishermen.

Now the issue that we are facing is that after 12-15 Nautical Miles, there is no internet connectivity and inspite of capturing the GPS details , the same data is not being able to be sent to the server,and the fishermen has to wait till a point while coming back to get connectivity and send the data.

This makes the real-time monitoring a failure and we have to depend on a delayed off-line monitoring mechanism.

Anup Krishna P
RGSA PMU,
LSGD-Govt. of Kerala, India
anupkp007@gmail.com

2

You can use a satellite connection to send data from Collect today! The challenge is that both satellite receivers and satellite service are quite expensive.

What might be more realistic is to work with local cell providers to add repeaters and strengthen their signal so it is available 12-15 nautical miles out. This should be possible. Then location can be sent via regular SMS using a strategy like https://support.maps.me/hc/en-us/articles/209769229-How-to-SMS-text-someone-a-location-with-no-internet-access

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3

Thanks Helen for the info. We r in consultation with the cell providers for the feasibility of the same, at the same time, am also researching ways to send data by channels other than GSM carriers. Is anyone aware of any research going on of transmitting data through water. It may be a weird thought, but just seeing for all options.