# Establishing a Generic Geographic Information Collection Platform for Heterogeneous Data
## 3 Result and Analysis  
### Platform Functionalities  
Our platform improves field data collection by providing a range of features that specifically address the needs of field data collection in various scenarios. These features allow users to collect, review, manage, visualize, and analyze heterogeneous data with appropriate workflows. These features include:  
Figure 4: Workflow design.  
**Various spatial feature editing tools:** The platform offers vector editing tools such as point, line, polygon, rectangle, circle, and so on.  
**Various positioning methods:** This platform offers multiple positioning methods to obtain the current location and trajectories of collection personnel. These position methods include GPS, network, Bluetooth, and third-party positioning services like Baidu, Amap, and Google.  
**Multi-source layer loading:** This platform allows the loading of various map sources, including offline data and online services. The offline data include tpk and shapefile. The online services include Baidu, Amap, Google, and map services that comply with standards such as web feature service (WFS), web map service (WMS), and web map tile service (WMTS).  
**Supports the collection of various types of data:** This platform supports the collection of multiple data types within a single record, including structured data, geospatial data, multimedia data, and complex nested data.  
**Support multiple collection controls:** This platform supports those collecting structured data, text data, multimedia data, and nested data. It provides rich controls including drop-down menus, check boxes, radio buttons, a collection table, and a relation table, etc.  
**Supports the collection of heterogeneous data:** This platform allows users to create tasks based on usage scenarios. Within a single task, users can create multiple collection interfaces, each corresponding to a type of data that needs to be collected.  
**Maintain data structure consistency between collection software and management system:** Data can be transferred smoothly between the two parts without any format conversion or field mapping.  
**Script and Dynamic UI:** This platform provides three types of scripts: value, visibility, and group. These scripts can calculate values automatically, toggle control visibility automatically, and manage option visibility automatically.  
**Support automatic generation or manual writing of configuration files:** Users without programming experience can use the XML generator to create XML configuration files interactively. For more advanced users, the generator also supports downloading template files and importing user-created configuration files.  
**Multiple data collection and review modes:** This platform provides four data collection and verification modes, including unrestricted collection, partitioned collection, partitioned review, and synchronized collection and review.  
**Compatible with common spatial databases:** This platform can connect to common spatial databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and Oracle.  
**Rapid visualization and analysis of heterogeneous data:** Users can quickly browse existing collected data in the management system. The system will cluster and display the data according to the current scale.  
**Support offline collection:** The device can work offline for a long time. The data collected in the offline state will be stored in the mobile database.  
**Task area division and allocation:** The platform supports dividing tasks into regular vector tiles and allocating the task areas covered by the tiles to task personnel.  
**Real-time monitoring of collection tasks:** Users are able to view the collection progress, location, and trajectory of the collection personnel in real-time. The collection software will automatically remind the collection personnel who leave the assigned task area and plan a reasonable collection route for the collection personnel.