SMS Mobile uses the same concept and layout for all modes of operation in terms of map
display and available tools. This makes operation from mode to mode very consistent and
easy to pick up. The images below show the general layout of the operating/map screens
and key items that are displayed on these screens.
The map toolbar allows you to quickly select an available tool without expanding the Main
Menu on a Windows Mobile device or using the menu items on a PC based device to find
your desired tool. Arrow buttons are provided on each side of the toolbar that also allow you
to quickly scroll thru the available toolbar buttons or you can use the left/right buttons on
your mobile devices directional pad to scroll the toolbar. For SMS Mobile PC the toolbar
related items are located under the Help Menu and then Toolbar.
The Map Toolbar can be customized per operating mode. To edit what buttons are available
in the toolbar, from within an operating mode, go to the Main Menu and select Toolbar and
then Set Visible Tools. You will then be able to check/uncheck the buttons that you would
like to be visible. You can NOT change the order of the buttons though.
In addition you can also set a default tool that the toolbar will scroll to when you select
another tool as your active tool. For example if when you Add Point, you always want to see
the Save button on the toolbar by default you can set Save as the linked tool for the Add
Point tool. To do this, go to the Main Menu and select Toolbar and then Set Linked Tool
(Help Toolbar for SMS Mobile PC). From here you can set the linked tools for any tool that
can have another tool linked to it.
The Map Toolbar does automatically filter itself based on the current tool that is selected.
This means that when you select a tool, only other tools that can be used while that tool is
active will be displayed in the toolbar.
Starts continuous data logging without having to make any other
selection. Only available when logging/creating data from GPS.
Log a Point or
Region
Adds a point or vertex manually each time this button is selected. Or in
Crop Scouting Mode adds an Observation Region based on the default
diameter you have set.
All Modes
Pause
Pauses the current logging/creation of data. Pausing also puts you into
a basic navigation mode where the pause point is marked and a line is
drawn between the current position and pause point.
All Modes
Next Item
Increments to the next spatial object that is available. For example,
when navigating to soil sampling sites this button selects the next
available sample site that is either closest or next in order.
All Modes
Previous Item
Increments to the previous spatial object that is available. For
example, when navigating to soil sampling sites this button selects the
previous sample site that is either closest or the previous site in order.
All Modes
Stop Tool
Stops the current logging/creation/function of the current tool. For
example if you are drawing a polygon selecting Stop will finalize the
polygon and create it.
All Modes
Cancel Tool
Cancels the currently selected tool. To finish a function you must
always select Cancel. Cancel is never available until a tool is stopped.
All Modes
Action Buttons [Back to Top]
The Action Buttons, shown below, indicate what specific actions are available for the tool
that you have currently selected in an operating mode. There are a maximum of three action
buttons that can be displayed at a time for a selected tool. The first action button is always
displayed in the lower right corner of the on-screen map, for easy access. The remaining
action buttons, if available, will display to the right in the Map Toolbar.
The Action Buttons are also accessible via the Action Menu button, at all times, in the lower
left side of the mobile device screen. SMS Mobile PC displays these Action buttons via a
menu selection in the top left hand corner of the window.
SMS Mobile provides the ability to display multiple layers on a map at one time when in an
operating mode. Four layers are allowed to be mapped at one time. The first, or top layer, is
always the editable/logging layer where new data is created or existing data is edited. The
next three layers can be set to whatever data you have loaded into SMS Mobile, such as
field boundaries, backgrounds, or other datasets you have imported, created, or setup from
the desktop software.
[Back to Top]
When selecting layers to display below the editing/logging layer you have the following options:
None – No data will be displayed at all for this layer.
Dataset Layer – Allows the selection of any data that has been created or imported
into SMS Mobile or exported out from the desktop software that isn’t background
type data. An example would be Grain Harvest data, Soil Type data, Soil Sampling
sites/results, etc.
Background Layer – Allows the selection of either a Farm background, Field
background, or to download/load a background image from the internet. The option
to download an image from the internet only works initially if you have an internet
connection for your device. Once an image is downloaded it remains in memory as a
special type of background that is tied to the current field but is ONLY available for
use in SMS Mobile and only visible when this option is selected. Once an image is
downloaded an internet connection is NOT required to use this option or display the
background image. Tools for managing these special background images are
available under Setup\ \ Batch or General.
Field Boundary Layer – Allow the selection of either current field level boundary for
display or all field level boundaries for the current Farm.
A unique function of the map layers, is that once you have selected a type of data to map in
one of the available layer slots, SMS Mobile will automatically keep track of what type of
data you selected for the current operating mode. When you switch to a different field to
collect/edit data, SMS Mobile will automatically try and find the same type of data for the
field and display it for you so that you don’t have to reselect data you want to see each time
you switch fields, create new datasets, or open and close SMS Mobile.
In addition to selecting layers to display, you also have a large number of options in terms of
how the selected layers are displayed on the map. Each layer selected has a Settings button
that when selected allows you to set parameters for how the layer is drawn on the map.
Examples include if a label should be displayed and how, what attribute should be used for a
legend for the layer and how it looks, and lastly, settings for the display of sub-layers such as
Marks and Buffers.
To get to the layer selection and settings for your map layers when you are in an operating
mode you can either press the Select Layers button on the Map Toolbar or you can
open the Main Menu, then Map, and then Select Layers.
SMS Mobile provides the ability to display real-time values/stats from a selected layer while
you are in an operating mode. We call this display of real-time values from a selected layer
Map Tooltips. These tooltips are displayed below the map and Status Bar. On Windows
Mobile devices the map tooltips share the same area as the map toolbar. When you hide the
Map Toolbar the Map Tooltips are displayed. On a Windows PC device the tooltips are
displayed at the same time as the map toolbar but above it and the tooltips area isn’t
displayed at all unless you have at least one tooltip set to display.
Two Map Tooltips can be selected for display. You can pick any of the mapped layers to use as the
source for your tooltip and you can pick a Spatial Stat, Attribute, or Property to show a value for.
Map Tooltips get their values two different ways, depending on the layer type. If the layer is the
Edit layer (the first layer in the list and one the one you create/log/edit data in) then the
values come from the last logged/entered value. If the layer is one of the 3 other Reference
layers then the values come from the object that is currently under your current GPS position.
Map Tooltips are very useful on the smaller screens of mobile devices because there really
isn’t room to show full legends for all your layers on the screen. So by using map tooltips you
can see the color coding of your layers and as you drive across an object that is below you,
you will see the actual value for the item you selected to display, thus in a way showing you a
legend value without taking up extra space on the screen.
To get to the Map Tooltips and set them, press the Map Tooltips button on the Map
Toolbar or go to the Main Menu, then Map, then Select Tooltips.