Location on Collect is captured using a combination of phone GPS, internet connectivity and satellites. In case the first two are not available and the phone is completely offline, the app uses satellites to capture the location. Collect is optimised to capture your location with the the best accuracy. In case it is not good enough, here is what you can do.
To improve the accuracy of the recorded location on the Collect app, you can follow one of the following methods:
1. Capture your location outdoors: Try to have a clear view of the sky while you are capturing a location.
2. Have good internet connectivity: The better our internet connectivity will be, the better will be the accuracy of your recorded location. Try and connect to a good internet or Wi-Fi.
3. Be patient: Keep your device in the same place, and try to fetch the location 3 or 4 times. Don't move around while the location is fetching.
4. Check the number of satellites visible on Collect. In case there is no network or internet connectivity, Collect uses satellites to capture the location. However, there is a possibility that some areas do not have satellites available overhead as well. In such cases, it's difficult to get an accurate location. To check satellite availability, follow these steps:
Step 1. Open the form on Collect app.
Step 2. On the top right corner, click on the three dots and check satellite link. You can see the number of satellites determining your location.
If the number of available satellites or those which are helping fetch your location is a very low number, you can ask the data collector to move around a little bit, go to an open area etc. till a location can be fetched.
5. Check if there are any resource management apps. Your device might have optimiser or booster apps that disable GPS (and other background services) to save battery or free up resources. Check if any of these apps are running, and disable them.
6. Check if GPS is working on other apps. Try checking if another app (such as Google Maps) can fetch your location. If Google Maps is not fetching an accurate location either, you know that the problem is with your network. If Google Maps is able to fetch your location, then immediately try fetching location on Collect. It should work.