Share a project online

Send a link that opens a project on a web map in any browser, with grid coordinates, photos, closure sheets and CSV and GeoJSON downloads. No account needed.

On this page

Share online turns a project into a link. Whoever opens it sees the project on a map in any browser, on a phone or a computer, and can download the data. Nobody needs an account, and the person you send it to doesn't need the app. Use it to show a client the site, send the office today's shots before you're back, or let a crew check what's been staked.

The link holds a copy of the project as it was when you last sent it. Nothing goes up on its own: every send is a tap.

Before you start

  • A project with at least one asset. With none, the sheet says This project has no assets yet, so there is nothing to share.
  • A connection to create the link. Updates made without a signal wait and send later.
  1. Open the project's details: tap it on the Projects tab. It doesn't need to be the active project.
  2. Tap Share online….
  3. Under What is shared, check the Assets count and the switches:
    • Include photos (on by default, shown when the project has photos). The line under it gives the number of photos and their size.
    • Include operator name (off by default, shown when a surveyor name is set in Settings).
  4. Tap Create link. While it works, the button says Creating link…, then Sending files 3 of 12… while photos go up.
  5. The Link section shows the address. Tap Send link to send it with Messages, Mail or any other app, or Copy link to paste it somewhere.

The link looks like https://app.opensurvey3d.com/s/CODE#KEY. The part after # is the key that opens it. Send the whole link.

What's shared

Shared Details
Positions Latitude and longitude, and northing and easting in the project's grid (state plane or UTM), as the phone computed them.
Accuracy and elevations Horizontal and vertical accuracy, and elevations above sea level.
The record Each asset's name, type, code, notes and attributes, and each point's measurement record: source, fix type, samples, corrections, base station and time.
Photos Resized to 1024 px on the long side, with their location data and other metadata removed. The coordinates are already in the data. Switch off Include photos to leave them out.
Closure sheets Any you added from COGO (see below).

Not shared: 3D scans, videos and raw receiver logs stay on the phone. So do your surveyor name, license number and firm, unless you switch on Include operator name. A link can be forwarded, and a name is the one field that identifies a person rather than a place.

What the person you send it to sees

The link opens a map with every asset drawn in its type's colour. A side panel lists the assets, with a Layers switch for each type, and names the project's grid, for example Project grid: NAD83 / California zone 3 (ftUS) (EPSG:2227).

  • Tap an asset for its position (each vertex, for a line or area), its grid northing and easting, accuracy, Photos, Attributes and Measurement record.
  • CSV and GeoJSON buttons download the shared data.
  • Documents lists the closure sheets, which open as PDFs.

Add a closure sheet

  1. Go to Tools → COGO and solve a traverse.
  2. In the closure results, tap Add to the project's shared link.
  3. The app says the sheet goes up the next time the project is shared or updated from Share online. Adding the same traverse again replaces its sheet.

The sheets appear under Documents in the Share online sheet. Swipe left on one to remove it from the link.

The link doesn't change as you collect. To send the project as it is now:

  1. Open the project's details and tap Share online….
  2. Tap Update share. It reads Up to date when nothing has changed since the last send.

The same link shows the new version, and the app says Updated. The link shows the project as it is now. Only photos and sheets the server doesn't have yet are sent, so an update after a few new shots is quick. If a send stops partway, Files still to send shows what's left, and the next update sends it.

The sheet also shows when the link was Last updated and the date it will be Deleted on.

With no signal

If there's no connection when you tap Create link or Update share, the sheet says Waiting for signal. It sends the next time the app opens with a connection. You can close it and carry on. The send goes by itself the next time you open the app, or bring it back to the front, with a signal.

Stop sharing

  1. Open the project's details and tap Share online….
  2. Tap Stop sharing, then confirm.

The link stops working for everyone, and the copy on the server is deleted. The project on your phone isn't changed. To share again, create a new link; the old one won't come back.

Deleting a project also takes its link down. The delete warning says Its web link stops working too. If you delete it without a signal, the server can't be told, and the link lasts until it expires. Tap Stop sharing first if that matters.

A link is deleted 90 days after it was last updated. Each update keeps it for another 90 days. After that, anyone opening it sees Can't open this share. If you tap Update share on a link that has expired, the app says That link had expired or was removed. Create a new one to share again.

Use your own server

By default, links are kept on the OpenSurvey3D server at app.opensurvey3d.com. If your agency or client can't put locations on a third-party server, you can run the share server yourself and point the app at it.

  1. Set up the server on a machine you control. The guide is in the opensurvey3d-cloud repository on GitHub: Self-hosting.
  2. In the app, go to Settings → Share server.
  3. Under Your own server, type its address, for example https://shares.example.com, and tap Check and use.
  4. The app checks that the address is a working share server before using it, then says New links go to shares.example.com.

New links go to shows where the next link will be made. Links you made before the change stay where they were made, and their updates and Stop sharing go there too. To go back, tap Use the OpenSurvey3D server.