Fulcrum supports importing existing data into your custom apps for field deployment. This is useful when you have pre-existing information you want to make available to field staff to either update in the field, or use as reference while collecting additional information.
Data in either CSV or shapefile format can be imported.
To get data loaded in, first build out our field collection app to your specifications using the Fulcrum App Designer. You can include fields to which you want to import attributes, as well as new survey questions to fill in while out in the field. After your app is built to meet your needs, click the Import Data button from the main management screen or your app’s dashboard page.
Notes: When importing data that contains media attachments the media files and CSV file(s) must all be contained in a single ZIP file.
Limitations
The importer can only import 10,000 records at one time. When importing data into an app, make sure that the import file does not have more than 10,000 records (10,001+ rows).
Fulcrum does not currently support multiline, multipolygon, or multipoint geometries. While they can be imported, the results may vary.
Importing lines or polygons with more than 5,000 vertices (in a single line or polygon) will cause performance issues in editing functionality on certain mobile apps.
Importing Steps
After your app is built to meet your needs, select Imports in the left main navigation. Fulcrum’s importer will walk you through a step-by-step process.
Select the App that you wish to import data into.
Choose to create new or update existing records.
Browse to your data file you’d like to import. Click Next to continue.
Select which tables you want to import (if you have child features to import)
Select which fields contain the spatial reference information (latitude and longitude), or verify the proper projection identification (for shapefiles).
Map fields in your data to the fields in your custom survey. You’ll see the field as it’s named in your dataset on the left, and the target field into which to import on the right. Picking the checkbox on the side lets you optionally load or skip specific fields.
Fulcrum verifies everything and shows a summary of the import process about to take place — total records to be created, updated, or skipped, photos to load, etc. Any errors or issues will be displayed here.
Click Finish to start the process and import your data.
Since this is sometimes a challenging process, we recommend that you register for the Data Import course from Fulcrum Academy. It covers all the different import scenarios and it is 100% free!