The 'Location' custom field is used to capture a geocoded location in a custom field, either as a street address or as a set of GPS coordinates. The location is identified with a pin on the map and a location description in the Location custom field in the vWork mobile app.
It is useful when mobile workers need to:
- record the specific location of a feature, such as a new tree planting or a site hazard.
- find the location of something they need to work on at an address for a job, such as a utility tower, manhole, or service meter.
Location custom fields can be saved with jobs, and also with Assets (hidden or read only) and Hazards if these options are added to your vWork account.
The Location custom field is an optional feature in vWork. If you want to find out more about it or add it to your account, please contact support@vworkapp.com.
In this article
This article explains how to add and use the Location custom field.
Topics include:
- Add a geocoded location to a Location custom field in the job editor
- Add or view a location, saved in a Location custom field, on a map in the vWork mobile app
- View a pinned location on the map in a report
- Add a Location custom field to an asset
- Add a Location custom field to a Hazard
- 'Good to know' info about the Location custom field
Click a link from the topic list above to go directly to it. To return to this topic list, click this icon:
Add a geocoded location to a Location custom field in the job editor
Once you have added the Location custom field to your job template you can start adding locations to your jobs as custom fields. Like every other custom field, these are added in the Custom Field tab in the job editor, or in the Fields screen on the mobile app. This topic looks at what you can do in the job editor on the vWork web app.
There are three formats that can be used when adding a geocoded location to the Location custom field. You can select the format that most suits how accurate you need the geocoded location to be.
Format 1: geolocated street address
You can add a geolocated street address to a Location custom field exactly as you would add it to a step. This will show the geolocated street address in the field on the mobile app and will show a pin on the map in the general location of the street address. This is best when a precise location is not required and a street address is helpful.
To add a geolocated street address to the Location custom field:
- Click the Details for the Location custom field and start typing the address.
- Click to select the address you want from the options presented in the drop-down list.
- Once selected the geolocated address shows this symbol
to indicate it is geolocated.
Format 2: generate an address from GPS coordinates
If you have the GPS coordinates of the location, but you want this to be displayed as the nearest geolocated address, then you can enter the GPS coordinates to find this.
To add a geolocated address to the Location custom field using GPS coordinates:
- Click in Details and enter the GPS coordinates; for example, -36.849730, 174.763708.
💡 Tip: You can copy GPS coordinates directly from google maps and paste these into the Location custom field. To do this, open Google Maps and right-click on the location to show the GPS coordinates. Click on the coordinates to copy them to your clipboard. Paste the saved coordinates from your clipboard into the field. For more information on supported coordinate formats, please refer to the article, Enter GPS Coordinates instead of a street address. - Click or tab out of the address to show the nearest geolocated address to the GPS coordinates that you entered.
🔔 Note: If the GPS coordinates are not close to the street where the mobile user gains access to the property, or the coordinates are close to a boundary, the geolocated street address may show as the nearest neighboring street address.
Format 3: raw GPS coordinates
When you must show the exact location of a feature on a map it is best to use precise GPS coordinates. To make sure GPS coordinates don’t give you a nearby street address add square brackets around them. They will show as GPS coordinates in the job editor and on the mobile app.
To add raw GPS coordinates to the Location custom field:
- Click in Details and enter the GPS coordinates with a square bracket at each end; for example, [-36.849730, 174.763708].
💡 Tip: You can copy GPS coordinates directly from google maps and paste these into the Location custom field. To do this, open Google Maps and right-click on the location to show the GPS coordinates. Click on the coordinates to copy them to your clipboard ready for you to paste them into the Location custom field. (Remember, you will need to add the brackets before exiting the Location custom field.) For more information on supported coordinate formats, please refer to this article. - Click or tab out of the field.
We geolocate the GPS coordinates for you and show the coordinates in the field with this iconto confirm the location is geocoded.
Add or view a location, saved in a Location custom field, on a map in the vWork mobile app
You can use the Location custom field to drop a pin on a map to show the precise location of a feature. You can also use the saved location added by a dispatcher to view the location on a Map to make it easier to locate.
We have two articles that explain how to use the Location custom field in the vWork Mobile app from the perspective of a mobile worker. The articles are:
View a pinned location on the map in a report
When the job is completed you can run reports that show the information captured in the Location custom field.
Here is an example using the same job we used to plant the trees above. This is the Job Status report (V2) view of the field we called Plant Location 1.
You can see:
- The location field has a zoomed-out map of the location where the pin is placed. The pin will be in the center of the map.
- The GPS coordinates are also shown beneath the map. The coordinates are colored blue to tell you that they are a link you can click to view the location n the Map.
To see a close up view of the pin’s location:
- Click the blue location information at the bottom of the map to open Google Maps at the location of the pin.
- You can then zoom in and change the view to see what you need to.
Add a Location custom field to an asset
If you have the optional Assets feature added to vWork, you can use the extra fields feature enhancement to add a Location custom field to all your assets. You do this by adding an additional field to all assets in the Asset settings.
🔔 Note: you can use any of the formats to add the location that were explained above.
Once the Location field is added to your Assets you can save the geolocated information in each asset's details.
When the asset is saved with a job the Location custom field can be viewed as a hidden or read only field in the 'Assets' section of the 'Job Information' tab in the job editor.
You can read more about adding additional fields to Assets in the article, Add custom fields to your Assets.
Add a Location custom field to a Hazard
If you have the optional Health & Safety feature added to vWork, you can add an extra Location field to individual hazards in your Hazard's library when you create a new hazard or update an existing hazard. When the hazard is added to the job you can use the Location field to show the location of the hazard on the worksite.
🔔 Note: you can use any of the formats to add the location that were explained above.
You can read more about adding additional fields to Hazards in the article, Health & Safety: Hazards
'Good to know' info about the Location custom field
- Location custom fields are useful for viewing locations on a map but are not a navigation tool. The geocoded step address is the tool to use when you need to navigate to a site. The Location custom field can help you find a feature or location at a site. This can be saved with the job in the job fields, or with an Asset or Hazard in the Asset or Asset extra fields.
- You can find out more about using GPS coordinates in the article: Enter GPS Coordinates instead of a street address.
- For the Location custom field to work correctly in the mobile app, make sure you allow vWork to access the mobile device's location while the app is being used. This is found in the phone’s settings under the location permissions for the vWork app. In Android, you must also make sure that Location Tracing is enabled in the vWork app.
- Make sure mobile devices are running the latest versions of the vWork mobile app to get the best result using the Location custom field.