[GIS] QField won’t open portable project

qfield

I'm trying to use Qfield for tree surveying. I am testing it on a Galaxy S7 running Android 7. I have installed from Google Play. I can't seem to get QFIELD working. So far, the stumbling blocks are:

  1. When I open QField, I get a alarm icon in the top right corner. On clicking, the message reads "Can't open database: unable to open database file".

  2. I have created a portable project using the plugin to QGIS. The portable project is made up of two files, one with a .qgs extension, the other with a .qgs~ extension. I have placed these in the QField directory, specifically MyFiles>SD Card>Android>data>ch.opengis.qfield. When I navigate to this location using the Qfield_Open Project, the file is not visible.

It seems like I'm missing something very basic, Can anyone help…

Regards
O

Best Answer

A simple and rather thorough way (though perhaps not as customisable as the "QFieldSync" method) to make a QGIS project (.qgs) portable for use in QField is to do something like the following:

  1. Open "Manage and Install Plugins" (accessed from the "Plugins" drop down menu)
  2. Go to settings and click the checkbox "Show also experimental plugins" ... reading and heeding the warning note of course!
  3. Search for "QConsolidate" and install.
  4. With your QGIS project open, locate and click the "QConsolidate" icon in the plugins tab or access via the Plugins drop down menu.
  5. Click the "Browse ..." button and find or create a folder on your hard drive to save the entire project in.

(Note: In the folder you choose/create, a ".qgs" file [and possibly a temporary ".qgs~" backup file] will be created as well as an additional folder named "layers". The "layers" folder contains all the spatial data contained within your project)

  1. Click the "Select Folder" button, and then click "Ok" back in the pop up dialog (let it save and complete (may take some time if spatial data volume is large), then "close" the dialog.
  2. Locate the folder you chose to save your QGIS project and spatial data in.
  3. Copy this folder (containing both the ".qgs" project file and "layers" folder) to your Android device, placing it in the relevant folder ... something like this: "/Android/data/ch.opengis.qfield/files".
  4. Open QField on your Android device > click the menu drop down button in the top left corner > click the settings wheel > click "Open Project" > locate the file as per the location described above > select the .qgs file (probably the only one showing in that folder)
  5. And your QGIS project is opened in QField [hopefully]!

For further guidance see: http://www.qfield.org/docs/index.html

While this is basically the method I generally use without any dramas there are however occasionally some extra twists and tricks when your project configuration gets more complex, such as the need to ensure any graphics used in the project are placed in and then re-linked to the folder where your .qgs file or layers are contained.

Hope this alternative method is helpful, let me know if there are any other twists that need addressing.

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