Combining cloned cep files filled by different operators

You can fix it, time consuming but not problematic.

FIX:

1. Define one of the CEP files as the “main” one where the data will be imported.
2. Open that main CEP file with WinZIP/WinRAR.
3. Copy the file called placemark.idm.xml , save it in your desktop, rename it to idm.xml !!

Now, for each of the ZIP files you need to import:

1. Open the ZIP file with WinZIP/WinRAR
2. Replace the file called idm.xml with the file that you had copied in your desktop

Now you should be able to import the ZIP files into Collect Earth (which has been opened using the main CEP file). As Always, use the menu Tools->Data Import/Export->Import new Data from ZIP

Explanation of the process:

• CE assigns space in the database based on the Survey internal name ( the URI ). When you clone a survey, the URI of the new survey is automatically changed (as it is necessary for creating the survey).
• When the data is collected with the cloned surveys the structure of the data is the same for all the cloned surveys as long as you didn’t change them in Survey Designer.
• When you export the data collected in Collect Earth, the ZIP file contains the survey definition, as this is used as reference when Importing the data.
• When you import the ZIP file in Collect Earth, the ZIP file survey definition (idm.xml) is used as the “space” in the database for storing the data.
• If Collect Earth is running having open the main survey A and you try to import data exported from clone B the data will not be imported into the space of clone A
• In order to fix this issue you need to change the survey definition B (idm.xml) inside the ZIP file with data so that it matched the same one as the survey that is loaded in Collect Earth (A)

If you are curious you can open the idm.xml or placemark.idm.xml files and see the URI field where the unique identifier of the survey is set.

In any case, don’t create clones unless you really need to! They are not meant to be used like that.

In your case it would have just been easier to modify the CEP files directly opening them in WinZIP/WinRAR and modifying the earth.properties file and adding the CSV files inside the ZIP. Even better, just put all of the CSV files that you needed in hte same CEP file and instruct the users to only collect data on the CSV file they were assigned!