Requirements and compatibility

Before installing Field Manager, here is what the device needs to run it and use all of its features.

Operating system

Android 7.0 or higher. Any current device meets this.

Sensors

• GPS: to locate the device on the map. Can be complemented with an external receiver (see below).
• Compass (magnetometer) and accelerometer or gyroscope: required to log geological structures — without a compass, the application cannot orient a structural measurement. This is what's most often missing on budget tablets, and it's rarely advertised: check the spec sheet before buying.
• Camera: to attach photographs to logged samples.

Stylus (for mapping)

To draw precisely on the map, the screen has to recognize the stylus as a stylus, not as a finger. That's what the stylus included with the device, or that device's official model, does (for example, Samsung's S Pen); a generic stylus works for touching the screen, but the device detects it as a finger. A stylus isn't needed for drill hole logging or sampling.

External GPS and RTK corrections

Besides the internal GPS, Field Manager accepts any external GNSS receiver paired over Bluetooth that speaks the NMEA protocol as its position source. If that receiver accepts input corrections, the application can pull them from an NTRIP caster and work at centimeter-level precision (see Preferences).

Compatible formats

Format	Import	Export
Shapefile (.shp)	Yes	Yes
MapInfo TAB	Yes	Yes
MapInfo MIF/MID	No	Yes
Excel (.xls, .xlsx, .xlsm)	Yes	Yes
CSV	Yes	Yes
KML / KMZ	Yes	Yes
ESRI Geodatabase (.gdb)	Yes	Yes
GeoPackage (.gpkg)	Yes	Yes
Rasters (GeoTIFF, JPEG2000, ECW, PNG, JPG, BMP, PDF, GRD)	Yes	No
ArcGIS styles (.lyrx, .lpkx)	Yes	No
Native format (.fmr)	Yes	Yes

What each format keeps and drops on import and export is covered in Export and import data.

Downloading the app

The step-by-step for creating an account, getting a subscription or starting the trial, and downloading the APK is in Install and activate Field Manager.