Short answer

Take one photo per asset, stand close so the asset fills most of the frame, and keep a little of the surroundings in shot so you can tell where it is later. Civic.ly reads the photo twice: the AI works out what the asset is from what it can see, and the map pin is placed from where your phone was standing. A clear, close, single-item photo gets both right, so there is far less tidying up afterwards.

Detail

When you add an asset by photo, Civic.ly does two things with the picture:

  • The AI names it. AI auto-classify looks at the photo and proposes the asset type, a name, a description and a first-pass condition. It can only describe what it can see clearly.
  • The GPS places it. The pin goes where the phone was when the photo was taken, not where the asset is.

So a good asset photo follows a few simple rules:

  1. One asset per photo. If a bench, a bin and a sign are all in shot, the AI has to guess which one you meant, and it often picks the wrong one or gives it the wrong type. Photograph each item on its own.
  2. Get close. Walk up to the asset so it fills most of the frame. An asset that is small or far away in the picture gives the AI little to work with. Zooming in does not help with the pin, because the pin still lands where you are standing.
  3. Keep a bit of the surroundings. A wall, a gate or a building edge behind the asset makes it much easier to find the right spot when you check the pin on the map afterwards.
  4. Take one photo, not two. Two photos of the same item become two assets. If you need a second angle, add it to the asset afterwards rather than uploading it as a new one.
  5. Photograph identical items separately. Three matching benches are three assets, each with its own photo, so each gets its own inspection record.
  6. Check your GPS before a big walk. Take one test photo, upload it and make sure it lands on the map. Photos taken without location switched on cannot be fixed later and have to be retaken.

Watch-outs

  • You will still need to nudge the pins. Even with good photos, phone GPS is usually a few metres out. After each upload, open the map in the web app, switch to satellite view and drag each pin onto the asset. See After uploading assets from a phone, do I need to adjust their map locations?.
  • Check what the AI decided. Glance at the type and name of each new asset and correct anything that is wrong. The asset type matters most, because it decides which inspection checklists are offered. See What does AI auto-classify do, and what are the gotchas?.
  • Keep capture to one or two people where you can, so the same item is not photographed twice by different people.