Silva PerpetuaGuides

Get ready for the field

Sign in on the phone, sync your woodlands, save the map and data for offline use, and know what the sync card is telling you.

For
Field crew and foresters
Time
5 minutes, with signal
Where
Field app — sign-in and Woodlands
Updated
On this page
Before you go
  • An Android phone with the field app installed (your organisation distributes it), GPS on, and some free storage for maps.
  • Signal or Wi-Fi now, at the office or the car park — the download needs it; the wood does not.
  • The stand set up on the web with its plots (Plan a field visit).

Sign in

Field app (Android)The first screen of the field app.
  1. 1 Email and password
  2. 2 Or Sign in with Google
  3. 3 Server address — from your organisation, set once
  4. 4 Nothing leaves the phone without a sync
  1. Enter your email and password — the same as on the web.
  2. Or choose Sign in with Google if your organisation uses it.
  3. Check the server address — your organisation’s web address, set once.
  4. Records stay on this phone until you sync; nothing is sent without a sync, and your woodland data is always yours to export.

Download your woodlands

Field app (Android)First run: nothing on the phone yet.
  1. 5 Sync now (with signal)
Field app (Android)After a sync: properties and stands.
  1. 6 Sync status and Sync now
  2. 7 Ready offline: map and data saved
  3. 8 Save for offline / Update offline copy
  4. 9 A stand: open visit, what's due, last visit
  1. Choose Sync now. Your clients’ woodlands, stands, plots, methods and targets download.
  2. Read the sync card. It says how many changes wait on this phone (3 to sync), when it last synced, and whether anything needs you. Tap it for details.
  3. Check Ready offline on the property you will visit. Other states: Map not saved, Downloading map…, Data offline (the data is on the phone but only map areas you have viewed are cached), No map boundary.
  4. Choose Save for offline (or Update offline copy) to download the map pack for the property.
  5. Open a stand. Each row shows a visit in progress, what the plan says is due (Mark — due 2026, Fence check — overdue) and the last visit.
Field app (Android)A map pack downloading: keep the app open until it finishes.
  1. 1 Downloading map… keep the app open
Tips
  • Update the offline copy the day before a visit, so the latest plots and targets are on the phone.
  • The app follows the phone’s dark theme. For rain and gloves, turn on glove mode (Instruments and glove mode).
  • Every screen shows a sync chip — 3 to sync, All synced, 2 need you — tap it to open Sync.
What it doesn’t do (yet)
  • There is no iPhone app.
  • Full offline map packs need your provider’s own basemap on the server. Without it, the app uses OpenStreetMap tiles, whose rules forbid bulk download: only areas you have already viewed are cached, which the pill shows as Data offline. Plots, boundaries and GPS navigation work offline either way.
  • Offline readiness is per property (the map pack), not per stand.
Run a visitStart a visit, pick what to record, go plot by plot, check the live result, and finish — all offline.5 minutes to readSync, conflicts and working offlineWhat is on the phone, what has gone to the server, and what to do when two people changed the same thing or the server rejects a change.4 minutes to readPlan a field visitCheck the stand is ready, let the layout generator propose plots with the precision to expect, accept them, and add relocation details so the crew can re-find each plot for years.10 minutes per standTroubleshooting and FAQAnswers for when sync, offline maps, GPS, Bluetooth, imports or sign-in do not behave as expected.Look up as needed