Capture Projects: getting started

Capture Projects is a toolset for organizations that want to collect fresh street-level imagery and map data in an area. By dividing an area into smaller tasks that several drivers can work on simultaneously, it’s possible to quickly and systematically cover an area with street-level imagery and access map data from that area.

The tool consists of a project dashboard on the Mapillary web app, where the project admin sets up and manages the project (available through Mapillary for Organizations), and a mobile app called Mapillary for Drivers, which the drivers use for completing their tasks (available through the App Store; Android version will be released later this spring). The mobile app includes the functionality to capture images, but you can also have your drivers use some other camera that matches your requirements, such as an action camera or 360° camera.

This guide gives a step-by-step overview of the following:

1. Planning a capture project
2. Accessing capture projects
3. Setting up a capture project
4. Managing a capture project

You can find a more detailed guide in the separate article about using the project dashboard, and point your drivers to the getting started guide for Mapillary for Drivers.

 

Planning a capture project

1. Think about the area you want to capture and how many drivers you will have in the project. If you need help finding drivers, get in touch.

2. Decide which equipment you want to use. See our help section about Contributing and don’t hesitate to get in touch for advice.

 

Accessing capture projects

1. Create an account on Mapillary.

2. Set up an organization by clicking on your profile header.

3. Go to the organization dashboard by clicking on the dashboard icon in your profile header.

4. Open the “Capture” tab and submit a request to access the feature.

5. We’ll get back to you shortly and enable the tool for you.

 

Setting up a capture project

1. Go to the “Capture” tab in your organization dashboard and click on “Create new project”.

2. Name your project, pick the area (from your list of shapes), and the imagery target (public or private, depending on what you have enabled for your organization).

3. Draw a task grid within your shape.

4. Add people from your team to the list of drivers that will be part of the project. You can always add or remove people later.

5. Click “Finish” and the project will be created.

6. Contact your drivers. Ask them to download the Mapillary for Drivers app (currently available for iOS, with Android upcoming) and give them an overview about the project—including the equipment they are supposed to use.

Make sure to point your drivers to the Getting Started Guide for Mapillary for Drivers.

 

Managing a capture project

1. Go to the “Capture” section on your organization dashboard.

2. Choose the project you want to manage from the list. Open it to see the tasks both in a map view and a list view.

3. Click on a task to assign it to a driver.

4. As the driver logs into the Mapillary for Drivers app, they will see their assignments and can accept (or decline) the task so you’ll know that they’re picking it up.

5. Drivers log their driving sessions with the app (even if not using the smartphone for capturing imagery) and you’ll be able to see their progress in real time as yellow tracks on the map on the project dashboard.

6. As drivers upload the imagery you’ve captured, you can see it as purple lines on the map. You can click on them to open the image viewer and check how the results look.

7. When the driver is done with a task, they’ll submit it for you to review. You’ll see it at the top of the task list and need to either approve or reject the task. If you reject, you can add a note to explain what’s missing. You can then reassign the task to the same or another driver.