Using an Android phone with the Mapillary app

Mapillary for Android lets you capture, upload, and explore images with your Android mobile phone.

Recommended Devices

Most Android devices should work with Mapillary, provided that they have Android version 7.0 or later, a camera, and GPS enabled.

First time Android setup

Equipment needed

• Android Device with the Mapillary app
• Mobile/car charging cable or portable charging pack
• Device mount

Device setup

1. Download the Mapillary app from Google Play.
2. Open the app and tap Sign up to create a new account, or Sign in if you have an existing account.

Mounting

1. Mount your Android phone inside of your car, in the middle of the windshield, below your rearview mirror.
2. Mount your phone in a way that captures a full view of the street, while avoiding too much of your car hood, the sky, or the ground in the image.
3. Make sure all mounts are tightly secured prior to beginning your drive.

Capture Mapillary imagery using Android

1. Open the Mapillary app and tap  (capture).
2. Hold or mount the device horizontally, using the bar in the middle of the screen to keep the phone level.
3. The app captures in automatic, distance-based mode by default. This means that the app automatically takes images when you’ve moved a certain distance (based on your phone’s GPS) or rotated your device a certain degree (based on your phone’s compass).
4. Alternatively, you can set the automatic mode to be time-based instead by tapping  (settings). You can also set your phone to manual mode using  (automatic/manual mode) and tapping  (manual capture) to take every image.
5. You can use  (compass angle) to change the angle at which the phone captures images. This angle can be a fixed direction or change based on the phone’s compass. For greater accuracy, we recommend using a fixed direction, which is enabled by default.
6. Tap  (start capture) to start capturing and begin moving with the phone to capture images. The app will capture automatically as you move.
7. Once you begin capturing, you can tap  (manual capture) to take an extra image, in addition to the images being captured automatically.
8. Tap  (map) to access a map that tracks your current location to help you navigate. This map does not have a guidance instruction feature.
   • Note: you cannot run the camera in the background for privacy reasons. Therefore, if you want to use a navigation app simultaneously with Mapillary, start the navigation app first and then start Mapillary. You will get notifications and audio from the navigation app while capturing.
9. When you feel like you’ve captured enough images, tap the stop button. This ends your capture session and collects the images into one sequence. You may capture multiple sequences without exiting the capture screen.
10. Once you stop capturing, you will be taken to the upload screen. We recommend connecting to wifi prior to initiating an upload. See the link below for next steps on how to upload.

Note:

• Best practices for capturing:
• Avoid capturing at night and when it is actively raining or snowing.
• Avoid capturing too much of your vehicle hood, the sky, and the ground.
• Be sure to fully charge your device before capturing and charge it throughout the duration of your capture session.
• You cannot run the camera in the background for privacy reasons.  
• If you want to use a navigation app simultaneously with Mapillary, you can start the navigation app first and then start Mapillary. You will get notifications and audio from the navigation app while capturing.

Upload Mapillary imagery from Android

1. Be sure to first plug your phone into a charger and connect it to wifi. 
2. Access the Upload screen by tapping “Upload” at the bottom of the screen or by exiting capture mode after capturing images.
3. You will see a list with the image sequences that you can review before uploading. Tap any of the sequences to view the images captured. You can enlarge images for viewing and/or delete them if they have poor quality.
4. If you press the upload button when viewing a sequence, the app will upload that particular sequence (not others).
   

1. If you need to delete a whole sequence, swipe the sequence to the left in the main upload screen where the sequences are listed. If you tap the upload button on the main upload screen, it will upload all sequences.
2. Keep the app running in the foreground for uploading. If you put it in the background, the upload will stop.
3. The app will automatically upload all images with the necessary geotags. Note that the images will be deleted from your phone after upload.
4. If you want to keep copies of the images or upload the images via the Mapillary Desktop Uploader instead of directly from the app, you must first add GPX tracks to images before uploading. The images and GPX tracks are saved as separate files so you need to do an extra step for adding geotags to the image files.

Upload Android imagery using other methods (optional)

• Desktop Uploader
• Command Line Tools