PhotoTag User Manual

The PhotoTag web app is a website that can be used by any device with a working internet connection. The web app is necessary for creating a PhotoTag account, creating user accounts, and for creating categories. Find the web app by typing the subdomain you chose when you signed up for an account, followed by .phototag.app, into a web browser. So, the format of your web address will be yoursubdomain.phototag.app.

The mobile app is an app created specifically for use with Android and iOS smartphones. You can download the mobile app from the Google Play or Apple store from the following links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sdgsystems.collector.photos

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/phototag-sdg-systems/id1489381344

The mobile app is useful for taking photos using your smartphone’s built-in camera. The Android app, “PhotoTag for Rugged Devices” is useful for Zebra, Honeywell, Bluebird and Point Mobile devices with built-in barcode scanners. It may be found here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sdgsystems.collector.photos

User Permissions

A guest User may only view images and categories or tags.
A standard User may view (read) and add (write) most fields, but not delete. These include images and categories.
An administrative User may also delete images and categories.

Zebra Settings

This configuration is recommended for users who have Zebra devices and want to use Single Tag Scan Mode.

In DataWedge, under the 3-dot menu > Settings:

DataWedge enabled is OFF

In Settings > Key Programmer:

GUN_TRIGGER is set to BUTTON_L1
LEFT_TRIGGER_2 is set to BUTTON_L2
RIGHT_TRIGGER_1 is set to SCAN
SCAN is set to SCAN

Create an account for an organization

Go to https://phototag.app/#/get-started and fill out the form as directed, or select Register in the mobile app to open a browser window.

Create Categories (Admins Only, Web App Only)

Note: For a video demonstration on how to create categories, please watch our YouTube tutorial.

PhotoTag allows you to sort photos by categories and tags. Categories are used for broad grouping of photos, while tags are generally used to label your photos in more detail. For example, if you want to document your shipping process by taking a photo of your product before it ships, you can set the category as shipping, and the specific barcode of your product as a tag.

Categories may include the location where the photo was taken, the type of photo (e.g. quality, progress, shipping, inspection, etc), a process stage (e.g. arrived, in-process, completed), or any other value that you choose. A user may select more than one category when taking photos.

To create a category, first verify that you’re an administrator. You can do this by going into the web app and clicking on the user icon in the top right corner and selecting “Profile”.

Your “User Role” must be “Administrator” in order to create categories.

Create categories using the following steps.

In the web interface go to the Admin > Categories menu

Click the Floating Action Button in the bottom right corner. Note: only site administrators have the ability to add, remove or change categories.

Enter a name and description for the category and select save.

If you wish items in the Category to be hidden from the main view, select “Hidden” and then save the Category. (“Hidden” may also be useful if you wish to temporarily hide a category, or if it’s an obsolete one.)

Creating categories is not currently supported in the mobile application.

Restrict Users to Specific Categories (Admins Only, Web App Only)

In PhotoTag, admins can allow or restrict user access to certain categories of photos. This means that only certain categories of photos will be visible to users based on their permissions. This feature is useful when you want to restrict access to certain sensitive or confidential images.

Category-based visibility in Phototag is also useful when showing customers images. For example, if you are a business that provides photos to customers, you may have multiple customers who each require access to their own set of images. By using category-based visibility, you can create separate categories for each customer's photos and grant access to only that customer. This allows you to easily manage and organize your photos, as well as ensure that each customer only sees their own photos.

To enable category-based visibility, follow these steps:

In the web app, signed in as an admin, go to Admin > Users
A list of users will appear. Select a user.
Select Limit Viewable Categories
Click on the space under Viewable Categories. A list of your categories will appear. Select the categories you want the user to have access to.
Click Save.

Mobile Apps

Our PhotoTag mobile app is available for both iOS and Android devices. There are two separate Android apps: PhotoTag for Rugged Devices and PhotoTag. PhotoTag for Rugged Devices supports using rugged Android devices such as those from Zebra, Honeywell, Bluebird and Point Mobile, and it may also be used on standard Android phones. PhotoTag can only be used on standard Android phones. Settings and operation may be slightly different between the two apps, and those differences are noted below.

For iOS, there is a single PhotoTag app.

GPS Notes

Getting good GPS coordinates requires being outside with a clear view of the sky, especially toward the equator. It may take a few minutes for your device to obtain a good fix. You can use a 3rd party GPS app to see if your device has several GPS satellites in view (this feature is expected in PhotoTag in a later release). You must allow precise GPS if you would like the coordinates to be accurate. Typical accuracy on cell phones is 2-5 meters.

Mobile Workflow

The typical mobile workflow is as follows:

Sign into your PhotoTag subdomain server (e.g. https://mycompany.phototag.app/). Photos are uploaded to your or your company’s storage space.
Create a Data Template. PhotoTag allows you to sort photos by categories and tags. Categories are used for broad grouping of photos, while tags are generally used to label your photos in more detail. You can configure the tags and categories by using the Data Template. Access the Data Template by selecting the Tag setup tab at the bottom of the screen. Capture photos. The tags and categories you select in the Data Template will be applied to all subsequent photos you take, until you change it.

More information about each of these steps is provided below.

Sign In (Web App)

In a web browser, enter your email address and password on the login page of your PhotoTag subdomain.

Sign In (Mobile App)

In the PhotoTag mobile app, enter the subdomain for your organization into the "Server" field. This is the text before .phototag.app (or tallyflow.com for TallyFlow users) in your login url (i.e. you would enter “example” if you normally access https://example.phototag.app).

Enter your email and password and press “Login”.

Setup Tags Using a Data Template (Mobile App)

This step applies to the mobile app. In the web app, data is configured for a photo after the photo is captured.

On the mobile app, you can add tags and categories to the Tag Setup (also known as the Data Template) activity. The Tag Setup activity can be accessed by pressing the Tag setup icon, then entering the desired values.

If you would like a barcode to be a tag, select the barcode icon to scan a barcode using your device’s built-in camera. Once you’ve scanned it, the barcode number will appear with your other tags in the Tag setup tab. You can also read NFC tag numbers if your device supports NFC and it is enabled.

Note: You can ONLY scan barcodes to create tags in the Tag setup tab. Pressing the barcode icon while you’re in the Photo list tab allows you to search for a specific barcode tag.

Hint: if you have too many categories because of varied uses or locations, you can create QR barcodes that can be scanned at the point of photo capture. For example, if you would like to record the dock door for a shipment and you have 20 dock doors, you can create a QR Code with the text value of ‘Dock1’ that a user can scan at that door as a Tag. You can use the QR Code Generator in the web app to create QR barcodes.

Add or Capture Photos (Web App)

In the web application, from the main screen, select the floating action “+” button in the bottom right corner.

On a mobile browser, this button will give you the option of using the device’s camera, or of uploading an image from the device filesystem. On a desktop browser, you only have the option to upload an image from the filesystem.

Note: When selecting photos from the photo gallery to upload to PhotoTag, these photos must be still photos. We do not support iOS Live photos for upload at this time. You can convert a Live photo to a still by opening a live photo in Photos app and tapping the Share button in the lower left corner. Next, select Duplicate and choose “Duplicate as Still Photo”. The live photo will be duplicated as a still photo, which will be saved in your Camera Roll.

After uploading the image, you will have the opportunity to enter tags, categories and a description on the detail screen.

After you save the image, it will appear in the main feed on the homepage, with the categories and tags displayed. The categories are blue oval buttons, and the tags are green oval buttons.

Add or Capture Photos (Mobile App)

In the mobile application, select the Camera tab at the bottom of the screen.

This starts the camera preview. Then, touch the camera round button (FAB) in preview mode to capture an image. It will be automatically uploaded to the cloud when network connectivity is present.

To set the camera’s exposure and focus during preview, touch the area in the preview where you want the camera to focus. To undo selective focus, press the AF Lock button.

If you have a device that supports the camera2 API (the About menu item shows whether your device supports camera1 or camera2), you can use pinch to zoom during camera preview.

Note: with the PhotoTag for Rugged Devices app on Android, you can read NFC tags during camera preview. On some rugged devices (e.g. Zebra TC72), you can scan barcodes during preview using the hardware scanner and the hardware scan buttons.

Single Tag Scan (Rugged Mobile App Only)

In the Android mobile app, the Single Tag Scan mode (enabled in Settings) will highlight the most-recently scanned barcode or NFC tag. When you scan the next barcode or NFC tag, the highlighted barcode or NFC value will be replaced with the new value. Without Single Tag Scan, new scans are always added to the list of tags. See our YouTube tutorial to learn more about Single Tag Scan mode.

Editing an Image (Web App)

In the web app, from the main screen, click on an image and the edit view will open. Make any desired changes to the tags, categories, or comments and click “Save”. Note: you cannot change the date, time, latitude, or longitude.

Editing an Image (Mobile App)

On the mobile app, select an image in the Photo List view.

Make your changes to the categories, tags, or comments and select the Save (or Cancel) button at the bottom of the screen. Note: you cannot change the date, time, latitude, or longitude.

Searching for an Image (Web App)

In the web app, the search bar allows searching for tags, categories, date ranges, or images without tags or categories. Selecting the bar at the top will reveal the search options.

For both mobile and web, selecting a tag or category “bubble” begins a search for that value. In the web app, you can search for multiple tags and categories.

Searching for an Image (Mobile App)

Note: For a video demonstration on how to search and filter images, please see our Youtube tutorial.

In the mobile app, the search icon allows for the searching of tags or categories.

For both mobile and web, selecting a tag or category “bubble” begins a search for that value.

You can also search for a barcode by selecting the barcode button in the Photo list tab (note: it will only work for searching in the Photo list tab). It will prompt you to scan a barcode using your device’s built-in camera.

Once you’ve scanned the barcode, any photos associated with that barcode will appear in the search results.

Adding Tags to Images (Mobile App)

Select an image from the List view to start edit mode. In the mobile app,enter the name of the tag (string value) on the Tags line, pressing Enter or the checkmark on the keyboard after each string.

Select Save or Cancel when done.

Tag Timeout (Rugged Mobile App Only)

Tag timeout clears all tags in the Tags tab after a specified number of seconds. Note: Tag timeout will only clear the tags if the device has been unused for the specified time; i.e., if you keep taking photos or changing tags, the timer will restart. Additionally, it will not clear the tags of photos that have already been taken.

To enable tag timeout, select the three dot menu in the top right corner, then select Settings.

Once you’re in Settings, select “Enable tag clearing.”

A dialog box will appear. Enter the number of seconds you want to elapse before PhotoTag clears the tags in the Tags tab. Select Ok.

Require a Tag (Rugged Mobile App Only)

“Require a tag” requires you to add a tag in the Tags tab before taking a photo. To enable this feature, select the three-dot menu in the upper right corner, then select Settings.

Select “Require a tag.”

If a tag has been added in the Tags tab, then the app will behave as normal. If you haven’t added a tag, then the following error message will appear when you try to take a photo:

PhotoTag will not allow photos to be taken until a tag has been added.

Creating QR Codes (Web App Only)

To quickly add a tag or category to a group of photos, you can create a printable QR code that will add the tag to your photos once you’ve scanned it. Create a QR by selecting QR Code Generator on the left navigation bar.

Then, type your tag value into the Tag field. Select the size that you want the QR code to be. Note: If you’re creating a QR code for a category, the value must begin with “cat:”. E.g. “cat:quality” for the “quality” category. Print the barcode and scan it at the relevant location.

Downloading (Web App Only) and Deleting Images (Web App)

To download or delete a group of images or CSV (spreadsheet) data on the web app, you must first enter some search criteria. The search criteria can be a tag, category, or date range.

Once you have submitted the search, the download and delete buttons will appear on the lower right side of the screen.

If you would like to download your images, select download. Then, select whether you would like to download the images in a zip file or as a CSV file.

It will download all the images that were included in the search results. Downloaded images will have the category and tag values in the filename, along with the Object ID of the photo. Note: downloads are limited in size. If you have too many images that you are trying to download, reduce the number using the search parameters (e.g. reduce the date range).

To delete a group of images, select the delete button, then type “Delete” into the required field. All images included in the search results will be deleted. This action cannot be undone. We do not currently have an Archive function.

Deleting Images (Mobile App)

To delete an image, select an image in List View. Then, select the Trash button in the top right corner of the screen.

Select “Delete” to delete the image. This action cannot be undone.

Deleting Multiple Images

To delete multiple images, long press on a photo, then select additional photos, then press the Trash icon.

API Keys (Web App)

API Keys are used by programmers for communicating with PhotoTag. It can be accessed by selecting API Keys under the Admin category in the left navigation bar. Contact us for details about the PhotoTag Software Development Kit (SDK) information.