We've actually been looking into NFC to automatically provision field devices to set/read/store metadata. We're staring down the barrel of a large deployment and metadata is one of the issues that we think really needs automation. We're thinking of having a dedicated device to write and read the tags that would go on the devices as stickers and automagically sync the metadata with the database. An added bonus would be that most recently modern phones support NFC protocols like NTAG or MiFare Classic. That would mean that they could also be both read and written with the GPS coordinates, timestamp, etc as they're deployed in the field. It's still under discussion with the many other things that need to be implemented, though. I do think it's interesting that what we're seeing in a lot of conservation technology applications is not just a need for new technology but also the less exciting but more practical need for things that improve productivity like automating metadata management. 

Using NFC makes a lot of sense too. I'm just on an older lower-end device that doesn't support it, which is why it didn't pop immediately to mind. Would be interesting to see what the adoption rate for NFC-capable phones is across countries though I'd imagine some phone manufacturer or something already has that data.

A bit opposite of what you're looking for but according to this, the share of non-NFC enabled phones was 10% in 2020. They don't state their source unless you pay, but I suspect that's in terms of total phone models, not total phones in use. So it's highly likely that phones with no NFC in use is much higher than that. 

Hi Truphena,

Firetail is designed with animal telemetry in mind. But, you could import any kind of data that features latitute, longitude and some kind of ID (plus whatever sensors you have) like ship vessels, air traffic and so on. It is mostly a matter of getting the formats straight, but our support can help you with that.

Some adaptions may be required, but Firetail has grown with the community use cases from day one, we do not intend to change this any time soon.

What kind of data are you working on?

A good place to start may be the manual or, as Lars mentionend, our video tutorials (I linked the beginner's tutorial). You can also contact our support for specific questions.

Tobias