QField — The Complete Guide: Field Data Collection With Your QGIS Project on a Phone or Tablet
QField is an open-source app that takes a QGIS project prepared at the office — layers, forms and validation rules — and runs it on a mobile device. In the field you place points and lines, fill in the same forms and attach photos, even with no signal.
QField
OPENGIS.ch
QGIS in the field — data collection on a phone or tablet, offline.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- The same project — styles, forms and value lists as defined in QGIS.
- Offline work — background maps and layers stored on the device.
- Photos and measurements — attaching photos to features, measuring distances and areas.
- External GNSS — connecting a precise receiver for high accuracy.
- Sync — with the QFieldSync plugin in QGIS, or through a cloud service.
What is free
The app is open source and completely free, including for commercial use. The company behind it separately offers a cloud sync service (QFieldCloud) with paid plans, but you can work without it — transfer the project by cable or a shared folder and sync through the plugin.
Related tools
To prepare the project — QGIS. To publish a shared layer for the whole team — GeoServer. To process raw GNSS observations to centimetre accuracy — RTKLIB.
QGIS
QGIS.org
Open-source GIS for spatial analysis, layer work and map production.
Get it from the vendor
GeoServer
Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
A map server — publishes GIS layers as WMS and WFS services for any software.
Get it from the vendorRTKLIB
Tomoji Takasu
Centimetre-level GNSS post-processing — open-source RTK and PPK.
Get it from the vendor
WebODM (OpenDroneMap)
OpenDroneMap
Photogrammetry from drone imagery — orthophoto, elevation model, point cloud and textured 3D model.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
QField replaces printed sheets and double entry: building surveys, utility mapping, site inspection and environmental sampling — everything goes straight into the project.