Ground

A simple, intuitive, and versatile data collection mobile application to empower smallholders to monitor their value chains. Ground is an open-source, map-first data collection platform developed to drive sustainability impact at scale. Ground is designed for use by non-technical users with little to no special training.

Our goal is to provide a “just right” data collection solution that meets the needs of community organisers, conservationists, humanitarian workers and researchers. FAO and Google have joined forces to bring a next-generation mobile application that puts data back into the hands of local actors for action on the ground. Ground is designed to support a range of applications, including restoration activities, sustainable commodity production, and training data collection for machine learning.

User-Friendly: Optimized for non-technical users.

Map-First Approach: All data linked to preloaded or user-defined map features.

Automatic Sync: Two-way data sync ensures data is saved and uploaded automatically when online, even if the app is closed or the device restarts.

Real-Time Visualisation: Field data appears in the dashboard once uploaded.

Downloadable Data: Analysis-ready CSV files can be downloaded from the dashboard.

Open Source: All source code available on GitHub.