Fulcrum was reviewed in our initial survey of field data collection apps in 2012, and almost made the top three. In the last 3 years Fulcrum has improved and has become perhaps the most intuitive and useful data collection app we've evaluated period.It is available for both iOS and Android. It isn't free, but the subscription fee is affordable. It costs anywhere from $18 - $25 per month. The three pricing plans give you 10 - 30Gb of online storage, which is substantial. Fulcrum offers a free 30 day trial which includes all the functionality. You can use this option to test Fulcrum for your projects. In the following example, I will be using a health care facility data collection form to show how Fulcrum works.Fulcrum has the most intuitive data collection form builder of any app we've seen. When you design a form Fulcrum calls it an 'app'. Simply drag and drop from the Add Fields section to your 'app' to add questions (see figure below). Available data input types include text, numbers, date, single or multiple choice, photos, videos, and audio. There are no tricks to collecting GPS locations as with iForm. Fulcrum collects locations automatically.
Once a field has been added simply set you parameters. The figure below shows the facility type question being edited. To do this simply click on a field, and fill out the details. It's so easy a 50 year old can do it!
The companion mobile app can be downloaded for free from the Apple Store or the Google Play Store. Once installed, login and your data collection app(s) will sync with your mobile device. The figure below shows the health care facilities data collection app on an iPhone. Answering the questions is intuitive. Once collected your data will be synced with your cloud account.
Once back in the office, login to your account, select your data collection app, and choose Start Export Wizard. You will be taken to the page below. Choose your file format. A complete array of GIS formats is available including: shapefiles, geodatabases, KML, PostGIS and Spatialite. Choose any other appropriate options and click Next to download your data.
I highly recommend that everyone involved in Community Health Mapping evaluate Fulcrum. Along with iForm and ODK Collect is a CHM recommended data collection tool. There is a monthly subscription fee but it is low. It is the easiest and most flexible tool we've found. You can use the free 30 day trial period to see if it works for you.