Numbers for iPad and Cloud during road surveys

[Bob H]

We are thinking of using an iPad while conducting road surveys for our township. A road survey is one or more days inspecting roads for needed repairs. We would like to dictate comments about a road location and take pictures of the problem. We don't have any experience with iPads nor the program called Numbers. We've been told that audio could be recorded, transcribed and entered into a Numbers cell. Also pictures could be entered/stored in a cell as well. Can picture GPS data be recorded as well and used on Google Maps? In addition we have been told that all of that information could be pushed and stored in the Cloud so it could used by PC's. Is all this possible with the iPad environment? What is the difference between Numbers for iPad ($10) and Numbers for MacBook Pro($20)? Which iPad would recommend?

If all of this is possible we would like to demo the possibilities in 2 weeks to our board of township supervisors.

Thanks in advanced,
Bob

 

[Redjupiter]

Hi Bob,

I can answer some of your questions. Yes you an record text into a cell. Yes you can insert pictures. I save to the icloud. When I need to I log in to my icloud account and edit the spreadsheet online using numbers for icloud. Pictures taken with a device which has gps will have gps data stored in the picture. Not sure about google maps as I don't use it but I can use the photo with ipad maps. I assume the mac version will be compatible with the ipad Numbers version but better check. I will edit this if I remember anything else -

 

[Bob H]

Thanks for replying Redjupitor.

Can a person record audio voice dictation using the iPad and then have that dictation transcribed into text which is then placed in a Numbers cell?

Can that function work for both the iPad and for OSX versions of Numbers?

 

[Redjupiter]

Now here is the strange thing. iPhone 5 have voice recording memos app but not the ipad ( I have the ipad mini). Stranger is I cannot open the voice memos recorded on my iPhone in in my ipad. So no. I haven't checked 3rd party though they might be something you can use to enter into Numbers. So you can dictate within the application directly and you can add photos and you can add videos. I don't know about Mac as I don't have one, I'll see if I can find something as I need the memos facility.

 

[Bob H]

Excuse me if I seem I'm kinda dense on this.

So I just open up the Numbers application and dictate into a cell and it transcribes that dictation into text, in that cell?

 

[Redjupiter]

Excuse me if I seem I'm kinda dense on this. So I just open up the Numbers application and dictate into a cell and it transcribes that dictation into text, in that cell?

Exactly. Open numbers, click on a cell and the keyboard will appear, switch into text and you will see the microphone on the keyboard click on it and start talking click to stop and it will convert speech into text and input it into the chosen cell.

 

[Bob H]

THANKS for all your help! I think I will buy Numbers.

 

[Redjupiter]

Yeah personally I think it is pretty cool. Needs more features but what it does it does it. Better read this first. http://www.apple.com/support/ios/numbers/

 

[twerppoet]

It is NOT possible to place a picture in a cell. You can place pictures in a Numbers document, but not in a cell in a table.

 

[Redjupiter]

Good point. I am not sure if he literally meant in the cell. I am not even sure if there is a spreadsheet that do that. I am not an expert though. I only use microsoft and apple number to record incidents, pictures, videos and normal text, formula.

 

[twerppoet]

The app FormConnect might be closer to what's needed. It's a database that you can design your own forms for. You can take and add pictures from within the app. Dictation from the keyboard, as previously described, will work pretty much anywhere that you can enter text, so should also work.

Though it should be noted that dictation only works when you have an internet connection.

I don't use FormConnect myself, but other users have said good things about it.

For a less structured approach Evernote is an option. You add pictures, audio notes, and dictate text. You can do a fair amount of searching and organizing using notebooks and tags. What it won't do is give you a report ready (or nearly ready) output.