Scouting

Plan the photo shoot: mark every spot a photo must be taken.

What Scouting is

Every tour card on the dashboard has a Scouting button. It opens the shoot planner: a map of the property with a menu on the right, where you mark every spot a photo must be taken and write a note about each one.

When the plan is ready you send it as a link. Your photographer opens it on their phone as a checklist, walks the property, and shoots your points one by one. You can watch the plan fill in as they work.

The Property section

The Property bar sits at the very top of the menu and names the property you are looking at. Tap it and the property list opens: every property in the plan with its point count, plus + Add property at the top.

Tap any property in the list to switch to it. The map and the points list follow you.

The address

A property on the GPS map needs an address exactly once. Type it into the address box and matches appear as you type, pick one and the map jumps to the property, ready for points.

The address can be seen and changed any time in that property’s settings, behind the gear in the property list.

+ Point

+ Point sits at the top of the menu. Press it and a small form opens: a name for the point, like Front Porch, and an optional note for the photographer, like shoot at sunset.

Press Place point and the point drops in the middle of the map, breathing, with the menu back on the main list and the new point highlighted. One point places at a time: + Point waits until the breathing point has been dragged into its spot.

Placing a point

A freshly placed point breathes in the middle of the map, exactly like a point in the editor. Grab it, drag it to the exact spot the photo should be taken from, and let go. The pulsing stops, the point is placed, and + Point is ready for the next one.

To move a placed point later, tap its row in the menu: the row highlights, the point pulses, and it can be dragged again. Tap the row a second time to put it down. A point can only be moved while it is selected, so nothing gets nudged by accident.

The points list

Every point sits in the menu as a numbered row. The number on the row matches the number on the map, and both match your photographer's checklist, the numbers never change or get reused.

Tap a row to select the point: the row highlights, the point pulses on the map, and it can be dragged. A captured point turns teal and its row reads Captured; a flagged one turns red and reads Flagged.

Point settings

The gear on the far right of every point row opens that point’s settings, the same form it was created with, filled in. Change the name or the photographer’s note and it saves as you type.

Delete this point lives at the bottom. It asks first, right in the menu, and after deleting, an Undo chip appears at the top of the screen for a while, in case it was the wrong point.

Add property

+ Add property at the top of the property list adds another space to the same plan: a second building, a barn, or the inside of a building.

Name it, then choose its map: GPS map uses the address like the main property. Floor plan / property map uses a picture instead, a phone photo of a paper floor plan works fine, and points are placed on the picture. A floor plan property needs its picture before it can be created; the form says so if it is missing.

Property settings

The gear on a property row opens that property’s settings, the same form it was created with, filled in. Change the name, the address, the map kind, or replace the floor plan picture.

Delete this property removes it and its points, after asking, and leaves an Undo chip. The first property of a plan cannot be deleted; a plan always keeps at least one.

Send links

Send links sits at the bottom of the menu, for the owner only. Press Send link, type who it is for, that name stamps everything they do, and switch on what they can do: Photo gives them the capture checklist on their phone; Planning lets them place and edit points. Switch on both and one link does both jobs.

Create copies the link so it can be pasted straight into a text or an email. Every link you have sent is listed below with its powers, a Copy to send it again, and a Revoke that stops it working immediately.

What your photographer sees

The photo link opens the capture app on their phone: the same map, the same numbered points, your notes under each one. They work the list point by point. On Android Chrome or a computer, one press of Pair GoPro connects the camera over Bluetooth and the big button becomes Capture, which fires the shutter and marks the point in a single press. On an iPhone, where a browser cannot pair over Bluetooth, the button stays Mark captured and they trip the camera themselves. Either way the app jumps straight to the next unshot point. A point they cannot shoot gets Can't shoot this and a note about why.

Your plan updates as they work, the header counts photographed points, captured rows turn teal, and flags turn red so you can see problems the moment they happen.

Tips and the Tutorial button

On a link that can plan, a welcome card opens a moment after Scouting loads. It is headed Plan the photo shoot, says what the page is for, and lists three tips: Mark points., Add notes. and Send links., the last of which reads The photographer follows. instead when the link is a Planning link rather than your own. Two buttons close it: Tutorial starts a guided, hands-on walkthrough, and Start planning dismisses the card without one. A tour still waiting on its setup screen gets the setup first and no card at all.

The walkthrough spotlights one control at a time and waits while you really do each step. A step that asks you to do something offers Skip; every other step has Next, or Finish on the last one. A slider at the bottom of the screen shows how far through you are, and Done on it ends the walkthrough any time.

The orange Tutorial button in the header brings the welcome card back whenever you want it, and it is there on every link, including one that only works the photo checklist. What it teaches is the planning work, so Send links is the one step it leaves out unless the tour is your own. Academy, the teal button beside it, opens this written guide instead.

Back buttons

Every sub-menu in Scouting carries a ‹ Back button at the top, exactly like the editor’s drawers. It only closes the menu you are in and returns you to the one above it.

There is no Save button to hunt for on the way out: names and notes save as you type, so Back is always safe to press.

Position

In a point’s settings, the owner sees a Position line: the exact coordinates where the point sits. Tap it and the coordinates copy, ready to paste anywhere.

Planning links never see coordinates, they place points by dragging, and the numbers stay out of their way.

The photographed count

The count sits in the header of the Scouting page, and only on a computer. It stays blank until the first photo lands, then reads N of M photographed and moves as your photographer works the list. When they finish it reads All N points photographed.

On a phone that header count is hidden, which matters, because watching a shoot from your phone while you are out of the office is the normal way to do it. The points carry the same story either way: a point that has been shot reads Captured on its row, one with a problem reads Flagged in red, and opening a point shows a Status card saying who captured it and when, or who flagged it and what they said.

So read the header for the number and the points for the detail. On the map and in the list, captured points turn teal and a flagged problem turns red, so trouble shows itself the moment it happens without you counting anything.

The name chip

The chip in the header, beside the count, carries the name you gave that link when you sent it. That same name stamps what they do: a point they photograph reads Captured by their name on its Status card, and one they flag reads Flagged by their name, so the plan always says who did what.

Both ways of sending a link ask for the name first, so there is normally one to show. The planning app asks Who is this link for? and will not create the link without an answer. The Front Desk uses the name you typed, or Contractor when you send it to the contractor saved under People.

What the chip reads depends on which app it is. In the planning app you see no chip at all with your own key, because you already know who you are, and a link carrying no name falls back to Planner or Viewer. In the capture app your own key reads owner and a sent link with no name reads link. If you are reading one of those four words instead of a person's name, that link was made without one.

Undo

Delete a point or a whole property and a blue chip appears at the top of the screen with an Undo button. Press it and the deleted thing comes back exactly as it was, same name, same number, same spot, a property returns with its picture and all its points.

The chip waits until you do something else, so there is no race to catch it.

The setup page

A setup link opens to a single page with four answers: your name (it signs everything you do), the tour name (what the tour is called on the owner’s dashboard), the property address (type it and pick a match, it is required so the map can load), and optional property notes, gate codes, parking, anything the crew should know.

Press Create and the map opens at the property, ready for points. From then on the link opens straight to the plan, exactly like any planning link, and the owner’s dashboard adopts the tour name and shows the progress as you work.

How many points to plan

Tighter spacing means more photos, a longer shoot, and more time building. Wider spacing means a faster job and a tour that steps in bigger jumps. Both are real tours.

For a small property, thirty to fifty points is normal. A campground or a school runs one hundred and fifty or more.

If the budget is tight, keep the tight spacing at entrances and junctions and stretch the straight runs. That protects the parts a visitor actually notices.

Menu is the teal button in the top right corner of the map. It opens everything the map cannot show at once. Open it to read notes, switch properties, or reach the camera.

Two buttons sit at the top. Pair GoPro connects your camera. View the tour opens the finished tour, if one has been published yet. Below them is every property, and every point under it.

Press ‹ Map in the corner to close the menu and go back to the map.

The point list and the notes

Under each property header is its point list, in walk order. Each row shows the point number, its name, and its status. That number is the same number the planner sees, and it never changes. A captured row reads Captured. A flagged row reads Flagged.

A note written for a whole property sits under its header row, along with that property’s captured count.

Tap any row. The menu closes and that point opens on the map, and the note written for that point sits in the panel that slides up. Read it before you set the camera. Press Close at the bottom to put the point down.

The pole on the walk

Mount the camera on a pole, not a tripod. A pole puts the lens above head height, about seven feet up, which is the height a visitor reads as standing.

Thread the camera on and extend the pole before you reach the first point. Keep the pole vertical, because a tilted pole tilts the whole photo, and every photo after it.

Hold the pole in one hand and the phone in the other. You press the phone, not the camera.

Where to stand when the shutter fires

A 360 camera sees everything, including you. Plant the pole on the point and step back at least six feet before you press.

Step back the same direction at every point. That puts you in the same place in every photo, which makes you quick to take out later with Magic Eraser and Find people.

Hold the phone low, down at your hip, and stand still while the shutter fires. The pole foot lands at the bottom of the photo, and Nadir Patch covers that in the editor, so leave it alone out here.

Pair GoPro

Pairing links the camera to the phone over Bluetooth. Do it once, at the start of the walk. Turn the camera on first, and leave it awake.

Open Menu and press Pair GoPro. The phone lists nearby cameras, so pick yours. A message reads GoPro connected, shutter armed, and the button changes to GoPro ✓. From here the phone fires the camera.

If it does not take, a message tells you to turn the GoPro off and on, then try again. Press Pair GoPro a second time once the camera is awake.

The GoPro camera card and the Shutter watch

The GoPro camera card sits at the top of Menu once you pair. You never have to open it. It is there for the moments you doubt the camera.

The first line names the camera that is connected. The second line is the Shutter watch. At first it reads waiting for the camera’s first signal. Once the camera answers it reads armed, with a signal count, how long ago the last one arrived, and the camera’s own photo count. That last number is the truth: if you press Capture and camera photos does not move, no photo was taken.

Most walks never need this line. Press Disconnect to drop the camera on purpose.

Capture

Capture is the large teal button on an open point. It is the only button you press all day. Walk to the point, set the pole, step back, then press Capture.

One press fires the camera and marks the point. The point turns teal on the map and in the list, the header count goes up by one, then the next point still waiting opens by itself and the map moves to it. Keep walking.

With no camera paired, the same button reads Mark captured. It marks the point and nothing else.

Where your photos actually are

Capture marks points. It never receives a photo. The photo is written to the memory card inside the camera, and nothing about it travels to the phone or to the tour.

So the header count is a count of marks, not a count of pictures. A point can read Captured while the camera took nothing at all. That is what the camera’s own photo count on the Shutter watch line is for.

Two numbers should agree at the end of the walk: the marks on the phone, and the photos on the card. Never format that card until the tour is built and the photos are safe.

When the camera does not answer

Sometimes the camera does not answer. The app sends the shutter, then tries one reconnect on its own. If the camera still says nothing, it marks the point anyway and a red message reads Camera did not answer · marked manually.

When you see that, read the Shutter watch line on the camera card. It carries the camera's own photo count, so if that number did not move, no photo was taken. Wake the camera, press Un-mark on the point, then press ● Capture again. You can also fire the camera by hand: the app sees its photo count rise and marks the open point for you. If the link has dropped altogether, a message reads GoPro connection lost · reconnecting as soon as it answers, and it keeps trying until the camera answers.

There is a second message, Camera did not answer · check that point’s photo, and it asks for something different. It means the point was already marked, two and a half seconds after the shutter went out, before the camera's refusal arrived. The mark stands and nothing is waiting for you on the checklist, but the photo may not exist. Go back to that point and confirm the camera really has it.

The external shutter button

A Bluetooth shutter button is a small remote that pairs to the phone. Use it when the phone is in a pocket, or taped to the pole. Pair it in the phone’s own Bluetooth settings, not inside the capture app.

Open the point you are shooting, so its panel is up, then press the remote. The open point marks, and a message reads Marked by shutter button.

The remote marks the point. It does not fire the camera. It is ignored while you are typing a note, and two presses close together count as one.

iPhone and Android

Pairing needs Chrome on Android, or a computer. No iPhone browser can talk to Bluetooth. On iPhone, Pair GoPro answers with a message saying exactly that, and capture stays manual.

Everything else works the same on both phones. On iPhone, fire the camera yourself, then press Mark captured. Or pair a Bluetooth shutter remote to the iPhone and press that instead, because the remote marks the point on either phone.

If you have a choice of phones, walk with the Android. That is one press per point instead of two.

Un-mark

Open a captured point and it shows who captured it and when, with a single Un-mark button.

Press Un-mark. The point turns orange again, on the map and in the list, the header count drops by one, and the Capture button comes back so you can shoot the point properly.

Nothing else about the point changes.

Can’t shoot this

Flag a point you cannot shoot. Use it for a locked door, a parked truck, or a room in use. Open the point and press Can’t shoot this. A note box opens, asking what is in the way. Say it in a few words, because someone else has to act on it.

Press Flag it. The point turns red on the map and reads Flagged in the list, a red flagged count appears in the header, and a message reads Flagged, the manager will see it.

Never skip a point in silence, because the flag is how it gets fixed. To take one off, open the point and press Clear the flag.

Working with no signal

Properties have dead spots, and the capture app expects that. Every mark is written on the phone first, then sent when the signal returns. Nothing waits for the network, so the screen behaves the same with no bars at all. Keep walking and keep pressing Mark captured.

The app sends the backlog the moment it can reach the network, and retries every fifteen seconds on its own. The backlog survives closing the browser and opening the link again. Map tiles are the only part that needs signal.

One thing throws the backlog away. If the link is revoked or replaced while the phone is out of signal, the first send it manages comes back refused, the screen reads This link was revoked, and everything marked since the last good send goes with it. So finish the walk and get a signal before anybody touches the links, and do not clear your browser data before the marks have gone out.

Finishing the walk

Press Capture on the last point. The panel closes by itself, because there is no next point to open.

Read the header. It should read the full count captured, with no red flagged count. Open Menu and scroll the list: every row should read Captured or Flagged. Fix anything still blank before you leave the property.

Press Disconnect on the GoPro camera card, and wait until you have signal before you drive off, so the last marks go out. Then hand the photos to whoever builds the tour.

The Academy button

Academy is the teal pill at the top right of Scouting, next to the orange Tutorial pill and the version stamp. It opens the Scouting page of the StrollPoint Academy, which is this page, in a new tab.

Reach for it when you want to read about a control rather than be walked through one. Tutorial stays on the page and spotlights each control in turn while you really use it. Academy leaves Scouting untouched in the tab behind you, so nothing you have placed is at risk while you read, and you can keep it open on a second screen.

On the capture screen, a property set up as a GPS map draws a teal teardrop with a white edge wherever your phone is, labelled You are here. It arrives as the map opens and it moves with you as you walk, so the spot you are standing on and the spot you are about to shoot are both on the screen at once.

It is the tour\'s own mark, the same teardrop a visitor sees, which is the point of it: what you are reading while you shoot is what they will read while they walk. It asks the phone for a high-accuracy fix and keeps asking, so give it a moment in the open before you trust it, and expect it to be vague under a roof.

A property you set up as a Floor plan / property map has no teardrop, because a photograph of a plan has nothing to put you on. On those, the spots you placed are the only thing telling you where you are, which is why naming them properly back on the Scouting page pays off out here.

When the link will not open

A capture link can fail three ways, and each one takes the whole screen with a heading and one line under it. A link missing the plan reads No plan in this link over Use the capture link you were sent., which is nearly always a link copied short or pasted in two pieces. A link the owner has revoked reads This link was revoked. Anything else that stops the plan loading reads Could not open the plan. Both of those ask for the same thing: Ask whoever sent it for a fresh link.

A revoke can land mid walk, not only at the start. Revoke while the photographer is out and the next time the phone tries to send its marks the same card takes the screen, reading This link was revoked over Ask whoever sent it for a fresh one., and the marks still waiting to go out are dropped with it. That is worth knowing before pressing Revoke on somebody who is still on site.

One message that looks similar is not a gate at all. If the link was made for planning only and something tries to mark a point, the walk carries on and a message says That did not save. This link cannot mark points. once. Send a Photo link, or one with both switched on, to anybody who is going to press Capture.

Open in your maps

Open a point on a capture link and its sheet shows the name, any notes, and then a line of coordinates ending open in your maps. That line is a link. Press it and your own maps app opens at those exact coordinates, so you can be walked to the next spot the way you would be walked anywhere else.

It is the fastest way through a property you have never been to. Work down the list: press the coordinates, follow your phone, stand on the spot, shoot, mark it captured, open the next one. On a property you know by heart it is worth nothing, so ignore it.

The line only shows on a point that has coordinates. A point with none shows nothing there to press, and the rest of the sheet, the notes and the buttons, is exactly the same.

Save failed

Save failed is the red chip at the top of the screen when a change does not reach the server. Save failed · offline? is the same chip when the request never left the phone at all. Either way it clears itself after a few seconds, and the change does not come back with it.

The planner keeps nothing on the phone. There is no queue and no second try, and the screen reads the plan back from the server every twelve seconds, so a point you placed in a dead spot is gone at the next refresh. The capture app your photographer carries does hold its marks on the phone until the signal returns. This screen is not that screen.

So plan where there are bars. If you see the chip, stop, get your signal back, and check the point is still on the map before placing the next one. Doing it again is the repair, because the plan is whatever the server holds.

The hover help cards

Rest the pointer on most of what Scouting puts on screen, a button, a box, a row in the list, and after a moment a small card appears beside it carrying that control’s name, one line on what it does, and Open the guide. The words are this Academy’s own, read from it as the card opens, so the card and the guide cannot drift apart.

Open the guide opens a new tab at the section about the control you were hovering, which is the long version of the same answer. The card waits while your pointer is on it, so you can reach the link without it vanishing, and beside the menu it opens out over the map rather than on top of the control you are about to press.

They are desktop furniture. On a phone or a tablet a tap would fake a hover and the card would land on the very box you tapped, so there are none. They also stand down while the welcome card or the tutorial is up, which keeps the tutorial’s spotlight clear.