Kutuma System
Introduction
What is Kutuma?
Kutuma is the application that will be used by the field team to transfer data from the field to the cloud, in this case Azure. There already exists a PC Kutuma application which can successfully transfer data from the SD Cards to Azure with very minimal human intervention.
Downloading Kutuma
Unless provided access by your supervisor, it will not be possible to access the app. Nevertheless, the releases are available here. This documentation has been developed using the release uploaded on 27-06-2024.
Installing Kutuma
After downloading the appropriate Kutuma release (there are different executables for Windows and Mac OS), you can install Kutuma into your system by running the executable. This is similar to installing any other software from the web.
Here is an old executable for Windows OS.
Running Kutuma
You may have noticed that no form of legal agreement or a step-by-step interface appears when you click the Kutuma executable. This is because Kutuma is a custom application, unlike those packaged to be downloaded from various playstores such as Microsoft Store, iOS store etc.
Running the executable will result in Kutuma starting up and here’s how it looks:
Click on the login and you should be directed how to login using the Natural State Microsoft account.
If the login was successful, you should get the following result.
Plugin the SD Card reader
Before proceeding any further, it is prudent to insert the SD Card reader containing the SD cards whose contents you want to upload via Kutuma. The contents could be images or audio files.
Kutuma AGOL Sign in
Once you select the Survey123 button, an ArcGIS Online (AGOL) popup will appear, asking for your credentials.
Selecting projects
Select the approprate Organization and Project name(s).
Also select the appropriate category. As at the time of writing, Biodiversity was the go-to category.
Data Import
Selecting the category will take you into a new interface as shown below.
Note the options to your left.
The frame to the left shows the project, the data import step you are in under the specified project, and the Social Impact headline shows the steps for uploading social research documents.
Below these is the Settings section. Clicking on it displays the below interface. It is best not change any of the default settings.
Let’s go back to the Data Import section.
Step 1: SD Card Detection
The first step involves scanning the QR code for your SD Card. In case the laptop cannot capture the QR code from the SD Card itself, try taking a picture of the QR code with a phone and place it directly infront of your laptop’s camera.
If successful, you should proceed to Step 2. On the righthand frame, you will notice Kutuma automatically displays each step you complete.
Step 2: SD Card Connection
Once you proceed to the second step, here you will specify whether your card is unencrypted or encrypted. Notice that the interface also displays the digit numbers for your scanned QR code.
Selecting encrypted option will prompt you to insert the password.
Otherwise, selected unencrypted and proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Data type selection
This step involves selecting the file types in your SD Card that Kutuma should upload.
It is recommended to have a single file type in the SD Card whose contents you want to upload.
For this tutorial, we are using camera images so select Camera trap images and proceed to the next step.
The SD Card QR Code digital number still remains all through.
Step 4: Data import and fine tuning
This is the pre-ultimate stage prior to data upload. Depending on the size and number of files in your SD Card, Kutuma might take longer to import all the images from the SD Card to the local directory in C:\Users\<your-name>\AppData\Roaming\kutuma\uploads\Natural State\Rangeland Biodiversity Project \cameraTrapImages\<unique-name-for-folder-containing-images>.
Once its done, this is how the interface looks like.
In this step, you can decide to select all images, or just a subset of the images to be uploaded by checking them.
For demonstratability, we will only proceed forward with just two images of the seven we have.
Cloud Uploading
Once you successfully finish up with Step 4 above, you proceed to the next section under your Project Category, Biodiversity in this case.
The File Count column will show the total number of files you selected in Step 4.
If you are happy, click Upload to Cloud. A progress bar should result and a success message pops up.
Azure Data Storage
Just as it is important to upload your data from a physical device such as SD Card to Cloud, so is it also important to check that it has successfully landed in the cloud. As mentioned earlier, Azure is our cloud storage platform.
Step 1: Sign into Azure
Go to Azure Microsoft. At the top right, there is a sign in button.
Click on it and sign in to Azure using your provided credentials.
Here is the Azure Home Page you will land in.
Step 2: Landing page
Click on the nsiitechdevadlslanding link. This will take you to the landing page where all data collected flows into.
Scroll down on the options to your left and click on Containers, under the Data Storage tab.
Click on the row written Kutuma.
Step 3: Kutuma uploaded data
Click on the folder written Natural State and click the others that follow in this order.
Natural State>Range Biodiversity Project>cameraTrapImages. Once you reach cameraTrapImages you will find a list of folders like below. Each folder has a unique number and each folder contains data uploaded at a specific time.
Go to the last folder which represents the most recently uploaded image(s).
In there, you will find a folder labelled with the QR code digits which Kutuma picked when it scanned the QR code on the SD card.
Inside this folder you will find the two images we had uploaded earlier, as seen under the Modified column.
Images and other documents in Azure are stored in the Blob storage format.