Image Plotter
Displays a fixed image and lets the user mark points on it, storing where they marked.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — the datastore, then Table Designer to add or edit a field
What it is for
Anything whose location is relative to a picture rather than to the world:
- Damage and defects on a vehicle diagram, a floor plan or an elevation.
- Body maps in health and care recording.
- Site plans — where on this layout is the issue.
- Equipment diagrams — which component.
It is not a map
Positions are relative to the image, not to the earth. If you need a real-world location, that is the geolocation field or a postcode — and those support distance, radius and mapping, which this cannot.
The two get confused because both involve pointing at a picture. The test: would the answer change if the thing moved to another town? If yes, you need a location, not a plot.
The image is part of the data
This is the point people miss. Stored positions mean nothing without the image they were placed on — a mark at a given position on a vehicle diagram is a different panel if the diagram changes.
So changing the background image invalidates every existing record. If you must change it, keep the old image for historical records rather than replacing it, and understand that a new diagram is effectively a new field.
Choose the image carefully and once
Because of the above, this is a decision worth getting right before anyone uses it. A clear, uncluttered diagram at a sensible resolution, with the orientation people expect, and no text that would need translating.
Marks are not categories
The field records where; it does not record what. "Three marks on the nearside" is not the same as "a dent, a scratch and a chip". If the type of each mark matters, that needs its own structure — usually a related datastore with a position and a type per record.
Reporting is limited
Positions are coordinates on an image. You can show them and you cannot easily group by them — "how many defects on the front bumper" requires defining regions, which the field does not do for you.
Where that question matters, a dropdown of named areas alongside the plot will serve you far better than trying to derive regions from coordinates.
It works well on touch
Tapping a diagram is fast and natural on a phone or tablet, which is where this field is usually used. Make sure the image is legible at that size — a detailed plan that works on a laptop can be unusable on a handset.
Worked example
A vehicle inspection uses an image plotter over a standard four-view diagram, with a dropdown for damage type and a named-area dropdown beside it. The plot shows the assessor exactly where; the two dropdowns make the reporting possible. When the diagram is later redrawn, the old image is retained so historical inspections still make sense.
Recommendations
- Never change the background image without keeping the old one.
- Use geolocation for real-world positions.
- Add a named-area field if you need to report.
- Check legibility on a phone.