FieldMove vs Zotero
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FieldMove
This app facilitates digital field mapping for geologists, enabling precise data capture on a map-centric interface. It supports offline map usage, includes tools for drawing geological features, and can record orientation data, notes, and photos. Export your collected data in various formats for further analysis.
- Map-centric digital field mapping
- Offline map support
- Drawing tools for geological features
- Digital compass and clinometer
- Geo-referenced notes and photos
- Geological symbol library
- Multiple data export formats
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FieldMove is a map-based digital field mapping app for geological data capture. The app is presented in a map-centric format for use on larger touchscreen tablets. When sufficient data has been collected, you can use the drawing tools that include a virtual cursor for precision drawing to create geological boundaries, fault traces and other linework on your basemap. It is also possible to create simple polygons to show the distribution of different rock types. FieldMove supports Mapbox™ online maps and can cache this extensive online map service to work offline in the field. In addition to handling online maps, geo-referenced basemaps in MBTile or GeoTIFF format can be imported and also are available offline when working in the field. The app allows you to use your tablet as a traditional hand-held bearing compass, as well as a digital compass clinometer for measuring and recording the orientation of planar and linear features in the field. Geo-referenced text notes, photographs and screenshots can also be captured and stored within the app. Also contained in FieldMove is a library of geological symbols that enables data to be plotted on a stereonet, which allows the user to carry out analysis based on their field observations and measurements. All data readings collected in the field and any linework digitized directly in FieldMove with the drawing tools are fully geo-referenced. This information is preserved when the project is exported in various formats for use in other applications. Exporting your project is a quick and simple process. Data can be exported in three different formats: Move™ (.mve), for direct import into Petex's Move software for model building and analysis, a CSV (.csv) file (comma-separated values, similar to an Excel spreadsheet), and as a Google Earth (.kmz) file. A more in-depth user guide and brochure is available here: https://www.petex.com/products/move-suite/digital-field-mapping/ FieldMove is a Petroleum Experts geological field mapping app designed for forward thinking geologists utilising digital data collection. -------------------- The use of GPS devices and tablets as navigation aids. Global Positioning System (GPS) devices are commonly used to aid navigation, having grown in popularity over the past decade. Over the last few years, this has extended to smartphones and digital compasses, which are often equipped with GPS functionality. GPS is a valuable aid to navigation during fieldwork, although it is important to keep safety at the forefront, and we draw your attention to the advice given by a number of mountaineering councils: “Everyone heading into the hills needs to learn how to read a map, and be able to navigate effectively with a paper map and traditional magnetic compass, especially in poor visibility” Know the hardware sensors in your device FieldMove relies on three sensors inside your device, a magnetometer, a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Together, these sensors can be programmed to measure the orientation of planar and linear features in the field. All three sensors are installed as standard in iPhones and iPads, but are not always present in other hardware devices. You should always check your device to make sure that all three sensors are present and that the compass and the clinometer are giving accurate readings before starting to collect data. You can choose to manually enter data if you do not trust the internal sensors, or if you are using a traditional hand-held compass clinometer. Petroleum Experts will accept no liability or loss, resulting from the use or misuse of this product. -------------------- We hope that you find these applications useful and we’d be delighted to hear from you if you have any comments or suggestions for further improving the functionality in FieldMove. For more information go to: www.petex.com. If you have any feedback, questions, or concerns, please email us at: edinburgh@petex.com
Zotero
This research tool helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your academic and professional work. Save articles, books, and webpages, add notes and highlights, and generate bibliographies in thousands of styles. Collaborate with others and sync your library across devices.
- Collect research from various sources
- Organize with collections and tags
- Annotate PDFs and webpages
- Generate citations and bibliographies
- Collaborate in group libraries
- Sync across devices
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Zotero is a free, easy-to-use research tool that helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your work. COLLECT • Save journal articles, newspaper articles, books, webpages, and more via the Share button in Safari and other apps • Automatically download article PDFs to read • Quickly add physical books and articles to your Zotero library by scanning book barcodes or article DOIs with your iPhone or iPad camera ORGANIZE • Use collections and tags to organize your research • View and edit bibliographic information for your research items ANNOTATE • Read PDFs, EPUBs, and webpage snapshots and add highlights and notes, or use an Apple Pencil to make freehand annotations CITE • Instantly generate citations and bibliographies in over 10,000 formats and journal styles including APA, Chicago, IEEE, MLA, Turabian, and Vancouver SHARE • Collaboratively collect sources and mark up PDFs in group libraries with your colleagues • Synchronize your personal and group research libraries to access them via Zotero’s desktop app and the Zotero website • Use the Zotero desktop app to insert your annotations into Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs documents and automatically generate bibliographies from the sources you used Visit zotero.org to learn more about everything you can do with Zotero. Having trouble? Have an idea? Post bug reports and feature requests to the Zotero Forums at forums.zotero.org to talk directly to Zotero developers. ZOTERO AND PRIVACY Since 2006, the Zotero team has been committed to creating the best research software, and we believe that includes putting you in full control of your own work. We’re an independent, nonprofit organization, and we’ll never sell your data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Zotero at 4.6 against FieldMove's 4.2. Zotero also leads on ratings volume (431 vs 6) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). FieldMove's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Zotero holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zotero has 431 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of FieldMove's written reviews are positive against 78% of Zotero's.
FieldMove ships an update every 4 months, Zotero every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FieldMove | Zotero |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (6 ratings) | 4.6 (431 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.6% of reviews | 77.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 431 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 108 MB | 237 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Petroleum Experts Limited | Zotero |
Customer experience
FieldMove
Zotero
Bugs and requests
FieldMove
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Zotero
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unable to unzip PDF snapshots
- Annotations disappearing or moving unexpectedly
- Dark mode not working as expected
- Inability to add citations directly from the app
Requested features
6 requests- Eraser tool for annotations
- More color options for pen and highlighter
- Ability to open PDFs in external apps
- Bookmarking and table of contents support
- Improved search functionality
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- Offline access to downloaded PDFs
In-app purchases
FieldMove
No in-app purchases
Zotero
No in-app purchases









