Feature Class Associated with Public S123 Data

Question

We create public Survey 123 forms with a password to control who can submit surveys and we only share the survey url with those that are supposed to be contributing.  We do this so we don't have unauthorized people adding data.  I'm concerned that it appears that someone could find the associated Hosted Feature class using the AGOL map search function and just randomly Add data to the Public Feature Class.

I read the related Survey 123 posts on the Settings for the Hosted Feature Class but setting it to "Editors can't see any features, even those they add" would make it so they couldn't edit the data but it still seems like someone could Add data.

Is there a setting to have the Hosted Feature Class associated with a Public Survey to not be public?

JamesTedrick · Answer

Hi Dori,

You are correct that if a person knows the feature service endpoint and is familiar with the ArcGIS REST API, they can add data to the service.  For public submissions, we normally see a QA process put in place - even if a person is supposed to fill in a survey, there are many times the information submitted is incomplete or needs to be edited after submittal.

DoriBro · Answer

OK. Thanks.

But just to confirm, when I did some testing it appeared that even with the "Editors can't see any features, even those they add" selected, someone could still just add random data to the Feature Class.... is this correct?  If so, is there any way to prevent this?

thanks again for your help.

JamesTedrick · Answer

Hi Dori,

There is not a way to make an item shared to the public non-searchable through the ArcGIS Online search system.  As you note, in this situation I would recommend setting the feature layer/feature layer view to "Editors can't see any features, even those they add".  Note that in this context (with people submitting responses anonymously), it is difficult to restrict editing to just the survey that was submitted, as ArcGIS Online uses ArcGIS usernames to manage access.