How to update locations for multiple records?

RyanMunes

Hello,

New to Survey123, and the use of GeoNet.  Hopefully, someone can help or direct me to this answer, as it is likely answered elsewhere.  I just can't seem to find a solution. 

In short, I have been monitoring frog eggs for two seasons, now trying to clean up the data.  I visit my site (a pond) and survey for frog egg masses (analogous to a bird's nest) twice a week.  Each frog's egg mass I find, I record it as a new record (Egg1, Egg2, etc.), with a geopoint, and then take additional data.  I return to the site every 3-4 days, looking for new egg masses (Egg7, Egg8, etc.).  as well as revisit previously found egg masses (Egg1, Egg2, etc.) to record egg/tadpole development.  At the end of the season, I will have about 10-15 records for each egg mass.  As the points were taken in Survey 123, I will have 10+ records for say Egg1, all with a slightly different x,y coordinate.  They should all be the same as they don't move.  I have not found a way to have all the records show the same location (which can be from the 1st collection day).  I don't need an average, just looking to have all records line up in the same spot.  This would be nice for making maps (which I work around with making a filter) but also looking for a way to archive the data set to show just one coordinate. 

Right now, I don't have a field that displays the x,y coordinate in my table.  That data must be stored somewhere on the backend. 

I have edited and moved them individually, but no way to line up correctly.  I end up with a cluster of points.  This is also time-consuming as I have over 100 egg masses, each with 2 to 15 records.  I know there has to be a better way.

Possible solution?  Is there a way to display the location, that I captured in the survey, in the attribute table?  Then I could just copy/paste Egg1 location into all the records for the egg mass, which would then actually update where the records are displayed on a web map or in ArcPro?

Appreciate your help,

Ryan

JamesTedrick

Hi Ryan,

The location is stored in a geometry (also called shape) field in your table.  There are a few ways to address this issue; the easiest (if somewhat more tedious) would be to edit the points in the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, which will allow you to 'snap' them together; see Edit features—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation.

Some difference in the point location is to be expected if you are using the GPS location as your point, as there is always some inaccuracy in a GPS reading; this creates a 'cloud' of points that represent the location.  In the future, you can set up your form to account for this:

- If you already know the locations, you can calculate the location based on a question ('Which site is this?'), there are a couple of 'Calculate Location' samples in Survey123 Connect to use as a guide (this can also work after getting the location after the first survey and updating the form)

- You could structure the form as 2 tables - an 'inventory' part that is recorded on discover and an 'inspection' part that you fill out every time you visit. This makes use of a repeat section to create the inspection part and the Inbox to allow for updating the record with new inspections.  See Prepare for editing existing survey data—Survey123 for ArcGIS | Documentation for details (this is also going to be covered in the first part of the 'Advanced XLSForm Techniques' recording from our Developer's Summit, which should be available in a few days at Esri Events - YouTube  ).