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Making questions in survey123 connect

ToddAckerman

I am working in survey123 connect and have a drop down box with different features. I do not know how to go about:

1. selection a feature and then have a question(s) about the feature come up. 2. to be able to go and be able to select this same feature at a different location and go through the questions again.

Ex. feature selected is Bench, I know need to be able to ask questions about the bench. Length of the bench, the width of the bench, the height of the bench, and so on.

I have been searching and can not find where this type of info is found.

Hope someone can help.

Todd

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LanceCole

Hi Todd,

Do you need ArcGIS Desktop, no you can get by without but It is easer to work with data in desktop and publish a feature to ArcGIS Online (AGOL). For creating a feature service or two in AGOL it is easily possible, but as your projects get bigger it is easier to use ArcGIS Desktop or Pro. You can purchase a personal use copy at ArcGIS For Personal Use | Buy ArcGIS Software Online for $100 per year. This version is for personal use only.

Collector does not really have questions as such. You create a feature class, linked table or service that have attributes. As I believe we discussed previously, a “table” could be a feature class with the attributes of length, width, height, material, condition, etc. You can create another feature called “bench” with the same attributes or make it a sub type of feature class called “Fixtures” as it has they have the same attributes. In Collector you can drop point features based upon a selected feature type and populate the attributes for that feature.

Download and and install the collector app on a mobile device. Once installed open the app and select “No account - Try It” on the log in screen. Select one of the available maps such as the “Forest Activity Tracking”. Once loaded touch the blue + in the bottom corner and add a new point. You can see how you can input the attributes for this point feature and save the date to an AGOL feature service. Here is some additional info on Learn ArcGIS | ArcGIS Collector.

Another good example of using collector to collect info about assets is the “Hydrant inspection” from the “Try It” listing. This version uses a AGOL feature service to display hydrants and other info on a web map. Once you select a hydrant there is an option to collect additional information or questions about the specific hydrant. This information, for this example, I believe is stored in a secondary data table and liked to the hydrant by the Facility ID. The same process can be used to open and collect a 123 Survey.

Survey123 you create a series of questions in an excel worksheet format called XLSForm. The Survey123 Connect application takes this excel data and processes to produce a survey that asks the questions you created and collects the answers in the form of drop downs, select buttons, lists, text, etc. The XLSForm can be customized to be dynamic depending upon how you answer one question to modify subsequent questions. Once you are happy with the survey in Connect you publish the survey to AGOL and you can access it via the Survey 123 App. See Create your first survey—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS or Survey123 for ArcGIS XLSForm Tutorial on YouTube.

As noted previously, start small and work up from there. It sounds like you may be more familiar and comfortable with Survey123. Try to work through the five part video and create a survey. Once you get that to work, customize it to collect information for a camp site with a table, add the ability to collect for a bench, add another feature. Once you get a few items working add conditional questions to show hide additional questions. Keep building from there. Try to publish it to AGOL and see how it looks in the app. Do not try and create an entire survey in one setting. Add a date field and test it in Connect, add a drop down and test it in Connect, add a text questions and test agin. If you have questions about why something is not working or how to do something, post your XLSForm and guaranteed someone on GeoNet will lend a hand for that problem. GeoNet, Google and YouTube will become your best friends.

Lance

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ToddAckerman

Hi Lance,

In watching a couple of videos, it talks about ArcMap for desktop, I

purchased the Creator and would I now need to purchase ArcMap Desktop to

use Collector? I still have not really seen how to do questions in

Collector. If I have questions in Survey123 Connector can those be used in

Collector?

All your help is great and I thank you for all you do.

Thank you,

Todd Ackerman

775.901.0936

ToddAckerman

Lance

LOL, thank you.

I do have an online account and I have been on survey123 connect. I have

purchased Creator, does this include ArcGIS Desktop? If it does I am not

seeing how to download the ArcGIS Desktop.

Thank you for the videos, I will watch them.

Thank you,

Todd Ackerman

775.901.0936

LanceCole

Todd, Sorry for the fire hose. Let’s try a garden hose this time.

Do do you need a consultant? No, you can do it.

What do you need?

An ArcGIS Online account
Survey 123 Connect
Survey 123 and Collector for ArcGIS apps for your collection device
ArcGIS Desktop or Pro (if you want to publish features to AGOL)
Time and patience to start slow and build your working knowledge

Take a look at Esri Videos | E360 Videos: GIS, Events, ArcGIS Products & Industries and search for Collector and or Survey 123 videos. There are many that you can work through to gain a better understanding of how all this goes together. Search online as there are many others out there as well, just try to pick recent dates as there have been many changes.

Do not attempt to build a full survey or collector map in one setting. Build a small part, test, learn, get it working, build another. Then start putting the parts together, get them to work together, learn some more. Small steps.

ToddAckerman

Hello Lance,

Feel free to call if you have the time and I am wondering if I should use

the consulting service. I just need the help in getting started will

collector and once that happens I think I can feel a lot better about using

the collector.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you,

Todd Ackerman

775.901.0936

ToddAckerman

Hello Lance,

Thank you for getting back. There is just so much info, it is like

drinking from a fire hydrant.

When I use survey123 connect and can see my questions, I do not know how to

see my questions in the collector or even really to make questions.

Any and all help would be wonderful.

Thank you,

Todd Ackerman

775.901.0936

LanceCole

Hi Todd,

The reason I asked my questions is what you used for your example, a “Bench”, is more of a feature that you would collect known attributes of length, width, height, condition, material, etc. This is conducive to using Collector and having a bench feature class or subtype with the attributes noted above. You could also have a “Table” feature or subtype in the same feature class as you would likely collect the same attributes length, width, height, etc. However, if you want to include a feature of “Electric Service”, you most likely would want this as separate feature class as you would be collecting attributes such as number of outlets, amperage, breaker number, etc. In collector you could go to a site and collect the various features at a site as applicable and input the attributes for each.

Can this be accomplished in Survey 123, absolutely. You can create a survey that addresses each of the twelve features you are collecting. You would need to create a section that would address the questions or information you would like to collect for each. These can be broken down into parts that can be hidden for example a question could ask “Is there a table?” If you answer yes, other questions will show applicable to a table. Otherwise it would remain hidden and you move to the next question “Is there a bench?” Etc. You can also include repeats to handle if there were multiple items of the same type, i.e. two benches, but this needs to predetermined in the survey. This can get a little complicated as you need to address many possibilities that could occur but absolutely possible.

Collector and Survey 123 can also be combined. You could use collector to input the camp sites and then link the site to Survey123 to collect the other data you are looking for on a regular basis. They each have their advantages and disadvantages.

I really did not answer your question as it is not really possible to have a drop down containing a list of divers items with different questions. You can use Collector to obtain information pertaining to a large number of features or you can utilize Survey 123 to develop a survey or questionnaire to address the items you are looking for information on at each site. I recommend experimenting with the examples available from ESRI to see the differences between the two applications, how they function and differ and thinking about how you would like to collect the data.

I would be glad to offer help.

ToddAckerman

Hi Lance,

Sorry, it took me so long to return the answers to your questions. At a

campsite, there are about 12 different features. The number of questions

for each feature varies from 5 to12.

I am very new to using this and have looked at the collector, but am really

in the learning stages. Always looking for help.

Thank you,

Todd Ackerman

775.901.0936

LanceCole

Todd,

How many different features do you have and how many different questions?

From your example, it sounds as if you may be better off with multiple feature classes using attributes with ArcGIS Collector rather than Survey 123 using questions. There are several ways it can be can be performed with Survey 123 but if you have many features and questions it can become very cumbersome.

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