Survey123 Data Loss Problem on Decimal Fields

UhullGoGoGoGo — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 18:09:31 GMT

Context

Different countries use different symbols as a decimal or thousands separator.

Some use a period, others a comma. Take a look:

Depending on how Survey123 field app interprets these symbols, this can lead to data loss.

The problem

Supposing the expected decimal separator is a comma, Survey123 behaviour is the following:

Value typed in a survey	Value actually stored in the Geodatabase
1	1
1.1	11
1.12	112
1.123	1123
1,1	1,1
1,12	1,12
1,123	1,123

As you can see, if the user thinks the correct decimal separator is a period or simply forgets what is the correct one, we'll end up having wrong values in the geodatabase. This is problematic.

Proposed Solution

Survey123 web interface already has the solution: it doesn't allow you to type the thousands separator.

So... bring it to the app too!

idea Survey123 Data Loss Problem on Decimal Fields in ArcGIS Survey123 Ideas

Survey123 Data Loss Problem on Decimal Fields