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What's new in ArcGIS Survey123 (August 2022)

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08-24-2022 02:11 PM
IsmaelChivite
by Esri Notable Contributor
Esri Notable Contributor
3 4 1,311
‎08-24-2022 02:11 PM

 

 

An update to ArcGIS Survey123 is now available. Critical fixes are the main driver for this release, but we squeezed a few new features in the web designer and web app too. Here are the highlights:

Web designer: Question types reorganized in the Add panel

 

You will find that the Add panel in the web designer now looks different. We added new question types recently and it was getting a little busy. We also have more in the works so this is the right time to reorganize.

Note how question types have been split into different groups. This makes it easier to find the question type you are looking for.

Designer_001_Question_Panel_Reorganized_small.gif

 

Note: The switchers to show and hide the survey header, description and footer are now in the the Add panel. Scroll to the bottom!

Web designer: Enhanced data validation options for addresses

 

You might be familiar with the address question type. If not, check this post for details. This release introduces the concept of minimum address accuracy, which you can optionally set to boost the quality of your address data.

survey123_designer_address_score.png

 

As respondents type an address, Survey123 checks how well the text entered matches existing entries in your locator. A perfect match gives a score of 100. It is always good practice to store the match score as an attribute. That way, you will know how good your location data is! Additionally, you can now use the accuracy score as a data validation rule: If the score is below your threshold, the address will not be accepted.

Note: You will want to use this new feature with caution. For example if your locator is not up to date, it is not a good idea to pick a high score.

Web designer: Changes to choice list update workflow

 

Say you have a list question in your survey (dropdown, single choice, multiple choice...) and you want to update an existing list item.  Up until today you could go and change the choice right away.  Starting with this update, we will not let you change existing list items: You will need to replace them. That is, you will need to delete the list item first, and then create a new one. 

This may seem like more work at first, but it will save you headaches in the future, and here is why: In ArcGIS, lists are modeled as domains. Items in a domain have a label, and a value (or code). In the Survey123 web designer, you do not need to set labels and codes... you only set the labels.  If you change a label once the survey has been published, you can end up with a domain where the label has nothing to do with the code. For example, say your list as two choices Denver and Los Angeles. You publish your survey and people sen data: All good.  Now you go and change the choice items to Madrid and Barcelona... No good!  Not good because the label will say Madrid, but the code in the domain will be Denver.  This will be pretty obvious if the form data is downloaded into a file such as a CSV or Excel spreadsheet. The web designer cannot tell if you are making a minor change, like fixing a typo, or changing the meaning of the list item completely.

To avoid data inconsistencies we faced a challenge: We either had to expose labels and codes to the survey author in a more prominent way, or we disabled options to change existing list items. We want to keep the web designer as simple as possible, so we decided not to expose the concept of labels and codes. The price authors have to pay is small compared to the issues they may face with their data down the line.

Survey123 web app: Drag and drop images and files

 

Do you want to upload a PDF or some other file as part of your form?  Simply drag and drop your files and Survey123 will do the rest.  This new feature is particularly useful if you complete a form on a laptop or desktop computer.

survey123_web_app_drag_rop.png

 

Fixes

 

Last but not least, this update includes various critical fixes to the Survey123 website, web app, mobile app and Connect. Here is the list:

  • DE-000005673 BUG-000150545 Placing the cursor before a character by a single click on a question label in ArcGIS Survey 123 website auto selects the character
  • DE-000005751 BUG-000150958 In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect 3.15, the select_one questions with an autocomplete search() appearance in a CSV file display the choice list name in the web form.
  • BUG-000150405 If the type is decimal in the browser with the French language, the question hidden using body::esri::visible in ArcGIS Survey123 Connect is not hidden.
  • BUG-000147721 ArcGIS Survey123 web app returns different results for the measurement calculations compared to the field app and the measurements on the map question
  • BUG-000146779 The ArcGIS Survey123 web app does not allow using ‘appearance: “multiline”’ for a text question with ‘multiline predictivetext’ or ‘multiline nopredictivetext’.
  • BUG-000146859 The Overview tab of the ArcGIS Survey123 website accessed from Portal for ArcGIS 10.9.1 does not display the summary graph of a survey if the existing feature layer used in the survey is published as a reference.
  • BUG-000150000 – Default value of ‘0’ is not present in XLSX or XML file for numeric questions
  • BUG-000147248 The ArcGIS Survey123 field app cannot load the dynamic choices using the search appearance from a feature service hosted in a different web GIS platform (ArcGIS Online vs. Enterprise) than where the survey is published to.
  • BUG-000148482 In the ArcGIS Survey 123 app, opening a public survey from another portal or organization while logged in returns the error message, “Survey not found – Survey ID … does not exist or is inaccessible.”
  • BUG-000148938 Long pressing the survey tile in the ArcGIS Survey123 app allows the submission of new survey entries when the ‘Allow new surveys to be collected’ setting is disabled.
  • BUG-000148973 Polygons and lines shift position when using the panning option in the ArcGIS Survey123 app for Windows if the display scale is not set to 100 percent.
  • BUG-000151130 Inconsistent device outputs for iOS devices when using the parameter pulldata(“@Property“, ‘deviceModel’).
  • DE-000004990 BUG-000144605 ArcGIS Survey123 ignores the forward proxy settings.

 

What’s coming next

 

A localization issue in the calendar control of web forms was recently reported. The fix did not make it to this release, but we will address it before the end of next week.

[Update August 31, 2022]: Now fixed. BUG-000151574 The starting day of the week shows an incorrect day instead of Monday in the ArcGIS Survey123 Web App calendar when the default language is set to Español (es)

Within 2022, we plan updates in September, October and December.  A few features planned include:

  • Spatial calculations in designer
  • Enhanced XLSForm support: pulldata(“@layer”)
  • Configure your own Survey123 organization templates
  • Captcha for web forms
  • Reports in Microsoft Power Automate
  • Multilingual surveys in the web designer
  • Update feature layer domains when an XLSForm list is updated

Support for location sharing, indoors and smart assistants coming in 2023, among many more things. Get the details from the Survey123 Early Adopter Program.

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