Allow custom map scale as optional parameter for geoshape and geotrace questions in report for Survey123
The idea is to have the same possibilty as for geopoint to add a custom scale when printing the map in the report.
Current situation:
The scale is automatically based on the extent of the feature. This is to make sure that the entire feature is displayed in the map. It is impossible to set a custom scale as for geopoints.
Issue:
For any extent smaller than few km², which happens most of the time I assume, the scale will be too large to give any information about the location and the surroundings. As a result the map becomes rather unuseful (apart from giving a shape of the feature).
Example:
The image below shows an example of geoshape export. From this image, our client cannot have any clue of where this feature is located within the 3'000 km² of the area of study: we lose the spatial information and the science of where.
Suggestions:
- Let the user set the scale as an optionnal parameter, but somehow add a warning that the entire feature might not be comprised in the map if the scale is to large. It is therefore to the user to take the responsability to set a custom scale or let it by default.
- Calculate automatically the scale in the report as max("feature extent scale", user-defined scale)
- Add an option to map the centroid of the shape instead of the shape itself (not necessarily the best option, neither the easiest to implement I guess)
Link to the initial thread.
Even though it was probably thought to avoid any unfortunate behavior, I do believe that "preventing" by "restricting" is not the good way here. Let the user the choice to take the risk ! Not much to lose in this case...