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  ).