Using Survey123 for related table style linked inspections

DavidEvans5 · ‎05-09-2018

Hi there,

I am looking to build an application for a monthly Construction site inspection that as a City we perform as part of our Stormwater permit requirements. I like the functionality of Survey123, but I have a couple of questions that perhaps someone more familiar with the product could answer.

The way I imagine our application would function is a point feature (representing each construction site) would be created in regular web map (in AGOL), and a field inspector would then be able to use Survey123 to perform inspections at each site. These inspections would be linked to their corresponding construction sites through a common ID (Permit #), allowing us to track the history of a site through the construction process.

I believe it’s possible to create this one-to-many relationship using related tables in an enterprise Geodatabase, and there is a good tutorial to do this using the Collector App here. We have a SQL based Enterprise Geodatabase so setting up this kind of database backend wont be a problem.

I’d like to know first of all if it’s possible to use Survey123 for the kind of related-inspection configuration described above, and if so if there’s any tutorials or resources out there to explain how it can be achieved.

Thank you anyone who can provide any help on this

David

JamesTedrick · ‎05-09-2018

Hi David,

Yes Survey123 can be used in the workflow as you describe. There are some requirements in how the relationships are set up (refer to Use Survey123 with existing feature services—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS ), but in short:

- All layers must have GlobalIDs (and attachments must be based off GlobalIDs - create attachments after enabling GlobalIDs)

- The relationship between the sites and inspection table must be based off guid fields - either GlobalID or another guid for the parent.

These relationships are represented as repeat sections in a survey (Repeats—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS ). Currently Survey123 supports 1 level of repeats/relationship (i.e., Sites > Inspections). Support for more levels (Sites > Inspections > Defects) is in progress and can be tested in the Early Adopter Community.

DavidEvans5 · ‎05-10-2018

That is awesome information, thank you James! I might experiment and see if I can follow the documentation in the links you provided to create the repeated surveys linked using the Global ID’s.

If you have time I’m curious whether it’s possible to have the linked surveys pre-populate with other information pulled from the Site features they are linked to (e.g. address of the site, Permittee etc)?

Would the information entered in the surveys be stored in our local Enterprise Geodatabase or somewhere in our ArcGIS Online account?

We have used ESRI Professional Services in the past to help get us up and running with some other applications and software, could we do the same with this project and if so is there anyone within ESRI that you might recommend that could work with us on the Survey123 integration?

Thanks again for sharing your insights on this.

JamesTedrick · ‎05-10-2018

Hi David,

Yes, it is possible to have surveys prepopulate based on feature information. There are different paths to do so:

- Use a web map in Collector or Explorer to find the appropriate feature and launch Survey123 with data via a URL in the pop-up (see Understanding Survey123's custom URL Scheme)

- Use the Inbox to load feature information into the form (see Prepare for editing existing survey data—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS )

- Use pulldata() to look up information from a csv file that accompanies the survey (see Use existing data in your survey - the pulldata( ) function)

Survey123 can either create a hosted feature service based on the survey design or write to an existing feature service. See https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2017/09/25/working-with-existing-feature-services-i..., which expands on the summary I wrote above.

Yes, Esri Professional Services has engaged in this type of activity before; I would recommend talking with your account manager to see if that would be a good fit for this project.