Configure Community Science

In this topic, you will learn how to configure the Community Science solution to meet specific needs in your organization.

Edit survey categories

Community Science Survey presents community scientists with a set of categories for their report. Each category is stored as a separate path in an SVG file. You can add and remove categories to reflect the types of reports that may be collected in your area by editing the SVG file in a vector graphics editor.

Tip:

Learn more about using SVG files in ArcGIS Survey123.

Remove a category

Removing a category from the Community Science Survey does not affect any observations that were previously collected. To remove a category in Community Science Survey, complete the following steps:

1. Download and install Survey123 Connect.
2. Sign in to Survey123 Connect using the account that owns your Community Science Survey application.
3. Use Survey123 Connect to download and open your Community Science Survey.
4. From the menu on the left side of the app, click Files.

   Windows Explorer opens to the directory containing the downloaded files for the Community Science Survey.

5. Open the media directory.

   This folder contains the SVG files with the options for each of the categories.

6. Open the file that contains the option you want to remove. You can use a text editor, but an editor such as Inkscape allows you to visualize the changes as you make them.
7. Select and delete the option you want to remove. Each option consists of three paths: a colored square, one or several text elements, and a line drawing of an organism that belongs to the category. Delete all three belonging to the option you are removing.
8. If necessary, rearrange the other categories to fill in the hole.
9. Save the changes to the SVG file.
10. In Survey123 Connect, click the Update button to preview your changes. If you are satisfied, click the Publish button to push your changes to your published survey.

    Note:

    No changes are necessary in the XLSX form to remove a category from the Community Science Survey.

11. Open the Item Details page for the survey hosted feature layer and click Data and then click the Fields button.
12. If you want to remove a top-level category, click the I saw a field name. Remove the category from the list of values.
13. Click the observation field. Remove the relevant category of categories from the list of values.
14. Confirm that the category has been removed from the Dashboard view by repeating step 11 on the Dashboard layer.
15. Open the Survey123 field app and refresh the survey by clicking the Refresh button on the Download Surveys screen. Open the survey to view the changes.

Add a category

Adding a category from the Community Science Survey app does not affect any observations that were previously collected. To add a top-level category from Community Science Survey, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Item Details page for the survey hosted feature layer and click Data and then click the Fields button.
2. Click the I saw a field name. Add the new category to the list of values.
3. Confirm that the category has been added to the Dashboard view by repeating step 1 on the Dashboard layer.
4. Download and install Survey123 Connect.
5. Sign in to Survey123 Connect using the account that owns the Community Science Survey.
6. Use Survey123 Connect to download and open the Community Science Survey.
7. Click the XLSForm button to open the survey spreadsheet.
8. On the Choices tab, add the new option to the category list. Save the XLS form.
9. From the menu on the left side of the app, click Files.

   Windows Explorer opens to the directory containing the downloaded files for the Community Science Survey.

10. Open the media directory.

    This folder contains the SVG files with the options for each of the categories.

11. Open the category.svg file. You can use a text editor, but an editor such as Inkscape allows you to visualize the changes as you make them.
12. Copy and paste an existing option. Each option consists of three paths: a colored square, one or several text elements, and a line drawing of an organism that belongs to the category. Make sure you copy and paste all components.
13. Update the id property of the colored square to match the name (not the label) of the new option.
14. Update the contents of the text to reflect your new category.
15. If necessary, rearrange the categories, update the color, and provide a new graphic.
16. Save the changes to the SVG file.
17. In Survey123 Connect, click the Update button to preview your changes. If you are satisfied, click the Publish button to push your changes to your published survey.
18. Open the Survey123 field app and refresh the survey by clicking the Refresh button on the Download Surveys screen. Open the survey to view the changes.

Add a subcategory

Adding a subcategory to the Community Science Survey app does not affect any observations that were previously collected. To add a second-level category to the Community Science Survey, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Details page for the survey feature layer and click Data > Fields.
2. Click the category field name. Add the new option to the list of values.
3. Repeat the previous step for the dashboard view.
4. Download and install Survey123 Connect.
5. Sign in to Survey123 Connect using the account that owns the Community Science Survey.
6. Use Survey123 Connect to download and open your Community Science Survey.
7. Click the XLSForm button to open the survey spreadsheet.
8. On the Choices tab, add the new option to the appropriate list. If you are creating a new list of options for a new category, create a new list. Save the XLS form.
9. Optionally, add choices to the condition and observationtype lists for the new subcategory.
10. If you are creating a new list of options for a new category, you will also need to add a question to the survey. Follow the pattern of the other subcategory selection questions to create a question that will display the appropriate subcategories when the new category is selected. Save the XLS form. If you are only adding a new option to an existing category, no new question is required.
11. From the menu on the left side of Survey123 Connect, click Files.

    Windows Explorer opens to the directory containing the downloaded files for the Community Science Survey.

12. Open the media directory.

    This folder contains the SVG files with the options for each of the categories.

13. Open the SVG file that corresponds to the category where you want to add a new option. If you are adding options for a new category, copy, paste, rename, and edit an existing file. You can use a text editor, but an editor such as Inkscape allows you to visualize the changes as you make them.
14. Copy and paste an existing option within the SVG file. Each option consists of three paths: a colored square, one or several text elements, and a line drawing of an organism that belongs to the category. Make sure you copy and paste all components.
15. Update the id property of the colored square to match the name (not the label) of the new option.
16. Update the contents of the text to reflect your new option.
17. If necessary, rearrange the options, update the color, and provide a new graphic.
18. Save the changes to the SVG file.
19. In Survey123 Connect, click the Update button to preview your changes. If you are satisfied, click the Publish button to push your changes to your published survey.
20. Open the Survey123 field app and refresh the survey by clicking the Refresh button on the Download Surveys screen. Open the survey to view the changes.