There are multiple ways to capture points, lines, and areas in Survey123. For example, you can capture points using your location or tapping the map, and you can draw lines and areas by sketching or adding one vertex at a time. You can also search for a location by name or coordinates.
Capture points
You can capture points using your current location or panning the map to choose a specific location
Note:
In addition to map questions in the survey form, you can add a point using the map in the Overview folder (when both are enabled in Survey123 Connect).
- Tap the Location button
on the location panel in the survey form or open the full screen map for more options. - If you open the map, you can pan to center the map at the location you choose, and tap the Place pin button.
Note:
You can also search for a location or map coordinate. See Geosearch and geocode for more information.
The coordinates of the location for the captured point are shown in the map window.
- Tap Done to close the map and return to the survey form.
The altitude of the point is captured only if the question has been configured to use a 3D feature layer, and when it is available from the location provider. When you specify a location by repositioning the map pin in the map window, the altitude value is cleared.
Note:
A new altitude can be entered manually after it gets cleared.
Capture lines and areas
Lines and areas have two capture methods, sketch and vertex. The survey author defines which method is used by a survey.
Sketch
The sketch method captures the geometry in a single motion, with the capture completing once the user has stopped drawing this single line.
To capture geometry using the sketch method, complete the following steps:
- Open the map and tap the Sketch button
.Note:
You can also tap the Smart shapes button
to use smart sketching, which attempts to simplify the sketched geometry. If the shape drawn on the map is recognizable
as an ellipse, rectangle, or triangle, the app automatically
converts it. If the sketch doesn't resemble one of these shapes, no
geometry is drawn. - Draw the geometry on the map.
The length of a geotrace or the area and perimeter of a geoshape is displayed below the map.
- If you make a mistake, tap the Undo button
or one of the drawing buttons to
erase it and draw another geometry. - Tap the Done button to accept the geometry and return to the survey.
Vertex
The vertex method allows more precise geometric capture of a line or shape by placing vertices that connect together.
To capture geometry using the vertex method, complete the following steps:
- Open the map, and tap
the Vertex button
. - Tap the map to
place the first vertex, or tap the Capture vertex at location button
to
place a vertex at the location of your device.If vertex streaming is enabled by the survey author, the Follow button
displays. Tap this button to begin capture. Line or area vertices are captured at a nominated minimum distance interval as you move around. The default minimum distance interval is 10 meters, but this can be changed by the survey author. For more information, see Capture methods. - Tap the map again to place more vertices, or use the available tools.
If you place a vertex at the wrong position, tap the Undo button
to remove the last vertex placed, or drag the point to move it to a new location.Note:
You can also drag the point to the Delete button that appears at the top of the map.
- To change map interactions to navigation mode and move the map instead of placing vertices, tap the Pan and zoom button
, and capture a vertex at
the map's central point with the Capture vertex at crosshair button 
. - When you finish, tap the Done button to accept the geometry and return to the survey.
Geosearch and geocode
Note:
This section describes functionality that is only available in the Survey123 field app. This functionality is not available in Survey123 Mobile.
Geopoint questions include geosearch functionality, allowing you to search for an address or point of interest and have the map zoom to and place the geopoint marker at this location. To search, tap the location panel in the survey to open the full screen map. Type the address or location in the text box at the top of the screen, and select the correct result from the autocomplete results. The map zooms to the location.
While panning the map, or when you tap the capture at location button, the coordinates of the current location are shown at the bottom of the map window. Tap these coordinates to add them to the search bar so that you can refine the values. You can specify coordinates in the following ways:
- Type the coordinates in one of the supported coordinate formats. For example, type the following coordinates in UTM/UPS format to move the map pin to the Eiffel Tower in Paris: 31U 448241E 5412004N.
- Type comma-separated decimal coordinates. For example, type the following coordinates to move the pin to the Eiffel Tower in Paris: 48.858328, 2.294514.
- For map questions that are configured to record altitude, you can type the altitude in the search bar after the latitude and longitude. To accept an altitude value, the search mode must be set to Map coordinate input only, and coordinates must be specified in decimal degrees; degrees and minutes; or degrees, minutes, and seconds. For example, type the following coordinates to move the pin to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and set the altitude as 35.4 meters: 48°51.53066'N 2°17.66104'E 35.4.
To return to searching by location, tap the cancel button in the search bar.
By default, geosearch returns results from the entire world, using ArcGIS World Geocoding Service. The survey author can optionally configure a custom locator. To choose a different locator, tap the globe option to the left of the search box. This opens a dialog box allowing you to change the search mode between Search everywhere and Search within the visible map extents, accept Map coordinate input only, or choose a different locator. If you're not signed in, you only have access to ArcGIS World Geocoding Service.
Geocoding (return coordinates from a supplied street address) can be used to capture geometry without the use of a map question. A text question with the geocode appearance allows entry of a street address into a text question and generates coordinates for the survey record.
Reverse geocoding (return street address or other location description from selected geographic coordinates) can also be done in the full screen map to display the details of the geopoint. To do this, either long press the location on the map or long press the coordinate display at the bottom of the screen. The location appears above the coordinate display. The reverse geocoded location won't be submitted with the survey response.