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.
Capture points
You can capture points using your current location or panning the map to choose a specific location
- 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.
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.
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, tap the Tools menu, and choose one of the following tools: Freehand, Rectangle , Ellipse, Triangle or Arrow.
- 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. - Select the finished geometry to resize, reshape, move, or delete it if necessary.
- 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, tap the
Tools menu, and choose Tap to add
. - 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. - To change map interactions to navigation mode and move the map instead of placing vertices, tap the Tools menu, choose Crosshair
, and capture a vertex at
the map's central point with the Add vertex button. - When you finish, tap the Done button to accept the geometry and return to the survey.