Questions and their types
Every question you select in the form editor opens a question group in the properties panel. This page explains what you can set there, and which type to pick for what you want to ask.
Table of contents
The settings of a question
- text is the question itself, the line people read. Write it as a question, not as a label: What surface does the path have? works better than Surface.
- help is the smaller text under the question. Use it for the detail that would make the question too long, like where to look or what to do when the answer is “it depends”.
- name used in data exports is the column this question gets when you download the answers. Answers are stored under this name, so keep it short and don’t rename it once answers start coming in.
- type is the kind of answer you expect. The types are described below.
- required stops the form from being submitted while the question is empty. Use it only where you really can’t accept a blank, or people give up halfway.
The question types
| Type | What people get | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| short text | a single line | names, a street, a short label |
| long text | a box with several lines | descriptions, stories, opening hours |
| integer | a whole number | how many seats, how many bins |
| decimal | a number with decimals | a width in metres, a price |
| boolean | yes or no | is it free, is it open to the public |
| date | a date | when it opened, when it was last checked |
| time | a time of day | when it opens, when it closes |
| a single line checked as an address | a contact address | |
| options | one answer from your list | a surface, a category, a condition |
| options with other | your list, plus a box for anything else | the same, when your list can’t be complete |
| multiple selection | several answers from your list | facilities, languages spoken |
| multiple selection with other | the same, plus a box | facilities, when yours isn’t the full story |
| rating | a score | how good the condition is |
| stream discharge | a measurement of how much water flows | water monitoring surveys |
| separator | no answer at all | breaking a long form into parts |
A separator is the odd one out: it collects nothing. It’s a heading you drop between questions to tell people that a new part of the form starts.
Pick the narrowest type that fits. A date question gives you dates you can sort and compare, while the same answer typed into a short text gives you last summer, 06/07, and no idea.
The built-in questions
Some questions are always part of a survey, because an answer without them can’t become a place on your map. You can reword them, but you can’t delete them: the bin is replaced by an eye button that hides the question from the form.
The questions about the place are:
- position asks where the place is
- name asks what it’s called
- description asks what it is
- icons asks what kind of place it is
- pictures asks for photos
- sounds asks for a recording
The question about the contributor is email, which asks how to reach the person who sent the answer.
A hidden question still exists, it just isn’t asked. Hide the sounds question if a recording makes no sense for your project, and the form gets shorter without losing anything.
Because these questions have a fixed job, their panel is a little different: instead of a type and an export name, they have a visibility setting with show and hide, which does the same thing as the eye button.
Where the position comes from
The position question has switches for the ways a contributor is allowed to place a point:
- allow GPS uses the location of their device. The quickest way when they are standing in front of the place.
- allow manual lets them drop a pin on the map themselves. Keep this on, it’s the way out when everything else fails.
- allow address lets them type an address and have it looked up.
- allow existing feature lets them pick a place already on your map, instead of adding a new one. Use it when your survey asks about places you mapped already, for example to check on their condition.
Which icons people can choose
The icons question has a list of the icons a contributor can pick from. The icons offered are the ones of the survey’s map, so set the map first. Without a map, the platform’s default icon sets are offered instead.
Tick the icons that fit your survey. A shorter list makes for faster and more accurate answers than the whole set of a big map.
Questions about the contributor
Below the questions about the place, a survey asks about the person answering. These are kept apart on purpose: they describe the contributor, not the place, and they aren’t published with the site. Questions can be moved within this group, but not out of it.