Please note that we implemented a major change to this feature on September 2, 2022. Previously, if you wanted to feature different content in the pop-ups, you had to upload each map file separately and create separate pop-ups for them. This laborious process is no longer necessary; you can read more below!
How can I add points/areas to a map that the respondent can click to view further information about those places? Is it possible to ask questions in such pop-ups?
When using maps as part of your questionnaire, you can highlight specific places, routes or areas on the map and make them clickable. After clicking one of the objects, the respondent will see a pop-up window with content or questions. These map features are called click maps (formerly clickable map objects) in Maptionnaire.
How many can I have? What map formats can I use?
There is no limit on the number of features in a click map: you can have just one or as many as you need. Regardless, the very first step is to prepare the maps that you are using and upload them to Maptionnaire. You can use WFS, shapefile and geoJSON maps. (Please note that the supported coordinate reference system for GeoJSONs is WGS84 (EPSG:4326) with the latitude and longitude units in decimal degrees.) You can also create simple geoJSONs directly in Maptionnaire, by creating a hand-drawn map layer.
Can the pop-ups have different content?
If you have multiple map objects and want each to have different content, add this content to the attribute table of the map file. E.g. if you want each pop-up to present the name of the place, a short description and a photo of it, you need to add three columns to your attribute table, and add the names, descriptions and photos for each place there.
If I'm featuring questions in the pop-up, can I see which pop-up's questions the respondents responded to?
If you are asking questions in the pop-ups and want to see which pop-up the respondent clicked, you need to also have a column in the attribute table that gives each object a unique identifier. This should be a number (integer). You can also use an already existing column in the map file. Upload the map layer to Materials, and give the name of the column that contains these IDs under ID key.
How does using a hand-drawn layer differ?
If you want to use a hand-drawn layer (=map layer created in Maptionnaire), add ID keys to each object and they will be automatically recognized by our system. Please note that if you are using a hand-drawn layer and want each pop-up to have different content, you need to create separate hand-drawn layers and follow the second set of instructions below.
Set up for click maps with different pop-up content:
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Add the map layer to your survey
In the survey editor, add the map to the survey under Maps. Make sure that you also have a system or base map set for the page!
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Add a Click map element to the survey page
Go to the survey page on which you want to present the clickable map objects, and add the Click map element from the element library. Choose the map layer you want to use. If you want to feature a paragraph of text about the objects in general and a button which respondents can click to be taken to a fullscreen map, you can edit those settings here. If you don’t want to use these features, you can just disable both under Extra settings.
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Add the content column titles from the attribute table
Let's say each of your map features has a short description attached to it. You want each pop-up to include this description.
Click the three dots on the corner of the element and create a pop-up. Add a Text box element from the element library. As the text, write the name of the column from the attribute table that includes the description in curly brackets. E.g. if the name of the column is Description, then you'd write {Description}.
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Add other pop-up content
Add any other content, such as questions, to the pop-ups.
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Check that it works!
Check on Preview that the objects work as they should. And remember to test before launching the survey! It's good to also check that the response data looks like it should.
Set up for click maps with the same pop-up content:
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Add the map layer to your survey
In the survey editor, add the map to the survey under Maps. Make sure that you also have a system or base map for the page!
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Add a Click map element to the survey page
Go to the survey page on which you want to present the clickable map objects, and add the Click map element from the element library. Choose the map layer you want to use. If you want to feature a paragraph of text about the objects in general and a button which respondents can click to be taken to a fullscreen map, you can edit those settings here. If you don’t want to use these features, you can just disable both under Extra settings.
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Add the pop-up content
Click the three dots on the corner of the element and create a pop-up. Add the content of the pop-up from the element library.
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Check that it works!
As always, remember to test your questionnaire before you start collecting data. It's good to check that the response data looks like it should.
Click map in the results data:
Just like with other map questions, the answers given in the click map pop-up window have their own tab/sheet in the results Excel. The difference is that in a clickable map object sheet, the Index column will instead list the ID of the object. This way you can see what object was clicked by each respondent and what they answered to any questions.
Comments
Can you please provide an example of how an ID key looks like or how to create/find it?
Also, I don't quite understand this pop up message when I tried adding my ESRI shapefile as a clickable map object.
Hi,
Clickable map layers require an 'ID' column to identify map objects. This column does not have other restrictions other than that it has to be unique.
If this value is missing from one or more of the features, Maptionnaire will automatically generate the value in order to have a unique value to each map object.
Hello, I would like to know if it is possible with the "Clickable map objects" feature for respondents to select several entities (by clicking and dragging the mouse for example). And if so, is it possible to have a pop-up window for each group of selected entities?
Hi Stéphanie,
If you have multiple clickable map objects with pop-up questions, then respondents can choose to answer as many of them as they wish. If you want the content of the pop-ups to be different (e.g. a different question each time), then you need to set them up separately (by repeating steps 4-6 in the instructions above for each question). Hope this answers your question! :)
Hello,
Thank you for your answer. However, it does not exactly answer my question. I would like to know if respondents can select several geographical objects simultaneously for the same answer.
Thank you in advance
Hi,
Unfortunately that is not possible currently. Clicking a map object does not select it, it just launches the pop-up linked to that object. The pop-up can then have further questions or information.
Best regards,
Asta from Maptionnaire Support
Hi, I have a quesition :)
Can the pop-ups(from clickable objects) have interactive image like area plans? For example, I would like to know if it is possible that the respondents can commet on by placing points on the image in each pop-up.
In other words, for example,
Click one of the points where the buildings will be up → Commet on by placing points on the building blueprint in the pop-up from the selected point.
Hi,
Unfortunately this is not currently possible in Maptionnaire – but thank you for the idea, I will forward it to our tech development team!
Best regards,
Asta from Maptionnaire
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