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 this way?
When using maps as part of your questionnaire, you can highlight specific places, routes or areas on the map and attach pop-ups with information and questions to them. The respondent clicks the feature to open the pop-up. This is called a Pop-up map (formerly click maps or clickable map objects).
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Prepare the map layer that you want to use
You can use shapefiles, geoJSON files and WFS layers. For other map layers than shapefiles, make sure that the layer supports WGS84 (EPSG:4326/3857) and has latitude and longitude in decimal degrees.
Make sure that the attribute table (or properties/layer info in the case of geoJSON/WFS) of the layer contains the following:
- Unique feature IDs. Each feature (=point, line, or area) should have a unique ID so that we can tell which feature the respondent clicked. It can be a single number (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4...) or e.g. a post code. It should contain only real numbers, no decimals, letters or other characters. (Note! If you are using ArcGIS to generate the shapefile, do not use the automatic FID column for this purpose as it is not exported outside ArcGIS).
- The information related to each feature that you want to show in the pop-up. E.g. if you want to show a description of each place, there should be a column under which these descriptions are listed.
Make a note of the names of the columns under which the IDs and the relevant content are listed, you will need them in the next step.
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Upload the map layer to Maptionnaire
Go to Materials and upload the map layer. Set the appearance (color, width/circumference, opacity) of the features. Under ID key, write the name of the column in the attribute table that contains the unique IDs for each feature.
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Add the map layer to your survey
Add the map layer to your survey as normal.
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Add a Pop-up map element to the survey page
Go to the survey page on which you want to feature the pop-ups, and add the Pop-up map element from the element library.
Choose the map layer you want to use.
A click button which respondents can click to be zoomed to the clickable features is added to the survey by default. If you don’t want to use these features, you can disable it under Extra settings. Similarly, you can decide not to feature any text outside the pop-up.
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Create the pop-up
Click the three dots on the corner of the element and choose Create pop-up.
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Now, remember in step #1 where you were asked to make a note of the names of the columns that contain the information you want to show in the pop-ups? You will need them here. For example, to add a description from the attribute table (properties/layer info) to each pop-up, add a Text box element. Write the column's name in curly brackets in the text box. 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-up.
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Check that it works!
Check on Preview that the features 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.
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Prepare the map layer that you want to use
You have two options:
1. Create the map layer in Materials > Create a map. Then jump directly to step #3.
OR
2. Use your own shapefiles or other maps (such as geoJSON or WFS layers; just make sure that they support WGS84 (EPSG:4326/3857)). If you use your own map layer, make sure that each feature (=point, line, or area with a pop-up) has a unique ID in the attribute table (properties/layer info) so that we can tell which feature the respondent clicked. It can be a single number (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4...) or e.g. a post code. It should contain only real numbers, no decimals, letters or other characters. (Note! If you are using ArcGIS to generate the shapefile, do not use the automatic FID column for this purpose as it is not exported outside ArcGIS).
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Upload the map layer to Maptionnaire
Go to Materials and upload the map layer.
Under ID key, write the name of the column in the attribute table (or properties/layer info) that contains the unique ID for each feature. - In Materials, open the editing window for the map layer (if you completed step #2, you are already there). Set the appearance (color, width/circumference, opacity) of the features.
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Add the map layer to your survey
Add the map layer to your survey as normal.
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Add a Pop-up map element to the survey page
Go to the survey page on which you want to feature the click map, and add the Pop-up map from the element library.
Choose the map layer you want to use.
A click button which respondents can click to be zoomed to the clickable features is added to the survey by default. If you don’t want to use these features, you can disable it under Extra settings. Similarly, you can decide not to feature any text outside the pop-up.
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Add the pop-up
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.
Yes. In the built-in analysis tool (Analyze > Map responses), you can go to Visualize and turn on the choropleth map to see how often each feature was clicked. You can also use the filters as with any other map question.
In the Excel, the responses to questions in each pop-up map element are presented in their own tab, just like 'normal' map questions. The difference is that in a pop-up map sheet, the Index column shows the ID of the object. This way you can see what object was clicked by each respondent and what they answered to any questions.
Each map layer created in Maptionnaire (with the Create a map function) automatically includes unique IDs for each feature, and lists the name of the column (ID key) in the map layer's settings.
However, if you want to feature different content in each map feature (e.g. a description of each place), you need to add this information to the layer in a GIS programme.
Yes, you can. For this you need to have added the images to a cloud (please contact support@maptionnaire.com for further info). Then add each URL to the attribute table (or properties/layer info) and make a note of the name of that column. When editing the pop-up, add the Image element and write the name of the column (e.g. Photos) under Data key for url.
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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