GPS Location

The GPS Location tool allows the user to capture their current GPS map coordinate in a mobile form. Captured data includes latitude and longitude, and altitude and accuracy (on some mobile devices).

The following image shows a mobile form after capturing a GPS location:

After the form is submitted, the GPS coordinates can be viewed in the doForms portal:

Note that in low-connectivity situations it may not be possible to acquire a GPS signal. In this instance the Searching for Satellites message will display; if the message displays indefinitely, the mobile user will need to press Cancel and try again in a different location.

Note the following:

• The achievable GPS accuracy will depend on the mobile user's hardware, location, and surroundings. In most cases, the best achievable accuracy will be approximately 3 meters.
• doForms is programmed to automatically stop refining the GPS position when an accuracy of 5 meters has been achieved.
• Altitude readings are generally accurate to ±25 meters on most consumer devices.
• If the doForms app detects that GPS hardware is not available or is not enabled on the mobile device that is using the form, GPS Location questions will be skipped automatically. Please ensure that Location Services are enabled on your mobile device in order to use this tool.

Properties

Caption text: The caption is used in most cases to ask the question. In others it may be a column heading. This is a required field. Please keep in mind that captions will wrap when form elements do not fit within the width of the screen. It is important to consider how your captions will be displayed. Captions on a larger screen might look perfect, but on a smaller device, they may be forced to wrap several times. In this situation, a smaller caption should be used.

Hint: Provides additional information to the mobile form user on how a question (i.e., Caption text) should be answered. The Hint font size is smaller than the Caption font size.

Additional HTML styling can be applied on hints and captions.

Data name: Because this is a required field, doForms will default the Data name to match the Caption or Label. If these are blank, doForms will generate a generic Data name name with a sequential number (such as "untitled10"). Since it is used throughout the system, it is recommended that you enter a descriptive Data name that is easily identifiable. Nondescript Data names are difficult to find and select at a later time (e.g., when performing a calculation).

Auto-stamp: This option allows the form to automatically enter the GPS location into the field, based on a trigger. The trigger can be set to one of the following four options:

• When a specified question is answered for the first time: For example, you could instruct the form to enter the GPS location into the field immediately after the person signs their name (using the Signature field). Select this option, and then select the Question trigger (in our example, the question trigger would be the Signature field).
• When a specified page is displayed for the first time: For example, you could instruct the form to enter the GPS location into the field immediately after the Contact Info page is displayed for the first time. Select this option, and then select the Page trigger (in our example, the page trigger would be the Contact Info page).
• When the form is opened for the first time.
• When the form is saved as complete.

Allow edit option: Allows a mobile user to re-capture the GPS data after they initially capture it in a form, or after it is auto-stamped (see above).

Show additional GPS information: If you select this checkbox, the following checkboxes will appear, allowing you to select which GPS data will appear in the user's mobile form upon capture (in the first image, above, all four of these data elements appear). If none are selected, then only the map will appear in the mobile form.:

• Show latitude
• Show longitude
• Show accuracy
• Show altitude

Maximum error (in meters): Lowering this number will improve position accuracy but may increase GPS acquisition time significantly. Please remember that accuracy is based on line of sight to the sky, so consider using a higher number if requesting GPS in areas with tall buildings and other obstructions.

Prompt user after: Upon attempting to capture GPS data, the mobile form will begin refining GPS position. In order to limit the amount of time spent refining GPS position, you may enter a number of seconds in the Prompt user after setting. If refinement has not reached at least the Maximum error after the set amount of seconds, then mobile form user will see the following message:

The user will then need to select one of these options:

• Cancel: Cancels the GPS capture process.
• Wait: Instructs the form to keep trying to refine GPS position for another set amount of seconds.
• Capture: Instructs the form to capture GPS position now, regardless of accuracy.

Appearance: doForms allows you to set a default set of appearance parameters. This eliminates the need for you to have to set colors and other parameters each time you add an element to your form. You can however override the default settings for any tool by simply picking the Custom option. You can also edit the default by clicking on the edit defaults option.

See Styling your form for more details.

Justification: Allows you to apply text justification settings to certain elements of the tool. Choose the appropriate radio button for the Caption and/or Hint fields as follows:

• L: Left-justifies the text.
• C: Center-justifies the text.
• R: Right-justifies the text.

Remove Space: This parameter is used to remove the space just before and just after the tool. By removing space two elements can be made to appear linked or as a single element.

Read only: These settings allow you to control which users can enter data into or edit this field. The settings are as follows:

• View data edit: Restricts a web portal user from editing this field when editing a submitted form through the 'View data' tab
• View data new: Restricts a web portal user from entering data into this field when creating a new form through the 'View data' tab.
• Dispatch edit: Restricts a web portal user from editing this field when editing a submitted form through the 'Dispatch' tab.
• Dispatch new: Restricts a web portal user from entering data into this field when creating a new dispatch through the 'Dispatch' tab.
• Mobile: Restricts a mobile user from entering data into this field when creating a form.
• Web App: Restricts a web app user from entering data into this field when creating a form.
• Form Links: Restricts a web portal user from editing this field when editing a form that was sent using a form link

Required: These settings allow you to control which users are required to enter data into this field. The settings are as follows:

• View data edit: Requires a web portal user to enter data into this field if editing and saving a submitted form through the 'View data' tab
• View data new: Requires a web portal user to enter data into this field when creating a new form through the 'View data' tab.
• Dispatch edit: Requires a web portal user to enter data into this field if editing and saving a submitted form through the 'Dispatch' tab.
• Dispatch new: Requires a web portal user to enter data into this field when creating a new dispatch through the 'Dispatch' tab.
• Mobile: Requires a mobile user to enter data into this field when creating a form.
• Web App: Requires a web app user to enter data into this field when creating a form.
• Form Links: Restricts a user from submitting a form link without answering this this field.

Hide: These settings allow you to hide the form field from users in specific situations. The settings are as follows:

• View data edit: Hides this field from a web portal user when editing a submitted form through the 'View data' tab
• View data new: Hides this field from a web portal user when creating a new form through the 'View data' tab.
• Dispatch edit: Hides this field from a web portal user when editing a submitted form through the 'Dispatch' tab.
• Dispatch new: Hides this field from a web portal user when creating a new dispatch through the 'Dispatch' tab.
• Mobile: Hides this field from a mobile user when creating a form.
• Web App: Hides this field from a web app user when creating a form.
• In PDF and Print: Hides this field when the form is converted to PDF or printed.
• Form Links: Hides this field on forms that are sent as form links.

Actions

Only display this question if

This is a very powerful option as it allows you to hide form elements, only exposing them if the answer to a question in your form meets the criteria you have set. Being able to hide fields unless they are needed makes form more user friendly. For example, if you have a Choose One question with the answers Yes and No, then you can say "Only display this form element if" the answer to the Choose One is "equal" to "Yes." You can combine criteria with other criteria, thus creating complex criteria for showing/hiding form elements.

Jump to

This option allows you to navigate the user to a specific location in the form based on how they answer the current question.