Editing Geospatial Select questions when responses have already been submitted

This article is for Citizen Space Geospatial. Please speak to your customer success manager if you are interested in learning more about it.

We always advise against editing the content of an activity after it has been published and received responses. 

When using the 'Select an option from the map' component, if you really do need to make edits after receiving responses, you will have to confirm that you understand that this could affect your response data.

Warning message and button saying I understand and want to change these settings. Screenshot

If you've received responses you'll see that editing is locked until the 'I understand and want to change these settings' button has been selected.

Answer attribute drop down with message saying Editing has been locked due to existing responses. Screenshot

What can I edit and what will happen if I do?

You can do the following without any impact on existing response data:

  • You can add new features (shapes, lines or points).
  • You can add new attributes.
  • For any attribute other than the selected answer attribute, you can edit its values on features.
  • You can change between 'show' and 'don't show' for any attributes including the answer attribute.

If you do make changes, then you will need to be aware that this may change the survey and could mean that different respondents had different options or information when responding. For example, if you have a map that asks users to choose between 'bus stop 1' and 'bus stop 2', adding a 'bus stop 3' as a new feature on the map will not affect the results data already received. However, it does mean any respondents who had already chosen bus stop 1 or 2 will not have seen bus stop 3 or been able to choose it. 

Doing any of the following will have an impact on existing response data and is not recommended:

  • Changing the answer attribute.
  • Changing any of the feature values within the answer attribute.
  • If it is a drawn layer, editing an existing feature.
  • Removing the layer and adding a completely new layer, (you will get a red 'Warning' message if you attempt to do this, as this will remove the map and any layers from your survey).

If you do make changes to the answer attribute and/or any feature values within the answer attribute, or if you remove the layer, that will result in the following:

  • The previous answer(s) will be removed from the reports and exports and will be replaced with 'Not answered'. So, you will see 'Not answered' for any responses that had selected the edited feature in their response before the edit was made.
  • You will see 'Not answered' in 'Responses organised by question', the PDF and .docx reports, and the .xslx exports ('Download all responses') for any responses that had selected the edited feature in their response before the edit was made.
  • You will be able to see the previously submitted responses in the individual response view for the responses submitted before the edit. These will show an additional note stating that the question was edited and what the previously submitted answer was. Note: This will only show on that page view and not within the individual PDF response export. 

For example, if you have a map that asked users to choose between 'bus stop 1' and 'bus stop 2', and edited the feature value for 'bus stop 2' but not 'bus stop 1' any responses with bus stop 1 selected will be fine, but those responses which selected 'bus stop 2' will now say 'Not answered'.

Respondents who had selected 'bus stop 2' will have a note by the relevant question in the individual response view on the admin side saying 'An admin user edited this question after the respondent answered it. The submitted answer was: bus stop 2.'

Whilst this does mean you will still have the previous responses, it will make analysis and reporting more complex.

Edits are not recommended unless they are really necessary.