Now available: Map question type

Some of the most useful feedback is about a place: where residents may feel unsafe after dark, which junction needs a crossing, where fly-tipping keeps coming back.

Until now, the closest a survey could get was an open text box or a postcode field, and "near the bridge by the retail park" isn't something you can plot, prioritise, or hand to a works team. Decisions about physical places ended up resting on vague descriptions.

Our Map question is a new question type that lets people answer by dropping a pin on an interactive map and, if you want, adding a comment to explain it. Every answer comes back as an exact pin location with the reason behind it, plotted on a single map as responses arrive.

It's built with public consultations in mind but it also works anywhere the answer is a place: housing, transport, facilities, events, campuses.

Learn more about our Map question

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Take a tour of our new Mapping question

 

Open the map where the feedback matters

Set the default view so the map opens exactly where you need answers, whether that's a single park, a town centre, or a whole borough. Respondents land in the right place straight away, with nothing to scroll or search for before they can help.

Pan and zoom to the area you care about, then click Set Default View. The bar turns green once it is saved.

Keep pins inside the area you care about

If you only want feedback on a specific patch, you can limit where pins go. That keeps answers on the area under review, so pins from the wrong side of the country don't muddy your results.

Under Click Area, leave it as Anywhere to let people pin any location, or choose Draw to set a boundary. Sketch a polygon, circle, or square over the map, then click Set Area. Respondents can then only place pins inside the shape you drew.

 

Let every pin explain itself

A location on its own is only half the story. The comment is what tells you what is wrong and why it matters, so you can act on it rather than guess.

Turn on Allow a Comment per pin and each pin carries the reason behind it, up to a character limit you set. Make the comment mandatory when the context matters as much as the location. You also decide how many pins each respondent can drop: a minimum, a maximum, an exact number, or a range. One pin for their single biggest issue, or several for everywhere they have spotted a problem. You can set a pin colour to suit your survey while you are there.

You can also add an optional comment box beneath the map, for anything a respondent wants to say that does not belong to a single pin.

 

See every response on one map

Open the Analyse page and the results are already a map, not a list of coordinates to decode. You see the full spread of pins at a glance, then the detail behind each one: who placed it, when, the exact coordinates, and what they said.

Pin comments run through Text Analysis like any other open text, so themes and sentiment surface the same way they do across the rest of your feedback.

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A few things to know

Respondents answer by dropping pins and adding comments. The drawing tools decide where those pins can go, and they are yours to use as you build the survey, not something the respondent sees.

If you draw a boundary, set the default view to the same area, so respondents are not hunting for the right spot before they can answer.

 

The Map question is available on Scale and our Solutions plans.

If you are on Scale or a Solutions plan, you will find it in the question type menu, listed as Map. Add it to a new or existing survey, set the default view, and you are ready to collect.

On a plan that does not include it, you will see an upgrade option in the question type menu.

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Helpful links

Read the Map question help guide for a step-by-step guide to every setting. Then add your first Map question, send it out, and watch the pins land on the Analyse page as the answers come in.