Citizen Science Survey presents citizen scientists with a set of categories for their report. Each category is stored as a separate path in an SVG file. You can add and remove categories to reflect the types of reports that may be collected in your area by editing the svg file in a vector graphics editor.

Learn more about using SVG files in ArcGIS Survey123

Remove a category

Removing a category from the Citizen Science Survey app will not impact any observations that were previously collected. To remove a category from Citizen Science Survey, complete the following steps:

1. Download and install ArcGIS Survey123 Connect
2. Sign into ArcGIS Survey123 Connect using the account that owns your Citizen Science Survey application.
3. Use ArcGIS Survey123 Connect to download and open your Citizen Science Survey application.
4. From the menu on the left side of the app, click Files. This will open Windows Explorer to the directory containing the downloaded files for the Citizen Science Survey.
5. Open the media directory. This folder contains the svg files with the options for each of the categories.
6. Open the file that contains the option you would like to remove. You can use a text editor, but an editor such as Inkscape will let you visualize the changes as you make them.
7. Select and delete the option you would like to remove. Each option is made up of three paths: a colored square, one or several text elements, and a line drawing of an organism that belongs to the category. Delete all three belonging to the option you are removing.
8. If necessary, re-arrange the other categories to fill in the hole.
9. Save the changes to the SVG file.
10. In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect, click the Update button to preview your changes. If you are satisfied, click the Publish button to push your changes to your published survey.
11. Open the Details page for the survey feature layer and click Data > Fields.
12. If you want to remove a top-level category, click the I saw a... field name. Remove the category from the list of values.
13. Click the observation field. Remove the relevant category or categories from the list of values.
14. Repeat the previous two steps for the dashboard view.
15. Open the ArcGIS Survey123 Field App and refresh the survey by clicking the Refresh button on the Download Surveys screen. Open the survey to view the changes.

Add a category

Adding a category to the Citizen Science Survey app will not impact any observations that were previously collected. To add a top-level category to the Citizen Science Survey, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Details page for the survey feature layer and click Data > Fields.
2. Click the I saw a... field name. Add the new category to the list of values.
3. Repeat the previous step for the dashboard view.
4. Download and install ArcGIS Survey123 Connect
5. Sign into ArcGIS Survey123 Connect using the account that owns your Citizen Science Survey application.
6. Use ArcGIS Survey123 Connect to download and open your Citizen Science Survey application.
7. Click the XLSForm button to open the survey spreadsheet.
8. On the Choices tab, add the new option to the category list. Save the XLS form.
9. From the menu on the left side of the app, click Files. This will open Windows Explorer to the directory containing the downloaded files for the Citizen Science Survey.
10. Open the media directory. This folder contains the svg files with the options for each of the categories.
11. Open the category.svg file. You can use a text editor, but an editor such as Inkscape will let you visualize the changes as you make them.
12. Copy and paste an existing option. Each option is made up of three paths: a colored square, one or several text elements, and a line drawing of an organism that belongs to the category. Make sure you copy and paste all components.
13. Update the id property of the colored square to match the name (not the label) of the new option.
14. Update the contents of the text to reflect your new category.
15. If necessary, re-arrange the categories, update the color, and provide a new graphic.
16. Save the changes to the SVG file.
17. In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect, click the Update button to preview your changes. If you are satisfied, click the Publish button to push your changes to your published survey.
18. Open the ArcGIS Survey123 Field App and refresh the survey by clicking the Refresh button on the Download Surveys screen. Open the survey to view the changes.

Add a sub-category

Adding a sub-category to the Citizen Science Survey app will not impact any observations that were previously collected. To add a second-level category to the Citizen Science Survey, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Details page for the survey feature layer and click Data > Fields.
2. Click the category field name. Add the new option to the list of values.
3. Repeat the previous step for the dashboard view.
4. Download and install ArcGIS Survey123 Connect.
5. Sign into ArcGIS Survey123 Connect using the account that owns your Citizen Science Survey application.
6. Use ArcGIS Survey123 Connect to download and open your Citizen Science Survey application.
7. Click the XLSForm button to open the survey spreadsheet.
8. On the Choices tab, add the new option to the appropriate list. If you are creating a new list of options for a new category, create a new list. Save the XLS form.
9. Optionally, add choices to the condition and observationtype lists for the new sub-category.
10. If you are creating a new list of options for a new category, you will also need to add a question to the survey. Follow the pattern of the other sub-category selection questions to create a question that will display the appropriate sub-categories when the new category is selected. Save the XLS form. If you are simply adding a new option to an existing category no new question is required.
11. From the menu on the left side of ArcGIS Survey123 Connect app, click Files. This will open Windows Explorer to the directory containing the downloaded files for the Citizen Science Survey.
12. Open the media directory. This folder contains the svg files with the options for each of the categories.
13. Open the SVG file that corresponds to the category where you would like to add a new option. If you are adding options for a new category, copy, paste, rename and edit an existing file. You can use a text editor, but an editor such as Inkscape will let you visualize the changes as you make them.
14. Copy and paste an existing option within the SVG file. Each option is made up of three paths: a colored square, one or several text elements, and a line drawing of an organism that belongs to the category. Make sure you copy and paste all components.
15. Update the id property of the colored square to match the name (not the label) of the new option.
16. Update the contents of the text to reflect your new option.
17. If necessary, re-arrange the options, update the color, and provide a new graphic.
18. Save the changes to the SVG file.
19. In ArcGIS Survey123 Connect, click the Update button to preview your changes. If you are satisfied, click the Publish button to push your changes to your published survey.
20. Open the ArcGIS Survey123 Field App and refresh the survey by clicking the Refresh button on the Download Surveys screen. Open the survey to view the changes.