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MapsurveyMapsurvey Help

FAQ

Getting started

Surveys and questions

Maps and layers

Responses and export

Sharing and embedding

Account and Pro

Self-hosting

Getting started

Section titled “Getting started”

Is Mapsurvey free to use?

Section titled “Is Mapsurvey free to use?”

Yes. The Free plan is the full product, not a trial: every question type, unlimited surveys, responses and team members, every export format, and no time limit. Pro is an optional paid tier per workspace; see Plans and billing.

Do respondents need an account or an app?

Section titled “Do respondents need an account or an app?”

No. Respondents open the survey link in any current browser, on a phone or a computer, and answer; there is nothing to install and no sign-up. Only the people who build surveys need an account. See Sharing and access.

Is Mapsurvey suitable for PPGIS and participatory research?

Section titled “Is Mapsurvey suitable for PPGIS and participatory research?”

Yes. Point, line and polygon input is captured against your own questions and exports as GeoJSON with a CSV of the non-spatial answers, ready for QGIS, R or Python. Designing a map survey covers the method; Learn collects the background reading.

Can Mapsurvey run participatory budgeting?

Section titled “Can Mapsurvey run participatory budgeting?”

It runs the spatial side: residents pin where investment is needed, describe a project in place, and react to shortlisted locations on a shared map. It is not a ballot or budget-allocation tool, so run the final vote on a fixed budget elsewhere. Designing a map survey shows how to structure the proposal stage.

Surveys and questions

Section titled “Surveys and questions”

What can respondents mark on the map?

Section titled “What can respondents mark on the map?”

Points, lines (routes) and polygons (areas), each as its own question type, alongside ordinary survey questions. A respondent can place several marks on one question, and you can attach questions to each mark. See Question types and Add a map question.

How do I ask follow-up questions about each place a respondent marks?

Section titled “How do I ask follow-up questions about each place a respondent marks?”

Add sub-questions to the map question: one or two short questions that appear for every point, line or area the respondent places. Keep them few; the answer rate drops with every extra field. Add sub-questions shows the steps.

How do residents propose a project on the map?

Section titled “How do residents propose a project on the map?”

Build a map question that asks for a point or an area, then attach sub-questions for what to build, why, and a photo. Residents open the link, mark the place and answer; no account is needed and it works on a phone. See Add a map question and Add sub-questions.

Maps and layers

Section titled “Maps and layers”

How do we show consultees the plans?

Section titled “How do we show consultees the plans?”

Upload the proposal as a reference layer (GeoJSON, exported from any GIS). Respondents see the scheme beneath the map, and an Objects on the map question lets them answer about each feature in it, such as a proposed crossing or a new route. See Add a reference layer.

Can residents react to each other’s proposals?

Section titled “Can residents react to each other’s proposals?”

Yes. Show the shortlisted proposals as a layer and add an Objects on the map question; residents give each one a thumbs up or down and a comment. Reactions are one per browser session without voter authentication, so use them to prioritise rather than as a binding vote. See Question types.

Responses and export

Section titled “Responses and export”

How do I get the raw spatial data into QGIS or ArcGIS?

Section titled “How do I get the raw spatial data into QGIS or ArcGIS?”

Export the responses from the survey’s responses page. The ZIP export holds GeoJSON for every answer with geometry plus a CSV of the other answers, and GeoPackage, Shapefile and KML are available directly. Export responses walks through it.

Which export formats are there, and who owns the data?

Section titled “Which export formats are there, and who owns the data?”

ZIP (GeoJSON plus CSV), XLSX, CSV, GeoPackage, Shapefile and KML, at any time and on every plan. The data is yours: you can export it and delete the survey with its responses whenever you choose. Exports lists what each format contains.

How do responses get into the consultation report?

Section titled “How do responses get into the consultation report?”

Export every response, with its geometry, in the format your GIS or spreadsheet reads, or publish an aggregated public results page for the record. Individual free-text answers are never published. See Export responses and Share results publicly.

Sharing and embedding

Section titled “Sharing and embedding”

How do I share a survey with residents?

Section titled “How do I share a survey with residents?”

Publish the survey and share its link: in a newsletter, as a QR code on a notice, or embedded on the project page you already have. Respondents need no account and can answer on a phone. See Sharing and access and Embed a survey.

How do I show results back to the people who took part?

Section titled “How do I show results back to the people who took part?”

Publish a public results page with aggregated maps and charts, so participants see that their input was counted. Free-text answers stay private. Share results publicly shows how to set one up.

Account and Pro

Section titled “Account and Pro”

What does Pro cost, and what does it add?

Section titled “What does Pro cost, and what does it add?”

Pro is $49 a month or $490 a year per workspace, with any number of users, surveys and responses. It removes the “Made with Mapsurvey” badge from your surveys and adds direct support from the developer, including consulting, analysis and reports. See Plans and billing and Upgrade to Pro.

Are there per-project, per-survey or per-seat fees?

Section titled “Are there per-project, per-survey or per-seat fees?”

No. Free has no cap on surveys, responses or team members, and Pro is one flat price per workspace with no per-project, per-seat or per-response metering. See Plans and billing.

Can one workspace run engagement for a whole city?

Section titled “Can one workspace run engagement for a whole city?”

Yes. A workspace holds any number of surveys, team members and respondents; each survey has its own link and results page, and every answer exports to the city’s GIS. See Plans and billing.

What are the uptime and support arrangements?

Section titled “What are the uptime and support arrangements?”

The hosted service has no contractual SLA; deploys are zero-downtime, the stack is monitored, and incidents are fixed by the developer who runs it. Pro includes direct support from the developer, Free is supported by email and the public issue tracker, and an organisation that needs an uptime guarantee can self-host. See Plans and billing.

Self-hosting

Section titled “Self-hosting”

Can we self-host Mapsurvey?

Section titled “Can we self-host Mapsurvey?”

Yes. Mapsurvey is open source under the AGPLv3 and ships as a Docker Compose stack with a PostGIS database, so response data stays on servers you control at no licence cost. The README on GitHub has the installation steps.

Where is the hosted service’s data stored, and can we keep data in the EU?

Section titled “Where is the hosted service’s data stored, and can we keep data in the EU?”

The hosted service at mapsurvey.org runs in the United States (Render, Oregon region). If your rules require the data to stay in your own jurisdiction, self-host the same Docker stack on your own infrastructure; a choice of hosting region for the hosted service is on the Pro roadmap. The trust page lists the processors.

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