Exports

Export data opens one dialog from the Responses page and from a survey card’s … menu. You choose a format, a version scope and up to three switches; the export then downloads as a link, so the same export can be repeated later by opening the same address. The last format you chose is remembered in your browser.

The data export is not the survey backup. Backup (survey file) on the survey card produces the survey definition for import into another Mapsurvey; it contains no responses.

For the procedure, see Export responses. Exporting needs the viewer role or higher on the survey.

Formats

Format	File	Contents	Made for
Excel	.xlsx	Sheets observations, responses, sessions, plus one objects_<code> sheet per Objects on the map question with sub-questions. Header row bold and frozen; datetimes are Excel datetimes in UTC; numbers and lat/lon are numeric	Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice
GeoPackage (recommended for GIS)	.gpkg	One layer per map question, named after the question, with every attribute, plus one layer per Objects on the map results file	QGIS, ArcGIS
Shapefile	.zip	Per map question: .shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj (WGS 84) and .cpg (UTF-8). Field names longer than 10 characters are shortened — prefer GeoPackage	Legacy GIS
GeoJSON + CSV	.zip	One <question>.geojson per map question, one <survey>.csv with the other answers (one row per respondent), objects_<code>.csv and layers/<layer>.results.geojson for objects questions, and every attached file under files/. This is the original export; its layout does not change	Scripts and older workflows
KML	.kml	One folder per map question; sub-question answers as feature data. Invalid polygons are repaired for KML only	Google Earth
CSV	.zip	The same tables as Excel — observations.csv, responses.csv, sessions.csv, objects_<code>.csv — as UTF-8 with BOM, comma-separated, . decimal, ISO 8601 datetimes	Any spreadsheet or script

GeoPackage, Shapefile and KML appear only when the server has the GDAL ogr2ogr tool (mapsurvey.org has it; a self-hosted server may not).

All geometry is WGS 84 (EPSG:4326). Every format is written from the same collected data, so the tables never disagree with the GeoJSON.

Tables

observations — one row per placed feature

Columns, in order:

Column	Meaning
session_id	The respondent’s session
session_start_utc	When they started
session_language	The language they answered in
validation_status	approved, not_approved, on_hold or empty
version	The survey version the answer belongs to
section, question, question_code	Where the feature was drawn
geometry_type	Point, LineString, Polygon or MultiPoint (spray area)
lat, lon	The point, or the centroid of a line, polygon or spray cloud
wkt	The full geometry as well-known text
one column per sub-question name	Sub-questions with the same name on different map questions share one column; question tells them apart. A ranking sub-question is one column per item; an Other… write-in adds a column
mark_key, votes_up, votes_down, comments	Only when the survey has a shared map: what other respondents said about this mark
dot_count, area_m2	Only when the survey has a spray area question

A blank sub-question stays blank; it never inherits another feature’s value.

responses — one row per respondent

Every non-map answer, one column per question (a ranking question is one column per item, a file question lists archive paths), then session, session_id, session_start_utc, language and validation_status. This is the same layout as the CSV inside the GeoJSON + CSV archive, with the start column named for what it is.

sessions — one row per respondent

session_id, session_start_utc, session_end_utc, language, validation_status, opened_by_kind (external, owner, collaborator or preview), version, tags, notes.

objects_ — one row per respondent per object

For each Objects on the map question that has sub-questions: session_id, object_key, object_title, object_category, one column per sub-question, datetime, language, validation_status and, for a shared map, the object’s moderation status.

GeoJSON layers

Each map question is a FeatureCollection named after the question. Every feature carries its sub-question answers (one property per sub-question, present even when empty), session, session_id, language, validation_status, shared-map verdicts when present and, for a spray cloud, dot_count and area_m2.

Options in the dialog

Option	Default	Effect
Version	the current version	Shown only when the survey has published more than one version. All versions prefixes every file with v<n>_ and adds a version column
Include excluded responses	off	Adds trashed and not-approved responses
Completed responses only	off	Keeps respondents who answered the last section — the same count as “completed” on the Responses overview
Include attached files	off	Shown only when the survey has photo, audio or document questions. Adds the uploads under files/<session>/; Excel, GeoPackage and KML then download as a ZIP with the file next to the files/ folder. GeoJSON + CSV always includes files

Sessions where nobody answered anything are never exported, whatever the switches say.

For scripts

Every export is a GET to /surveys/<uuid>/download with format=zip|xlsx|csv|gpkg|shp|kml (no format = GeoJSON + CSV), and the optional version, include_all=1, completed_only=1 and files=1. The dialog shows the address it builds; copy it to repeat the export. The request must be signed in with a role on the survey.

Related

• Export responses
• Question types
• Edit a published survey — what a version is