Question types

The question dialog groups types the way this page does: Questions, Map questions, Files and Display blocks — collect nothing. The dialog shows some types under a friendlier name than the one stored in the survey file; both are listed.

For procedures, see Add a map question, Add sub-questions and Export responses. For export file layouts, see Exports.

Questions

Type	What the respondent does	Answer stored	Export column(s)
Text (text)	Types a multi-line answer. The creator can set Min text length.	Text	One column, the text as typed
Single Line Text (text_line)	Types one short line.	Text	One column
Number (number)	Enters a number. The creator can set Min value and Max value.	Number	One numeric column
Choices (choice)	Picks one option. With Display as › Dropdown with search the list becomes a searchable dropdown; with an Other… option the respondent can type their own.	One choice code	One column holding the option’s name; an Other… write-in adds an adjacent column
Multiple Choices (multichoice)	Ticks any number of options; Other… works as above.	List of choice codes	One column, option names separated by ; (plus a write-in column if enabled)
Range (range)	Drags a slider over a numbered scale. The scale’s ends come from the lowest and highest option codes; a range with no options still renders.	Number	One numeric column
Rating (rating)	Picks one point on a labelled scale. Rendered as a Compact scale, Labeled list or Stars — the survey default from Settings › Rating questions, or a per-question Display as override.	One choice code	One column holding the option’s name (or its number for stars without labels)
Ranking (ranking)	Drags the items into order, by pointer or keyboard; every rank is used once. An incomplete or repeated order stores nothing.	The items in the respondent’s order	One column per item, named <question>: <item>, holding that item’s rank (1 = top)
Date/Time (datetime)	Picks a date and time.	Date and time	One column in ISO 8601 (an Excel datetime, UTC, in the .xlsx export)
Thumbs up / down (thumbs)	Taps for or against.	up or down	One column reading up or down

Every type in this group can be Required, shows its subtext between the question text and the input, and can be used as a sub-question of a map question or of Objects on the map.

Map questions

Map questions need a section with the map layout. The respondent draws on the map; each shape can carry sub-questions, which open in a popup on the placed feature and become attributes of that feature.

Type	What the respondent does	Answer stored	Export
Geo Point (point)	Places a marker (on a phone, with the crosshair).	A point	A GeoJSON layer and a row in the observations table per marker
Geo Line (line)	Draws a route or line.	A line	A layer and a row per line; lat/lon are the centroid
Geo Polygon (polygon)	Outlines an area.	A polygon	A layer and a row per polygon; lat/lon are the centroid
Spray area (spraycan)	Sprays a cloud of dots with a brush — thicker where they are sure. One cloud per respondent; there is no “add another”.	A multipoint (dots snapped to a 1 m grid, duplicates dropped)	A layer and a row per cloud with dot_count and area_m2; on a public results page, a density grid, never the dots
Objects on the map (layer_objects)	Taps objects from a reference layer the creator chose and answers the sub-questions about each one. Collects nothing itself.	One answer per object per sub-question	An objects_<code> sheet (one row per respondent per object) and a <layer>.results.geojson with per-object totals

Settings that apply to map questions:

• Min and Max features (point, line, polygon): how many shapes one respondent may place. Empty = unlimited. The draw button shows “N of M marked” when a limit is set and disables at the maximum. The export stays one layer however many features a respondent adds.
• Max dots per respondent and Brush size (spray area): the brush is a screen size — Small, Medium or Large — so respondents zoom in to paint finer.
• Marker colour and icon (point, line, polygon, spray area) reach the respondent’s map.
• Objects on the map replaces Required with a minimum number of objects to answer about (0 = optional), and shows its layer either as a browsable list or as a legend line (Display as).
• Sub-questions cannot themselves be map questions.

Files

Type	What the respondent does	Answer stored	Export
Photo Upload (photo)	Takes a photo with the phone camera or picks an image.	Up to Max files (1–10) image files	A cell naming each file’s path inside the archive (files/<session>/<code>__<name>), paths separated by ;
Audio Upload (audio)	Records their voice in the browser, or uploads an audio file.	Audio files	As above
Document Upload (document)	Attaches a document (PDF, Office).	Document files	As above

Files upload as soon as they are chosen, with progress, and the respondent can inspect and remove them before submitting. The platform cap is 25 MB per file; Max file size, MB can lower it per question. SVG and executables are refused. Files are private: they appear in the Responses table and in exports, never on a public results page. The GeoJSON + CSV export always includes them; the other formats include them only with Include attached files — see Exports.

Display blocks — collect nothing

Type	What the respondent sees	Export
Image (image)	A picture chosen by the creator, with the subtext as its caption.	Nothing
Formatted Text (html)	The creator’s formatted text — headings, bold, links. The subtext is the whole body.	Nothing

For these two types the Name is an editor-only label; respondents never see it. Display blocks cannot be Required.

Which types reach a public results page

Choice, multiple choice, rating, thumbs, number and range questions become chart blocks; point, line, polygon and spray area become map blocks; Objects on the map becomes an objects block. Text, single line text, ranking, date/time and file questions are never published — see Share results publicly.

Related

• Exports
• Add a map question
• Add sub-questions
• Make a question conditional