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What is the in-platform survey tool?
The GoVocal in-platform survey tool lets admins and project managers create and manage surveys entirely within the platform, no external tools required. It supports:
A wide variety of question types (short answer, multiple choice, linear scale, mapping questions, etc.)
Real-time result tracking and Excel exports
Optional logic to personalize survey flows
Full integration with platform access rights and anonymity settings
It’s designed to lower barriers for participation, consolidate data collection, and streamline reporting.
What are the key capabilities of the survey tool?
Different Question Types: from short/long text to advanced mapping and ESRI shapefile upload
Pages: organize long surveys into sections; include normal pages or map-based pages with contextual layers
Logic: route users to relevant questions or pages based on answers
Anonymity toggle: allow anonymous submissions (see: Enabling anonymous participation)
Reporting: generate project reports, download raw data, and visualize mapping questions
Limitations: some question types (e.g. mapping, file upload) can’t be bulk-imported (see: Bulk import paper ideas)
Saved answers if you exit early: if you wish to exist the survey and come back later your answers will be saved so you don't have to start again from scratch! and email will also be sent to you to remind you to finish and submit the survey you started.
Submit multiple survey answers when logged in: by toggling on "allow multiple submissions" in the phase Setup tab - users can submit more then one survey even when logged in.
What are the different question types?
Every question can be:
Mandatory or optional
in the settings of each question type if you scroll to the bottom there is a toggle that you can turn on called Make answering this question required - you can toggle it on to make the question required or leave it off to make the question optional
Given a title, description, and extra instructions
Supported question types:
Short answer / Long answer (with AI summarization if enabled)
Single choice (radio buttons; supports “Other,” randomize order, dropdown view)
Multiple choice (checkboxes; supports “Other,” randomize, dropdown view)
Image choice (choose between images; can limit required selections)
Linear scale (e.g., 1–5 ratings)
Matrix (rows & columns; less mobile‑friendly, design carefully)
Ranking (drag‑and‑drop or number input for priority order)
Rating (star ratings up to 10)
Sentiment scale (emoji‑based feeling capture)
Number (numeric only)
File upload (up to 50MB; files stored as URLs in exports)
Only 1 file can be uploaded per question. To allow for more files, create a new file upload question
⚠️ Ranking, Matrix, File Upload, and all Mapping questions cannot be uploaded back via offline imports.
Mapping question types (Map‑Based Survey Toolbox):
Drop Pin
Draw Route/Line
Draw Area/Polygon
ESRI Shapefile Upload
ℹ️ Notes on mapping questions:
Each mapping question collects one input per map.
→ To gather multiple inputs on the same map, create multiple mapping questions.Every mapping question and map layout can be configured individually to highlight different areas.
To customize your map, click “Configure map”, you can:
Adjust the default center and zoom level
Add GeoJSON layers, or ESRI maps if your account has access to this feature
⚠️ When using an ESRI-map, to avoid conflicts with our platform's on-click behaviour, users will have to switch between Draw mode and Explore mode. The Explore mode allows them to see information about the layers when clicking on them - while the Draw mode allows the user to draw on the map.
How to create or duplicate a survey?
Create a survey
Create a project, then add a New Phase and choose “Create a survey”
In the project creation flow, select Create a survey as the engagement method
Or, to add a survey to an existing project, go to the project's Phases tab, click +New phase, and select Survey as the engagement method
Build the survey structure
Navigate to the Survey Form tab
Click Edit survey form to open the builder
Add pages (normal or map-based) and drag in questions
Customize the input form
Add titles, descriptions, videos, or images to pages
Configure questions (mandatory/optional, randomized choices, “other” field)
(Optional) Add demographic questions
In the tab Phase access and user data > Who can take the survey tab - select what demographic questions should be collected in the What we collect section
Test & preview the survey
in the survey form builder - Use the View Survey button to preview.
Submit test responses, then delete test data before launch. You can delete test survey responses by going to the Insights tab and pressing on the button Delete Survey Results
Open or close the survey for answers
Surveys are open for answers by default while their phase is active, so you do not need to turn anything on
To stop collecting responses while the phase is still active, go to the Access rights tab of the phase and limit participation to admins and collaborators only
Duplicate an existing survey
Configure a new project/phase as a survey
Navigate to Survey Form
Click Duplicate another survey and choose from your existing surveys
How to apply logic to a survey?
Question‑level logic: Route users to different pages based on answers (single‑select or linear scale only).
Page‑level logic: Decide what the next page is, regardless of responses.
Special options:
“If any other question” logic (one option routes differently; all others go elsewhere)
“If not answered” logic (fallback page)
⚠️ Survey Logic Limitations
Our survey logic helps you control which page respondents see next based on their answers. However, there are some important limitations to keep in mind:
Logic only triggers when clicking “Next”
Logic is evaluated when respondents move to the next page, not instantly after answering a question.No backward logic
You can’t send respondents back to a previous page using logic.No intra-page logic
Logic always applies to pages, not individual questions.
→ If you want logic to jump to a specific question, place that question on its own page.Supported question types
Logic can only be applied to single-select and linear scale questions.
Multi-select, ranking, matrix, number, and mapping questions do not support logic.Required questions
Any single-select or linear scale question with logic is automatically marked as required.
How to manage survey results?
See all answers in real‑time under Insights tab.
Export data as Excel by pressing on the button Export. You will get a few options
Export responses to PDF: best if you need to find the PDF response of a user to send it to them or make it public - you can select which PII information/survey responses should be included
Export responses to Excel: you can select which PII information/survey responses should be included
Download insights tab as PDF: best to show a quick report
Download insights tab as Word: best to edit a quick report
Download survey results: best for doing analysis of responses in excel
When a survey phase is closed normal users cannot fill in the survey anymore. However admins and project managers can still submit surveys on behalf of others after the survey is closed. Simply use the new submission button in the Insights tab or use the excel template, fill it in and bulk upload survey submissions.
Deleting survey submissions
To delete specific survey submissions, contact support and provide the submission ID of the submissions you want to delete.
The submission ID can be found when you export the survey results to .xslx. The first column, title ID, is the submission ID.
To delete all survey responses after testing before launch for example - go to the Insights tab and press the button Delete Survey Results
Reporting Options
Use the Project Report feature to create sharable reports (PDF or online)
Visualize answers:
Rating & Linear Scale: % breakdown
Ranking: Average position (+ “View Details”)
Mapping: Aggregated map view (Drop Pins support heatmap display)
For advanced mapping analysis, export GeoJSON/ESRI data and use tools like Mapshaper.
For further exploring these features, see our support articles:
Survey limitations
No draft phases: Once added, a phase is visible.
Offline upload limitations: File Upload and Mapping questions cannot be imported back into the platform
Editing surveys live: You can edit at any time. Reordering answer options doesn’t affect existing responses, but editing an option’s text affects the data collected for that question, and deleting a question deletes all its existing responses
Survey overlap with other features
Overlap with Map Consultations:
Surveys can include mapping questions, but these are more structured (one pin/line/area per question)
Ideation Map phases allow multiple pins and open discussion
Use surveys for structured data collection; use map consultations for open, community-driven inputs
Overlap with Anonymous Participation:
Surveys can allow anonymous answers; users get a unique submission ID to request deletion if needed
Overlap with Access Rights:
If surveys have set Who can participation set to Anyone (no login/email), we can’t block duplicate submissions because we don’t know who submitted them, and we don’t collect IP addresses. Storing IP addresses would violate GDPR, so we can't do that. To prevent duplicate submissions, Who can participation must be set to Require sign in.