Introducing the Select Location widget for Ona Data

Ona Staff

July 07, 2022

We are thrilled to announce the new Select Location widget, which will help you plan and target in map-based data campaigns and improve your overall data quality.

This feature enables program teams to assign field workers specific places to visit on a map and record observations. At each point, helpful reference information can be added to aid the field worker — for example, in the screens above, each household has a wealth score, priority level, and TV ownership status. As places are visited in the field and data is synced, progress is represented in real-time on the data dashboard’s map.

Ideal scenarios for using the Select Location widget include:

Doing a physical count of the number of beds at Level 1 hospitals
Recording the number of children enrolled at public schools in a county
Going to nearby water points to capture sample details
Collecting field observations from farm visits
Visiting a list of priority clinics to count the number of community health workers
Sending out enumerators to log household information in a target area

Watch the video below for an example of the last scenario. The video shows a form with a list of Nairobi households to visit using the Select Location widget. At each household, information is collected on the number of household members.

As data is collected, progress is shown on the Ona Data website.

How to get started

The first step of using the Select Location widget is associating a GeoJSON file with your form. GeoJSON files can be produced in many mapping tools, but a simple and easy method is to use an existing Ona Data form that collected GPS locations. Once your XLSForm and GeoJSON are associated, field staff can download the form and view the targeted GPS locations with ODK Collect. Learn more by visiting the Ona Data help article, Creating an XLSForm using the Select Location Widget.

We will be having a webinar in the next few weeks to further explore the Select Location widget. Be sure to register for the webinar to reserve your spot.