Geolocation Fields

Geolocation fields are a specialized field types that accept longitude and latitude coordinates for a location. If you are filling out a form from a device with location services enabled, this field can automatically get and store your current location. Adding this field to forms makes it easy to track where forms are filled out.

Example: When employees conduct site visits, they fill out a form on their iPads describing the site's status. This form has a geolocation field in which they select the Use Current location option. After the form is submitted, an integration pulls the geolocation and site data from the Forms database and updates a map with the site location and name. Managers view this map throughout the day to keep track of the sites that have been visited.

Note: Longitude and latitude values will be rounded to a precision of 15 significant digits.

Note: You must use HTTPS to retrieve the current geolocation when you are on iOS 10 Safari and Chrome.

Settings

Editing a Geolocation Field in the Form Designer

  1. Select the field on the canvas, and the options will appear in the right pane.
  2. Type the field label under Field label.
  3. Type a name for the field variable for this field under Variables. If you do not specify a name, one will be assigned based on the field label.
  4. Under Text above field and Text below field, you can enter any additional text that should appear with the field. Click the Insert variable button to include a variable with this text.
  5. Under Display options, select Required if users must fill in this field before submitting the form. Select Read-only if users should not be allowed to modify this field.

    6. Tip: The read-only setting can be particularly useful with this field if it's combined with the use current location by default option. With this configuration, the location coordinates are automatically captured when the form is submitted.

    Note: If a required field is hidden with a field rule, it is no longer required. A required field is only required when it appears on the form.

  6. Under Default location, select Use current location or provide values for Default latitude and Default longitude that will appear in the field by default. Alternatively, if the field is read-only, Use current location will use the geolocation information captured when the form is submitted.
  7. To configure advanced options, click the Advanced tab.
    • Under Tooltip, specify the help text that will appear when users hover over the field.
    • Under CSS classes, specify the CSS classes to assign this field. Learn more about using CSS.
  8. Select the Rules tab to create field rules specific to this field. Learn more about using rules.
  9. Your changes will be applied to the form automatically.

Note: The labels, tooltip, text above, and text below settings in the form designer support the use of simple HTML markup for formatting purposes.

Editing a Geolocation Field in the Classic Form Designer

  1. Select the field on the canvas and click Edit.
  2. Under Field label, enter the field label that will appear next to the field on the form.
  3. Under Variable, specify a name for the field variable associated with this field. If you do not specify a variable name, Forms will automatically assign the field one based on its label.
  4. Under Field options, select Required if users must fill in this field before submitting the form. Select Read-only if users should not be allowed to modify this field.

    5. Tip: The read-only setting can be particularly useful with this field if it's combined with the use current location by default option. With this configuration, the location coordinates are automatically captured when the form is submitted.

    Note: If a required field is hidden with a field rule, it is no longer required. A required field is only required when it appears on the form.

  5. Under Text above field and Text below field, you can enter any additional text that should appear with the field. Click the Insert variable button to include a variable with this text.
  6. Under Default value, provide a value that will appear in the field by default. Click the token button to use a token or to select Use current location. If you select the Use current location option, the field will be populated with the user's geolocation when they open the form. Alternatively, if the field is read-only, Use current location will use the geolocation when the form is submitted.
  7. To configure advanced options, click the Advanced tab.
    • Under Tooltip, specify the help text that will appear when users hover over the field.
    • Under CSS class, specify a CSS class to assign this field. Learn more about using CSS.
  8. When you are finished editing the field settings, click Done. Your changes will be applied to the form automatically.