GeoGuidance and GeoFencing in STG

Introduction

Location plays a crucial role in many research projects for several reasons. Different countries, regions, or localities exhibit unique consumer behaviors, preferences, and cultural nuances. In commercial contexts, factors such as climate, terrain, urban or rural environments, and access to resources can influence purchasing patterns and product/service requirements.

The importance of location varies depending on the project's type: it could be a brand awareness test conducted in multiple countries, a study focused on a specific department in a local supermarket, or a multi-district survey. Each location in such projects is considered a Primary Sampling Unit (PSU).

Dooblo's GeoGuidance Features

Dooblo's GeoGuidance feature offers two different approaches to handle GeoGuidance and GeoFencing:

1. Quota-Based GeoGuidance and GeoFencing: For organizations assigning groups of interviews to groups of surveyors using Dooblo's quota capabilities.
2. Task-Based GeoGuidance and GeoFencing: For organizations assigning specific interviews to specific surveyors using Dooblo's tasking capabilities.

Glossary

• GeoGuidance: Guides surveyors to the correct location.
• GeoFencing: Prevents surveyors from conducting interviews in incorrect locations or alerts management of such occurrences.
• Region: A geographical area equivalent to a PSU.

 

Quota based GeoGuidance and GeoFencing 

Please note: Regions are defined per project

Basic quota Configuration 

1. Under the "Assignments" node, double click on "GeoGuidance":

2. Create regions using import KML file or manually draw them on a map 

3. Once the regions have been created, a new tab will be added in your survey called "Regions", containing all regions that were defined in the project. By default,  regions are set as "Not synced". In order to activate the regions to the survey, check the relevant regions, and then click on "Sync Survey": 

Regions can be in one of the following states: 

1. Not synced 
   1. Region exists in project but is not survey thus will not be available in this survey 
2. Synced 
   1. Regions is ready for quota definition 
3. Out of Sync 
   1. Region was changed in the project, if needed, mark the out of synced regions and click on "Sync Checked" to align project and survey region configuration 

Once sync a new non-modifiable question will be created, it is created to be used as a quota option, this question will not appear on survey execution 

Set Quotas 

1. Define quotas and error messages: 

in the example above, the new "Region" question is used in the quota together with age and gender question, to set how many females/males in each age group will be interviewed in each PSU. 
The GeoGuidance question is automatically assigned the variable name "GeoGuidance_Regions".

2. Set quota limits: 

 

To programmatically get the region that was selected by the GeoGuidance_Regions question you can use:

var regionAnswer = GetAnswer(GeoGuidance_Regions);

Fieldwork / surveyor view 

A new tab ,"GeoGuidance", will be added to the surveyor app. Within the tab, the surveyor will be able to see where they are and where they should be.

In case a certain quota was reached, a defined error message will appear on their screen.

Monitoring 

Monitoring can be done via quotas progress in Studio and/or via quotas progress in Dooblo Insights.

 

Task based GeoGuidance and GeoFencing

Basic tasking Configuration 

Defining a geo fenced survey would require the following steps: 

1. Define PSUs (called “regions” in studio) 
   1. by drawing on a map in studio 
   2. by importing from excel/KML file 
2. Create tasks - Set number of tasks for each PSU
   1. Manually 
   2. by importing from locations store
   3. by importing from KML file 
3. Assign tasks to surveyors 
4. Set tasks start and end time 
5. Define task boundary and system actions upon starting a task outside of the boundary 
6. Advanced options: 
   1. change task location 
   2. extract tasks from “locations”  

Define PSUs 

Open GeoFencing window under: 

 

Manually draw circles/polygons on a map in studio 

In order to create a new region, first select to create a Polygon or a Circle:

than click on the map to draw regions and rename the regions is needed. 

 

Import regions from KML file 

“Placemarks” in KML file will be transformed into “Regions” in Studio

 

Create Tasks

A task is an interview that needs to be done in a certain time, place and specific surveyor. 

Tasks can be created in one of the following options: 

1. Add tasks manually 
2. Add tasks from location store 
3. Import tasks from file 

Add tasks manually 

Right click on a Region(s) or use the action button at the bottom of the screen

select the survey you want to add tasks 

fill in the number of tasks to add: 

Add tasks from location store 

This option will allow to create tasks in bulk based on data in location store and attached location’s additional data to the task, it can be used later on in scripting, see: Tasking in survey to go

Import tasks from file 

Importing from KML that contains points 

 

You can add as many Tasks as needed to each PSU, and from all type (manual, location store and/or import from file)

Tasks will be presented like this:

 

Assign tasks to surveyor

In order to assign surveyors to the tasks you can either right click the region/task or use the action button below 

 

Set start/end dates

Tasks will get the start and end date of the following month as default. 

Dates are configurable by right clicking the region/task or click actions below:

Please note, tasks will appear in the surveyor app only between the start and end dates

Set QC flag

Right click on a region/task and choose “Set Geo Fencing”, the following window will open: 

There are 3 type of geo fencing rules:

1. None - do not alert any one on out-of-boundary violation 
2. Warn and flag - present a warning to Surveyor, notifying they are in the wrong location, Surveyor can choose to continue interview anyway, in such case a QC alert will be issued in Studio and Insights for back-office personal 
3. Prevent - system will not allow Surveyor to start in interview outside of defined boundaries

How it works: 

 

Additional configuration option 

Change task location 

As default tasks will inherit the Region’s location, but you can change it if needed by right clicking on a task and choosing “Set location” or by clicking the actions button below. 

Task changed location must be a point 

Duplication 

Right click on the Region/Task -> Duplicate 

Rename

to rename a region or a task, double click it.

Fieldwork

Tasks will appear on surveyor device if the following conditions are met:

1. Survey in “Test” or “Production” mode 
2. Today is between the task’s start and end dates
3. Task is assigned to the logged in surveyor 
4. Use the new version available via Google play store 

Navigate to “Tasks” tab on your device:

click on “Map” and navigate to the desired area 

 

Select one of the tasks within this region and click start 

Monitoring 

Open Insights on your browser and navigate to “Survey” -> “Location” -> “Tasks” 

and fill in the filter details to reach the information you desire 

KPIs

1. Completed location / total location 
   1. "location" = PSU, complete = all tasks in it are in "Completed" state 
   2. Complete location defined as PSU that all it’s sub tasks are completed 
2. Completed tasks / total tasks 
3. Out of boundary flags (including both options: preventing from start and flagging) 
4. Overdue tasks - all tasks not finished within their time frame 

Map

Map presents all Regions, with mentioning of how many complete tasks were achieved out of total required tasks from this region.  

Regions are color coded by the following statuses

1. didn't begin 
2. in progress 
3. completed 

List view

List view presents all Regions associated to the filter, sorted by end data.

Drilling down to a regions will present all it’s tasks

Drilling down to tasks will present the related interview 

 

Working in offline

For areas without internet connection, we recommend downloading offline maps in google maps before heading to the field, in areas with internet connection.  

and then, while in the field, the surveyor can open a task and click on “see on map” and be redirected to google map for offline navigation.