Capturing Geodata on the Magpi Plus Mobile App


The Magpi Plus mobile app (download) allows the field data collector to acquire geodata in the field easily.  When answering a GPS question inserted in a Magpi form, the data collector will see the question prompt (e.g. "Please record the location") and by tapping the GPS button they will see a map and can 


- note their current location

- move the red location pin to fine-tune the location that will be recorded

- tap Find Location to return the map view to their current location

- tap Save Location to record the GPS coordinates


Note: most smartphones use a combination of three location services to find your location: GPS + cell towers + wifi hotspots.  If you turn on airplane mode, it may turn off all of these — in which case you'll need to manually turn on GPS.  At least GPS must be enabled to find your location (GPS is a satellite service and does not use wifi or internet or cellular data).




Visualizing Collected Geodata in Magpi Reports


Magpi's report feature allows for several different map visualizations, and below is a summary.  We recommend that you download and view the Magpi 


Magpi Report & Dashboard Guide for a full description of how to design Magpi Reports.


Magpi allows you to visualize collected geodata in four ways:


  1. showing data records as pins on map (Map Records element)
  2. showing data records as a heatmap (Map Records element)
  3. showing question responses as color-coded pins on a map (Map Responses element)
  4. showing question responses as a heatmap (Map Responses element)


Showing data records as points or heatmap with the Map Records report element


We've always had the ability to display a map with points for each place that a form was filled, using the "Map Records" element in Magpi Reports (click image to enlarge):


Map data records as points


but now we've added the option to display that same data as a heatmap, rather than data points.  This means that areas with more data points will appear more intense/red:


map records as heatmap


This is called an "unweighted heatmap", because it does not change (or "weight") the color based on the question response.



Showing question responses as color-coded points or heatmap with the Map Responses report element


Analogously to the Map Records information above, Magpi has had the ability to show the responses to a multiple choice question as color-coded pins for several years:


Map Responses as pins


and now we've added a second way to view the same information, as a heatmap which applies different intensity depending on the responses to the question:


map responses as heatmap


This is called a "weighted heatmap," because the intensity of the heatmap depends on the answer to a multiple-choice question plus the density of map points. To produce a weighted heatmap for any form, just add a "Map Responses" report element (the "responses" part means that it will take into account the answers to a multiple choice question).  Note that the heatmap calculates color based on the answer to the multiple choice question.  For example, if the potential responses to the question are:

  • Agree
  • Neutral
  • Disagree


the first multiple choice option (agree) gets a weight of 3, the second gets a weight of 2, and the third gets a weight of 1.  Map points where the response was "agree" will show up as darker/redder than map points that chose neutral or agree.