Design a Kobo form for GIS
A useful field form is a data model with a phone interface. Start with the records you need back in QGIS, not with every Kobo question type.
Start with one record
For an awa observation, a compact structure could be:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
observation_id | durable key such as AWA-2026-0042 |
site_id | links repeated visits to the same site |
observed_at | date/time |
team | team or collector code where useful |
observation_type | controlled list |
condition | controlled list or score |
notes | short text |
location | GPS point |
photo | one or more images where useful |
The same pattern works for a marae asset inspection or restoration visit by changing the subject fields.
Use choices where consistency matters
Dropdown/select questions are useful for status, condition, species groups, work type and other categories that will later be symbolised or filtered. Free text is better for observations that genuinely cannot be predicted in advance.
Do not make every field compulsory. A required question should be required because the downstream GIS or project needs it, not because the software has a toggle.
Use stable identifiers
People's names, descriptions and labels can change. A stable site_id, asset_id or observation_id makes repeated monitoring, joins and updates much easier.
If the project already has IDs in QGIS, reuse them rather than inventing a second identifier system in Kobo.
Repeat visits
For long-term taiao monitoring, distinguish the site from the visit. One site can have many observations over time. That structure supports trend analysis and avoids creating a new unrelated point every time somebody returns.
Form languages
Kobo supports multilingual forms. Use te reo Māori where it is the language that makes sense for the people collecting the data. Keep field names used by the database short and stable while labels shown to people can be more natural.
Test the awkward cases
Before rollout, test:
- blank optional values
- very long notes
- more than one photograph
- no mobile coverage
- poor GPS accuracy
- a repeated visit to an existing site
- a collector who chooses the wrong category and needs to correct it
Then inspect the export in QGIS before collecting hundreds of records.
Official guidance: KoboToolbox form building and data collection.
Next: GPS and media and KoboToolbox to QGIS.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026