Proof of presence for field teams
A merchandiser fills in a shelf audit and the coordinates confirm the visit happened in the store. A building inspector’s checklist carries the point where it was completed. Volunteers counting birds or litter log the spot for every entry without typing anything.
For «where do you live» or «where should we deliver» use the map pin or the region picker. Capturing a device location for those feels intrusive and answers the wrong question.
Example wording
- Capture your location to confirm the site visit.
- Record where this sample was taken.
Accuracy, timeouts and the map fallback
The respondent taps «Capture coordinates» and the browser asks for location access. The request waits up to ten seconds. By default a fix cached within the last five minutes is accepted; the «high accuracy only» switch turns that off and asks the device for a fresh, precise reading.
After a fix the block shows «Accuracy ±N m», so both sides see how much to trust the point. If permission is denied or the signal is weak, a «Pick on the map» fallback lets the person place the point by hand.
Results show the most frequent places and the number of points; in the CSV each answer is an address or coordinates to five decimals.
What you can set
- accept precise coordinates only
Privacy and trust around device location
Explain why you need the location before the browser pops up its permission prompt. A short line such as «We record the location only to confirm the visit» in the question description turns a suspicious prompt into an understandable step.
Collect location only in surveys where it matters. For a customer satisfaction survey, device coordinates add nothing and make people close the tab.
Remember that denied permission is a normal outcome, not an error. The map fallback exists for exactly that case, so field staff can still finish the checklist and mark the spot by hand.