formhub

Getting Started

formhub aims to make collecting survey data with Android smart phones easy and free.

One uses formhub as follows:

  1. Translate survey into the xsl2xform syntax.
  2. Upload XLSForm file to formhub.
  3. Use ODK Collect to download form and submit data.
  4. Use formhub to download and map data submissions.
This tutorial will walk you through each stop of the way.

Translate survey into the XLSForm syntax

The first step in collecting survey data is to actually write the survey. For this tutorial we will be using the following survey:

  1. What is your name?
  2. How old are you?
  3. May I take your picture?
  4. Do you have any children?
  5. Record your GPS coordinates.
  6. What web browsers do you use?
The second step is writing this survey in the xls2xform syntax. The idea behind this approach is that each question in the survey is a row in the spreadsheet. By using a spreadsheet we can expose most of the XForm features supported by ODK Collect. Check out the images to the right that show the xls2xform syntax for this survey.

survey sheet
choices sheet
For more in depth information about the XLSForm syntax go here.

Upload XLSForm file to formhub

After creating an account and signing into the site you can publish forms for use with ODK Collect. On the right, we submit tutorial.xls, described above, for publication.

publish survey

After publishing our first form, a new table appears showing our new form. Next we need to use ODK Collect to submit data for this form...

published surveys

Use ODK Collect to download form and submit data

The url "of" this web application must be given to ODK Collect before it will get forms from and submit data to formhub. In ODK Collect's Main Menu, press the Menu button. Select Server Preferences, then Server. Enter as the server.

Download your published form to your phone.

Fill out the form on your phone.

After filling out the form on your phone submit the data to the server.

Use formhub to download and map data submissions

After submitting data from ODK Collect to the server you can now download the data as a nicely formatted csv or xls file.

submitted data

And look at submissions on a map:

map