I would like the devices to automatically capture GPS location in the background without prompting the data collectors. Is this possible in ODK? I know that some data collection tools offer this feature
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Welcome to the ODK forum, @taiwo! We're glad you're here. When you get a chance, please introduce yourself on this forum thread. I'd also encourage you to add a picture as your avatar because it helps build community!
You can turn on location tracking as part of the optional audit log - https://docs.getodk.org/form-audit-log/#location-tracking
You can also background capture a single geolocation in geopoint format when the survey is first started using start-geopoint - https://docs.getodk.org/form-question-types/#geolocation-at-survey-start
Note that in both cases, the enumerator will see a warning that the form tracks device location.
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In addition to the start-geopoint question - to capture an initial location when you first start the form, you can also take subsequent periodic location snapshots in response to, say, answering a question. See https://getodk.github.io/xforms-spec/#setting-a-static-value-when-a-nodes-value-changes for an example of what this looks like.
Please note, this feature is not yet exposed in XLSForm per se, so it requires manually editing your XForm to add it. There is an open feature request to additionally expose this in XLSForm, and a lengthy discussion in the Forum about it here.
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