Digital, GIS & innovation

Mobile data collection: five controls to improve field-data quality

Validation, reference data, geolocation, supervision and logging reduce late corrections and make data more auditable.

11 July 2026

1. Input constraints

Types, ranges, formats, required fields and conditional logic prevent some errors when they occur.

2. Reference lists

Territories, sites, equipment and categories should ideally come from shared reference data rather than free text.

3. Geolocation and evidence

Coordinates, date, photo or signature can strengthen verifiability when collection is justified and governed.

4. Rapid supervision

A daily monitoring view reveals inactive enumerators, outliers, duplicates and uncovered areas.

5. Correction traceability

Post-collection changes should preserve a reason and, where possible, the original value history.

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