The station picker

When a survey is worked at fixed stations (a set line, a transect, a sampling site you return to), you want the crew to pick the station, not type its name. The Station field type does that: it shows a searchable list of your organization’s real stations, and it stores which one was picked so the record binds to that station for the spatial checks in review.

Why a Station field, not a text box

You could add a plain text field called “station” and type a code into it. CensusIO would even try to match that text to one of your stations. But a picker is better on every count:

The crew picks from the real list. No typos, no guessing the code, no station that does not exist.
The record binds exactly. The picked station is stored by its identity, so the record is tied to that exact station, not matched by a name that two stations might share.
The list stays current on its own. Add or rename a station in Locations and every form that uses the Station field shows the change. There is nothing to maintain on the form.

Add a Station field

Open the survey type in the builder.
From the field palette, add Station.
Give it a label (for example, “Station” or “Set location”) and save.

That is all. The picker reads from your organization’s stations automatically. The Vessel Trip (Catch Log) starter survey type already includes a Station field at the top, so if you start from it you have one without any setup.

The stations the picker offers are the geolocated sites in Locations: your active sites, waterbodies, and management units that have coordinates. A station with no coordinates does not appear, because it could not be used for a spatial check.

How a crew uses it

In a browser (online or offline collect): start typing a code or name and the list filters; tap the station to pick it.
On the desktop app and on mobile: the same picker, over the stations that synced to the device. A crew downloads the forms once while connected, then picks stations in the field with no signal.

If a device has no stations synced yet (an older download), the field falls back to a plain text box so a record is never blocked. Sync once while connected and the picker appears.

What it does for review

Because the record stores the exact station, CensusIO verifies the recorded position against that station. In the record’s map and in the review workspace, the record reads as on station when the GPS point sits within the station’s tolerance, or is flagged when it does not. This is the same on-station check described in Watershed and public-land tagging; the Station field makes it exact, because the station is chosen rather than guessed from text.

Stations and trips

The Station field and trip planning draw on the same stations in Locations, and they work together. A trip is an itinerary you plan ahead of time; the Station field is filled while collecting. When the form’s Trip field holds a trip (picked directly, or pre-filled by Collect on this trip on a device), the Station field’s picker shows that trip’s stations, numbered in the planned visiting order ((1), (2), and so on); the rest stay reachable by searching, or behind a show-all control on devices. Each record links to both the station and the trip. That is what powers the trip page’s progress board: a planned station reads as collected once records bound to it land. Either feature still works without the other.