Мета
Мета типовете въпроси автоматично заснемат информация за устройството, анкетьора и времето без каквото и да е въвеждане от респондента.
Meta question types are special fields that are filled in automatically — the respondent never sees them. They capture context about the submission: when it was collected, which device was used, and who collected it. Add them in the survey worksheet like any other question type; they simply do not appear on screen.
Basic XLSForm Specification
| type | name | label |
|---|---|---|
| start | start | |
| end | end | |
| deviceid | deviceid |
Labels are optional for meta fields since they are never displayed.
Timing meta fields
start
Records the date and time when the form was opened. Stored in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.sss+HH:MM).
type | name | label
start | start |
end
Records the date and time when the form was submitted. Together with start, you can calculate the time spent filling in the form:
type | name | calculation
calculate | duration_min | (decimal-date-time(${end}) - decimal-date-time(${start})) * 1440
today
Records the current date (no time component). Stored as YYYY-MM-DD. Useful when you need only the date without the full timestamp.
type | name | label
today | today |
Device meta fields
deviceid
Records the unique identifier of the device used for data collection. On Android this is typically the IMEI or Android ID. Useful for tracking which device submitted each form and detecting duplicate submissions from the same device.
type | name | label
deviceid | deviceid |
devicephonenum
Records the phone number of the SIM card in the device (if available). May be empty if the device has no SIM or if the number is not stored on the SIM.
type | name | label
devicephonenum | devicephonenum |
simserial
Records the serial number of the SIM card (ICCID). Useful for identifying which SIM/carrier was used.
type | name | label
simserial | simserial |
subscriberid
Records the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) — the unique subscriber identifier on the SIM card.
type | name | label
subscriberid | subscriberid |
Enumerator meta fields
username
Records the username of the logged-in enumerator (the account used in the rtSurvey app). This is the most reliable way to track who collected each submission.
type | name | label
username | username |
email
Records the email address of the logged-in enumerator.
type | name | label
email | email |
phonenumber
Records the phone number associated with the enumerator’s account (if configured).
type | name | label
phonenumber | phonenumber |
Audit log
audit
The audit meta field enables detailed audit logging — it records a timestamped log of every question the enumerator visited, how long they spent on each, and (optionally) their GPS location at each step. The audit log is saved as a separate audit.csv file alongside each submission.
type | name | parameters
audit | audit | location-priority=balanced location-min-interval=30 location-max-age=60
Audit parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
location-priority | GPS accuracy level: no-gps, low-power, balanced, high-accuracy |
location-min-interval | Minimum seconds between location captures |
location-max-age | Maximum age (seconds) of a cached location to accept |
The audit log captures:
- Question name and event type (
question,form.start,form.exit,form.save,form.finalize) - Start and end timestamps for each event
- GPS coordinates (if
location-priorityis set)
The audit field generates a separate file per submission. Make sure your data pipeline processes both the main form data and the audit CSV.
Complete example
A typical household survey might include all timing and enumerator meta fields:
| type | name | label |
|---|---|---|
| start | start | |
| end | end | |
| today | today | |
| deviceid | deviceid | |
| username | username | |
| audit | audit | |
| text | household_id | Household ID |
| … | … | … |
Best Practices
- Always include
startandend— they are free, automatic, and invaluable for quality monitoring. - Always include
usernameto track enumerators. - Include
deviceidwhen you want to detect duplicate submissions or track field devices. - Use
auditin high-accountability surveys where you need to verify that enumerators actually visited each question. - SIM-related fields (
simserial,subscriberid,devicephonenum) are only reliable on Android devices with active SIM cards — skip them for tablet-only deployments.
Limitations
- All meta fields are read-only — they cannot be referenced or modified by other calculations.
usernameandemailrequire the enumerator to be logged in; they will be empty for anonymous submissions.- SIM/phone meta fields may return empty values on Wi-Fi-only tablets and some Android versions due to permission restrictions.