NCGS site-record questions
The flat fieldworker form for a site record: the registered site it is about (by identifier), the site’s observed state (land cover, intactness, vegetation type), the capture provenance, evidence items and an optional stakeholder interview. Also defines the shared site, programme allocation, agent role and evidence item subforms that the registration and other bundles nest.
What it captures
- Produces: Evidence item, Agent role, Site record, Site state, Stakeholder interview, Site, Programme allocation
Questions
Evidence item
- What this item is: the recipient’s signed acknowledgement (fixed by the form). (required)
- What this item is: recipient-acknowledgement, fixed by the instrument.
- Help: The form fixes this; nothing to answer.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Recipient acknowledgement
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera. For a document, photograph its first page with its QR sticker showing.
- Scan the QR sticker you put on the document.
- The UUID on the QR sticker put on the paper document, so the office’s later scan can be linked to this photo.
- Help: Only for a document: stick a new QR sticker on its first page before you photograph it. The office scans the whole document later.
Evidence item
- What this item is: the signed attendance register (fixed by the form). (required)
- What this item is: attendance-register, fixed by the instrument.
- Help: The form fixes this; nothing to answer.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Attendance register
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera. For a document, photograph its first page with its QR sticker showing.
- Scan the QR sticker you put on the document.
- The UUID on the QR sticker put on the paper document, so the office’s later scan can be linked to this photo.
- Help: Only for a document: stick a new QR sticker on its first page before you photograph it. The office scans the whole document later.
Evidence item
- What this item is: the packing list or delivery note (fixed by the form). (required)
- What this item is: delivery-note, fixed by the instrument.
- Help: The form fixes this; nothing to answer.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Nursery delivery note
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera. For a document, photograph its first page with its QR sticker showing.
- Scan the QR sticker you put on the document.
- The UUID on the QR sticker put on the paper document, so the office’s later scan can be linked to this photo.
- Help: Only for a document: stick a new QR sticker on its first page before you photograph it. The office scans the whole document later.
Agent role
- Which person or organisation? (required)
- The enrolled person or organisation, never a name; the role they act in comes from their enrolment.
- Help: Pick them from the people register. Never type a name. Their role comes from their enrolment; nothing to choose.
Evidence item
- What this item is: a photograph of the site (fixed by the form). (required)
- What this item is: site-photo, fixed by the instrument.
- Help: The form fixes this; nothing to answer.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Site photograph
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera.
- Photo latitude (from the photo)
- Latitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
- Photo longitude (from the photo)
- Longitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
Site record
- Which site is this about? (required)
- The registered site this record is about. Its details were captured at registration and are not asked again.
- Help: Pick it from the site list. If the site is not listed, register it first on the site registration form; never create it here.
- What is on the ground at the site today? (required)
- What is on the ground at the site today.
- Help: Answer for the place where trees would go.
- Take photos of the site where trees would go. (required)
- Photos and documents that support this record, including at least one site photo with its location.
- Help: At least one new photo with location turned on. Use the camera, not the gallery.
- Record each interview at the site.
- An interview with someone from the site during this visit, if any.
- Help: For the principal, site manager or landowner. Ask for their consent first.
- Who made this observation? (filled automatically) (required)
- The person who made this record.
- Help: Filled in from your login.
- In which role did you make this observation? (required)
- The role in which you made this record.
- Help: Filled in from your enrolment.
- Choices: NCGS Observer Roles: Fieldworker, Steward, Owner, Supervisor, Reviewer
- Date and time of the visit (required)
- When the observation was made.
- Help: Filled in automatically.
- Capture-device latitude (decimal degrees) (required)
- Where your phone was when you saved the record; it is compared with the site’s point.
- Help: Filled in automatically from the device location when this record is saved.
- Capture-device longitude (decimal degrees) (required)
- Where your phone was when you saved the record.
- Help: Filled in automatically from the device location when this record is saved.
- How was this information first recorded? (required)
- How the observation reached the record.
- Help: Choose the original capture method. If you are now entering a paper form, choose paper rather than the app used to transcribe it.
- Choices: NCGS Capture Channels: Dedicated app, WhatsApp flow, Paper, transcribed
Site state
- What covers the ground where trees would go?
- Only if the site has no land cover yet, or it differs from the one recorded: what is on the ground now, as you see it.
- Help: Only if the site has no land cover yet, or what you see differs from the one recorded. Managed grass is a mown field or lawn. Indigenous grassland is natural veld.
- Choices: NCGS Land Cover: Built-up, Degraded or disturbed, Cropland, Managed grass or lawn, Indigenous grassland, Wetland, Riparian, Existing woodland, Bare soil
- What state is that ground cover in?
- With the land cover, always: how close the cover is to its natural state.
- Help: Answer with the land cover. Intact: natural cover with its original plants. Degraded: still recognisable but damaged. Transformed: replaced by another land use.
- Choices: NCGS Intactness: Intact, Degraded, Transformed
- Does what you see differ from the mapped vegetation type?
- Whether what you see on the ground differs from the mapped vegetation type.
- Help: Answer yes if the plants on the ground do not match the map.
Evidence item
- What does this photo or document show? (required)
- What this photo or document is. Each form’s own rules say which types it needs.
- Help: Pick one for each file you add.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Site photograph, Tree photograph, Ground-cover photograph, Stock photograph, Nursery delivery note, Recipient acknowledgement, Attendance register, Site agreement, On-screen signature, Recorded consent, Agreement notice, Interview notes, Report, Ledger export
- Scan the QR sticker you put on the document.
- The UUID on the QR sticker put on a paper document, so the office’s later scan can be linked to this photo.
- Help: Only for a document: stick a new QR sticker on its first page before you photograph it. The office scans the whole document later.
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera. For a document, photograph its first page with its QR sticker showing.
- Photo latitude (from the photo)
- Latitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
- Photo longitude (from the photo)
- Longitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
Stakeholder interview
- Did they agree to talk and to us keeping notes? (required)
- The person agreed to the interview and to the notes being kept.
- Help: Ask before you start, and tell them they may stop or skip any question. Only continue if they say yes.
- What is the role of the person you spoke to? (required)
- The interviewee’s role. Never their name.
- Help: Pick their role, not their name.
- Choices: NCGS Stakeholder Roles: Landowner, Site manager, Steward, Owner, Nursery, Government department, Municipality, Funder, Learner
- On what date was the interview? (required)
- Date of the interview.
- Help: Usually today.
- Photograph your interview notes.
- A reference to the uploaded interview notes or recording.
- Help: Use the camera. The notes may name people, so they are stored with restricted access.
Site
- What is the site called? (required)
- The site’s name. It is a label only, not how the site is identified.
- Help: The name people use for the place, such as the school or farm name. Not a person’s name.
- What is the latitude of the site’s point? (required)
- Latitude of the site’s point at the gate or the middle of the site.
- Help: Stand at the gate or in the middle of the site and capture the point. Decimal degrees; south is negative.
- What is the longitude of the site’s point? (required)
- Longitude of the site’s point at the gate or the middle of the site.
- Help: Captured with the latitude. Decimal degrees.
- How accurate is the site’s point? (m)
- How far the true point may lie from the recorded one, in metres.
- Help: Use the accuracy the phone shows. If it is more than 5 m, wait and capture again.
- Walk the site boundary (optional).
- The outline of the site, if walked.
- Help: Only if the site is small and there is time; otherwise leave it empty.
- What kind of place is the site? (required)
- The kind of place the site is.
- Help: Smallholder farm and district office are the delivery sites.
- Choices: NCGS Site Types: School, Clinic or public facility, Community open space, Place of worship, Early childhood development centre, Smallholder farm, District office, Household stand, Verge or industrial ground
- In which town or place is the site? (required)
- The Stats SA census place the site lies in.
- Help: Pick the Stats SA census place from the list. The municipality, district and province follow from it.
- Which programme phase is the site in, and how many trees are planned?
- Which programme version this site falls under and how many trees it is indicatively allocated.
- Help: Take both from the implementation plan; ask a supervisor if you do not have it.
- Who are the people at the site?
- The people and organisations at the site, each with their role.
- Help: Add the site manager (such as the principal or clinic manager) and the person who will look after the trees: water, mulch, check guards and stakes, and report problems. Pick each from the people register and give their role. Names and phone numbers stay in the people register.
- Which nurseries near the site did you visit?
- A nursery visited near the site.
- Help: One nursery per entry.
Programme allocation
- Which programme phase does this site belong to? (required)
- The programme phase, from the NCGS programme list.
- Help: Pick it from the programme list, for example an initiative’s 2026 planting season.
- About how many trees does the plan give this site? (required)
- The planned number of trees for this site, before the implementation plan fixes it.
- Help: The planned number for now; the implementation plan fixes the final number.
Agent role
- Which person or organisation? (required)
- The person’s or organisation’s entry in the people register, never a name.
- Help: Pick them from the people register. Never type a name.
- What is their role? (required)
- The capacity in which this agent acts at the site.
- Help: Steward: looks after trees on someone else’s property. Owner: looks after trees on their own property.
- Choices: NCGS Stakeholder Roles: Landowner, Site manager, Steward, Owner, Nursery, Government department, Municipality, Funder, Implementing partner, Monitoring, reporting and verification partner, Standards body, Learner, Fieldworker, Supervisor, Reviewer, Office analyst
Evidence item
- What this item is: a photograph of the stock (fixed by the form). (required)
- What this item is: stock-photo, fixed by the instrument.
- Help: The form fixes this; nothing to answer.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Stock photograph
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera.
- Photo latitude (from the photo)
- Latitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
- Photo longitude (from the photo)
- Longitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
Evidence item
- What this item is: a photograph of the tree (fixed by the form). (required)
- What this item is: tree-photo, fixed by the instrument.
- Help: The form fixes this; nothing to answer.
- Choices: NCGS Evidence Types: Tree photograph
- Take the photo. (required)
- The photo, kept by its content address.
- Help: Use the camera.
- Photo latitude (from the photo)
- Latitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.
- Photo longitude (from the photo)
- Longitude of the place the photograph was taken, as recorded with it.
- Help: Filled in from the location you capture after the photo.