Need Value from same field of a different record

I'm looking to be able to reference the value of a field from a different record using certain parameters in the same table.

Context: 
I have a field collection form that has hundreds of manual entry fields and one of the is an "ahead" and "back" length span of a utility pole. For many of our projects, the field technicians will have many consecutive poles that are collected and therefore, the "ahead" span length of wires will also end up being the "back" span length of the next pole. I want to be able to auto-fill that information in if the technician confirms that the current pole is consecutive.

I'm hoping this can be done via formula field, so that I can have two fields: one manual entry span field and one formula field that has the span length of the previous pole in the sequence. Then, I would have a checkbox or something asking to use previous pole's ahead span length with a form rule to change the manual entry value with the value that's in the formula field.

Can this be done?  I can't seem to think of any good solutions. I was originally thinking of a DoQuery but I want the change to be live with no reloadings or save and re-edits.

#Formulasandfunctions
#Forms
#Tablesandfields
#APIsandcustomcode​​​​​​

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Jordan McAlister
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