topic Re: Collector not syncing 100% in ArcGIS Collector Questions

Collector not syncing 100%

ANRGIS — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:28:02 GMT

We have a fairly basic collector application for inventorying trees.

It contains a feature service with mobile access and sync capabilities for offline/disconnected use.

We are using the latest Collector App for iOS.

The issue is that when the user downloads a map to the device, collects information, then comes back to WIFI to sync, the sync process never reaches 100%. The status bar seems to advance to about 40% then doesn't finish completely. It seems to send data to the server (but not always), but it always shows that there are features that still needed to be synced. This means that the map needs to be removed from the device, then re-downloaded to remove the indicator that there are still features to sync.

Is anybody else having this issue? Any ideas?

Thanks!

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

RussRoberts — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 17:26:49 GMT

Hey Peter,

How much data are you syncing back?

Are you using alot of attachments?

Are you using hosted or ArcGIS server feature services?

Russ

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

ThomasColson — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 13:41:26 GMT

Russell, does this imply that there is a size/feature count/attachment limit with Collector? I too, observe this behavior, intermittently. It would be nice if there was:

Some kind of logging that we could access to see what/where the failure is occurring;
Some way to recover data off the collector device when the sync fails;
Some way to globally reset GlobalID's on new or edited features on the collector device to force them to post to the server;
Not being able to recover data off a collector device when sync fails is a pretty significant deal-breaker when evaluating Collector for operational deployment. I've done really mean things like turn off the wireless router or reboot the device mid-sync by means of testing, which, is the kind of operational environment that reflects real-world use cases. When that sync fails, there's some "flag" set somewhere that convinces some part of this whole system that the sync was successful, and I'm not getting that data back on the server....ever. Bad news for a team of 6 that just came back from the field and collected several dozen new features in Collector every day for a week.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

RobertRayner1 — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 17:57:00 GMT

I have also had intermittent problems with syncing since 10.2.4 update, back to ArcGIS 10.2.2.

This is what worked for me:

Using Android, I opened the folder Internal 'storage\ArcGIS_Collector\offline_data', then the users folder, and then one of the containing folders with the GEODATABASE files. There were a few empty folders in there with cryptic names relating to syncing, servers, and geodatabases; I deleted them. Once they were gone I was able to sync once again successfully.

YMMV.

I also used the tool Data Management>Distributed Geodatabase>Export XML Workspace Document to capture the data for re-import as well in case deleting the folders did not work and I had to manually import the data.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

ANRGIS — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:06:56 GMT

We are syncing anywhere between 30-200 points and yes, many of these will have photos.

We are using ArcGIS Server 10.2.2 in a feature service that currently has 3 layers within the service.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

RussRoberts — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:01:08 GMT

There is not a size/feature limit with Collector 10.2.4. We did have a limit on Android in 10.2.3 but that was fixed in the 10.2.4 update.

For #1 enabling debug logging on the server can help see if the issue with the sync coming back in is server related.

#2 we do have that python script that was posted in the older forums which worked well features that are being created . We are also working on other solutions that can help sync the data back through your service.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

RussRoberts — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:02:40 GMT

Are you seeing both small and large syncs failing? If you could provide the error message you see on the screen when the sync fails that can help us determine the issue and because you are using server I would enable debug logging and see if the server returns any info as to why the sync is failing.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

ANRGIS — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:22:44 GMT

This seems to happen for both small and large syncs. Some more info...

Upon syncing, the status bar will reach approximately 30% across, then stop. It stays at 30% for HOURS. It will not give an error message and is not frozen. The user can 'cancel sync' at any time. It seems like once it reaches this threshold, it will sync (or not in some instances). Even if we cancel and the features sync, the unit still shows that there are features to sync.

This is happening on 3G iPads that are using WIFI for syncing. There are no service plans for these iPads. We only needed 3G for its internal GPS. The sync process seems to work for iPhones with 3G/4G service.

I will try some logging... Should I put verbose logging on the feature service? Is that what you mean?

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

RussRoberts — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:27:10 GMT

right under verbose should be the debug option. The sync is bi-directional so when you are uploading the sync with 200 features with attachments back to the server it is also trying to download any changes so all other previously sync data will be coming down to the device which could take some time. I will try and repro this with my celluar iPads with cell data plan disabled.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

ANRGIS — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 12:04:11 GMT

I have yet to debug this, but have you had any luck trying to reproduce this?

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

JoshVan_Vlack — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 15:50:29 GMT

Not to hijack the thread, but is the distributed geodatabase workaround reliable for retrieving "hung-up" syncs?

We are running Collector on several Garmin Monterra units, and have had several occasions where the syncs fail with an error message along the lines of "Unable to Sync with Server". Like Peter, the risk of loosing an entire days data is very concerning.

I tried deleting the GEODATABASE folders, but still was unable to sync.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

GaryMorris1 — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 16:25:02 GMT

I don't see how deleting the geodatabase files or folders is going to help the sync work. If you delete the wrong file you can lose all your local geodatabase data too.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

RobertRayner1 — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 22:08:43 GMT

I'm not sure why it worked either, but I'm 99% sure that was the deciding factor which allowed me to sync changes which continuously hung up and failed. Definitely back up the data as I described above as well though.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

EdwardGlover — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 18:11:59 GMT

I am also experiencing syncing errors. Robert I am interested in your solution. Did you delete all folders on your device within the offline user folder that does not contain a .geodatabase file?

I have tried to the retrieve data with the collector script (42579 - Retrieve data collected while Collector for ArcGIS was used in disconnected editing mode). I get the following error:

I have 2 point hosted feature services contained in a map that have been downloaded into Collector 10.2.6 on a Nexus7 tablet (wifi only). The services were published to AGOL with the max number of records returned by the server set to 5000. I have no attachments and editor tracking is not enabled.

The syncing problem seems to have consistently arisen when another map was downloaded with a seperate point and line hosted feature service.

I get no error messages, the progress bar just stops progressing after it jumps to either ~10% or ~90% complete. Is there any diagnostic tools available to assist me with understanding the issue further?

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

DeniseKing — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 16:57:23 GMT

Please contact Esri Support to assist you in recovering the edits performed in Collector for ArcGIS app which failed to sync to the geodatabase. Esri Support has removed KB article #42579 as it was a possible solution for
a very specific scenario involving Collector for ArcGIS app 'edits failing to sync' but was mistakenly used by users outside of the supported scenario which resulted in error messages as you have encountered.

IF you are receiving the Error 'A row with this OID already exists.' after running through the Python script provided in KB #42579, contact Esri Support and be ready to provide copy of your .geodatabase file from the device. Esri Support can run your .geodatabase file through the new 10.3 'Copy Runtime Geodatabase File to File Geodatabase' tool in Conversion Tools > To Geodatabase toolbox.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

GISSupport3 — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 03:18:36 GMT

It would be great if the KB article #42579 web page had your text in it rather than a not found error.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

BorjaParés — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 15:01:21 GMT

Hi,

I'm experiencing the same issue. My progress bar stucks at 40% aprox.

I've noticed that if my collector web map works with an arcgis online feature, sync operation works perfect and the status bar reaches 100%

if I'm working with a feature service from Arcgis Server 10.3, it always stucks at 40%.

The data is sent to the register geodatabase in AGS but the progress bar doesn't reach 100%.

Any solutions for this issue?

Thanks in advance!

PD: i'm testing with only one point feature.

Re: Collector not syncing 100%

PeteCrosier — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:04:21 GMT

Are you using the latest Collector (10.3.1)? Sync is broken with Collector 10.3.1 using ArcGIS Server, the sync will never complete but you may see the changes in Server.