topic Re: Collector with no basemap in ArcGIS Collector Questions

Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:25:35 GMT

Hello,

We are trying to create a mobile GIS application using Collector mainly to use it offline.

The problem is that we would like to export a wide range of buildings' plans organized as a matrix in an arbitrary reference system.

For this reason, using a basemap is useless.

But it seems like it is mandatory to have a basemap to use Collector for ArcGIS (and ArcGIS Online), isn't it ?

So we tried uploading a cached basemap layer by doing it as light as we could (2 Go) so that it could be stored on an IPAD.

We added the basemap with features layers we are interested in and created the WebMap with offline mode enabled.

The thing is, our matrix is very wide but not high and though you can cached a rectangle of a map in ArcMap, you cannot download a rectangle of a map using Collector : it has to be square. As a consequence, we are ending up with total weight of more than 2000 Go ! Good luck to store that on an IPAD! I guess Collector is caching white background when there is none, as our cache is only 2Go big?!

Has anybody ever faced this problem and came up with a solution?

Thanks in advance,

Nicolas

Re: Collector with no basemap

RussRoberts — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 16:20:59 GMT

The app requires you have a basemap. The basemap drives the projection of the operational layers. Can you create a tpk and sideload it onto the device and let the app use that basemap for your offline maps?

Russ

Re: Collector with no basemap

PeteCrosier — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 16:38:43 GMT

It would be nice to have a "no basemap" option and be able to define the projection somewhere else (or take it from your data which is probably in the projection you want).

I thought I was being clever by creating a blank basemap at one very zoomed out scale (e.g. 1:4,000,000) which resulted in a very small tile package that I sideloaded on to the device. But Collector locks the zooming you can do based on the scales in the basemap (I think), so I couldn't zoom in at all.

To allow me to zoom, I created an all-white basemap at various scales but this still resulted in a pretty big tile package (1.7GB of images of nothing).

The idea about not being forced to select a square is nice too. Some of our operational areas are very weird shapes - the 'largest' has a few branches where our pipe network goes and a whole lot of space we're not actually interested in and don't want to take offline.

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:35:40 GMT

Great ! Did not know this was possible. Should have read the doc more carefully.

I just have one problem though. Once offline, the research configured does not work anymore. Could it be linked with the tpk ?

Cheers,

Nicolas

Re: Collector with no basemap

RussRoberts — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 16:32:53 GMT

I might have missed something but what isn't working anymore?

Thanks!

Russ

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 16:41:47 GMT

The search tool based on the attribute of a layer is not working anymore.

It is working when I am using the app online but once I have downloaded the data, the same research has no result. And I am sure that the entity I am looking for has been downloaded !

Re: Collector with no basemap

RussRoberts — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 17:02:45 GMT

That should be working offline. Can you share your map with Collector4ArcGIS and i'll take a look. A sample of a search would be great too.

Thanks

Russ

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 08:54:27 GMT

All right. I just invited Collector4ArcGIS to join the group in which you can find :

- The web app

- The .tpk file that I copied on my Ipad and use as basemap when downloading the data

- The feature layer used for the research.

A sample of a research would be "1-R" which is the cell the most on the left (talking left not West as it is a matrix with no proper coordinate system).

Also, there a bookmark to find cell "1-R" as you can easily get lost in this WebMap (and that is why the research tool is so important !)

Thanks in advance for your investigation !

Nicolas

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:40:54 GMT

Hello Russel,

I did some tests and in fact it does not seem to be linked with the tpk file but more with the feature layer.

I cannot identify what is wrong with it. What is strange is that the research is working while online but not anymore when offline.

Do you have any idea where could the problem come from ? Did you receive the invitation to the test group ?

Thanks in advance,

Nicolas

Re: Collector with no basemap

RussRoberts — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:51:24 GMT

what was the group called?

Thanks

Russ

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:28:32 GMT

The group is called "Collector Test".

I just send an invitation again in case you did not get it the first time.

Thanks,

Nicolas

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 09:58:28 GMT

In fact with the tpk trick, it is as if you have a "no basemap" option.

Workflow :

1. Publish a map service with a blank basemap. In the caching option, define the scales needed (until 1:20) if good zoom required, and specify "build cache manually after the service is published".

2. In the DataManagement toolbox/Tile Cache/Export Tile cache, specify the cache directory of the "cached" service (which is empty but contains some config files including the projection).

3. Copy the very light .tpk on your mobile plateforme.

4. Finally, download features with the tpk as basemap and you will be able to zoom in until the max zoom you defined everywhere in the map !

Worked for me 😃

Re: Collector with no basemap

PeteCrosier — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 10:02:35 GMT

Thanks Nicolas, sounds useful!

Re: Collector with no basemap

TrentReeder — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 22:22:34 GMT

Nicolas, following your workflow for creating a "no basemap" option, I keep receiving an error that the tile package cannot be created when running the Export Tile Cache gp tool. I have TILE_PACKAGE selected for the Export Cache As option. Is that correct?

Reading the results' messages, at each scale it reads "Export worker failed. Tiles may not be present at scale = xx"

Just curious if you had seen these error messages before. Thanks!

Re: Collector with no basemap

NicolasGIS — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 06:27:53 GMT

Trent,

I have the same error message when I use the GP ServerTools/Caching/ExportMapServer Cache but it works with the GP DataManagementTools/TileCache/ExportTileCache.

Have you by any chance tried the wrong one ?

Re: Collector with no basemap

Yann-EricBoyeau — Fri, 06 May 2016 03:25:43 GMT

Hi,

Great news, I tried the 10.4 Beta today and ESRI finally fixed the zoom in problem.

You can now zoom in as much as you want, whatever the level of detail of your basemap or tpk.

Re: Collector with no basemap

JoeCeradini — Thu, 12 May 2016 22:43:05 GMT

Hi Nicolas,

I am trying to follow your workflow for publishing a blank map without a cache but, unfortunately, am stuck on step 1.

How do you publish a blank service, and then how can you find that file afterwards in order to use it in Export Tile Cache?

I created a map that has a polygon shapefile in it but no features, but I'm not sure if that is truly blank. Also, I understand how to publish a service to Arc Online, but don't know how I would find that file to use in Export Tile Cache. Hopefully those questions make some sense.

Thanks!

Re: Collector with no basemap

DougMorgenthaler — Mon, 16 May 2016 00:28:21 GMT

Hi Yann-Eric-

Glad you were able to give the Collector 10.4 Beta a spin, and appreciate your feedback. With 10.4 we will be supporting the ability to zoom in beyond the basemap scales for all three platforms.

-Doug

Re: Collector with no basemap

TimSmith7 — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 20:17:33 GMT

Need a NO BASEMAP option in Collector, too.