topic Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit in ArcGIS Field Maps Questions

Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

savanananah — Wed, 10 May 2023 20:18:38 GMT

I was wondering if anyone could help me with a question related to ArcGIS Online/ArcGIS Field Maps.

I work at a Nature Reserve. Specifically I am having issues with the ability to collect data in the field using ArcGIS Field Maps. We are located in an area without a reliable network, so I designed an offline map area in ArcGIS Field Maps Designer. The issue is that when in the field, using the offline map, we cannot edit the form/collect data at our points.

As you can see in the attached images, in the online version, we can click Edit and collect data. In the offline version, the edit button is not there in the bottom bar.

Any help or insight is appreciated.

I will add that when I create the offline area through the app, I am able to edit. But I'd rather create it in Field Maps Designer for simplicity.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

jmkern — Wed, 10 May 2023 20:19:08 GMT

Hey @savanananah , have you enabled sync and verified the other settings necessary for offline use?

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/field-maps/android/help/configure-the-map.htm#ESRI_SECTION2_9DB2938BE8A749E393BBE43A3219E369

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

savanananah — Wed, 10 May 2023 20:23:54 GMT

Hi - yes there are check marks for all the layers. Maybe this helps: I just edited my post to add that when I create the offline area through the app, I am able to edit. But I'd rather create it in Field Maps Designer.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

SteveTaylor6 — Wed, 10 May 2023 23:30:00 GMT

There can be two reasons. When the map was published from ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Online, you can select options to be able to delete, edit, create, etc the published feature layer. Then once in ArcGIS Online you can change the feature layer settings as well, but not if for instance you chose to not be able to delete in the publishing step.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

JustinJohnston — Fri, 12 May 2023 19:30:24 GMT

I am having the same troubles on my Field Map that I created for wetland delineation. Allow editing and Sync is on for all layers. The online version of the webmap works just fine, but the offline map area version doesn't allow editing. If I create Offline Areas in my iPhone, those are editable. Cannot seem to make it work with the Designer App.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

MeganEngel — Fri, 12 May 2023 19:32:32 GMT

I am having the same troubles on my FieldMap that I created for a project. I've Allowed editing and sync is enabled is on for all layers. The online version of the webmap works just fine (in FM), but the offline map area (that I created in AGO) version doesn't allow editing.

Device: iOS 16.4.1

FM Version: 23.1.0

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

savanananah — Fri, 12 May 2023 20:02:03 GMT

Hi Megan,

It seems to be some sort of bug as I am able to get it to work if I create the offline area within the mobile field maps app. I got around the issue in the Field Maps Designer on my laptop by playing with the extent of the offline area (e.g., going in smaller and only covering the points of interest not the entire mountain region). It may be the fact that I played around with the "Level of detail" slider too.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

pshin1 — Thu, 18 May 2023 21:41:19 GMT

Having the exact same issue here. I believe I have all the sharing/editing permissions set up correctly for the map and features. In Field Maps, I'm able to edit features with the online map, but not with the offline map area that I made with Field Maps Designer. When I create an offline area within Field Maps on the device itself, the editing feature works just fine.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

MatthewMcLamb_NC — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 21:19:07 GMT

I just ran into this same issue. As others have stated, creating the Map Area on the device worked, but I looked a bit further and found what the issue was in my scenario and can now create Map Area's online and successfully edit on the device.

I tried to edit my layer using the Web Map in AGOL, but received an error message stating "Feature creation is disabled for all layers."

Searching for that error led me to this support article:

Problem: Unable to create or edit features in Map Viewer Classic and ArcGIS Web AppBuilder

It turned out that my point layer had z-values enabled, but the option to "Apply default to features with z-value" was not selected in Pro when publishing the layer.

Long story short - you can either remove z-values from the point layers OR enable that option in Pro when publishing the layer.

I returned to Pro and re-published the layer with that option enabled. It did NOT show "Enable Z Defaults" as "true" at the REST endpoint after the initial re-publish, so I re-published it again and the value updated at the REST endpoint.

I then returned to the Web Map and editing was working there, so I created a new Map Area online, downloaded it on the device, and voila - IT WORKS! I can now edit on the device using Map Areas created in the Field Maps Web environment.

Not sure if this will work for your scenario, but it is worth a shot!

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

JuliaLawson — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 20:20:16 GMT

I have the same issue reported by savanananah , JustinJohnston, and MeganEngel . I followed all the steps to make maps editable online. Editing is allowed and sync is enabled for all layers. Collecting data in the field works fine as long as I have cell service. When I created offline map areas in Field Maps designer and downloaded them to my phone, there was no option to collect data (no blue plus sign). When I created the offline areas on my phone directly in the Field Maps app, they worked and I could collect data.

As others have stated, this is very inconvenient. I am part of a field team of ~10 people covering a survey area of hundreds of miles. I would like to be able to create an offline map or maps in Field Maps Designer so that everyone can use the same map to collect data. If I rely on each user to create their own offline map area each time they go to a new field site, the potential for error is huge.

I'm guessing this is a bug in Field Maps Designer -- is there a way to report this to ESRI and get it looked into?

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

MarysolMendoza — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 23:20:10 GMT

Hello everyone, I still have the same error as described by JuliaLawson, I wanted to know if anyone reported the error to ESRI?

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

JamesThompson_PEC — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 17:54:51 GMT

Hi Julia,

I found this thread and your recommendation to generate/download the offline area directly on the device app and not from Field Maps Designer worked for me! I too agree that this is extremely inconvenient as my team has had to work around not having offline map areas available for over a year (did not realize this was a solution and I have researched workarounds/issues for quite some time).

I hope this is on the developer's radar, as this is a huge inconvenience. Hopefully others can find this helpful!

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

RobinLatour — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 22:08:50 GMT

Yes, i have this issue now (July 2024). I made a bunch of Offline areas and no one can use them to collect data, the option to choose a layer is just gone. The online map allows data collection. When I made the offline area on my device directly - which is clunky, and thus much bigger than what I need - it does work. This is very annoying.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

SaraWoods — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 20:55:48 GMT

I setup my map with Field Map Designer. Created 5 offline areas for users to download. It seemed like every day for a week or so, I'd have to make a minor tweak in the FMD form. When I did that users could no longer edit on their devices. I found that if I removed the 5 offline areas, had all my users remove their offline maps on their device, then I recreated the 5 offline areas, then users re-downloaded maps in the Field Maps App, everything worked. But a pain in the butt!!

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

NomadMapping — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 20:58:14 GMT

Following- I did the same thing.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

KerriRasmussen — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:48:34 GMT

@SaraWoods

When you are making a change to the schema/changing the form you will need to recreate your offline areas. Are you using the recreate tool or are you deleting them and starting again? Here are the recommended steps for updating offline maps:

Have users sync all changes from their devices
Delete the offline areas from devices (this step is optional, they can just update/reload the maps, but by removing it you know that when they go to use the map next, you know they are on the right version)
Make your changes to the form/save
Use the Recreate offline area tool in Field Maps designer. Click on the offline area on the Manage offline areas page > Click on the … next to the map name on the top left > Click Recreate Offline Area > Click Recreate.
Once the areas have been recreated, have users refresh their browse view (the list of maps) and download the new offline area.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

KerriRasmussen — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:59:54 GMT

@savanananah you may want to check the permissions on your layers. Are all users able to edit all features or only the features they create? Have you tried this again recently? We have added some additional tools to Field Maps Designer to check for potential issues when creating offline areas.

Re: Field Maps Offline Areas Cannot Edit

PeteVitt — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:23:16 GMT

I had the same issue with not being able to edit the on-device map. I was able to edit by removing the area from my device and then re-downloading