idea Support offline map areas in QuickCapture in ArcGIS QuickCapture Ideas

Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

MarkC1 — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 04:11:39 GMT

A really useful feature would be the ability to define an offline basemap (satellite imagery) but with a live/feature layer.

The use case is that we have a polygon feature layer which changes daily which defines areas which require observations to be taken.New areas are added every day.

Currently we have a script which generates an MMPK package everyday with the new/updated polygon layer which can then be downloaded for offline use by the field worker. We have to bundle our satellite imagery as a TPK in the MMPK however which increases the file size dramatically and makes it take longer to download.

This is a problem because the field worker has to cover a large geographic area. One day they might need to be in one area, the next could be in an area 50km away. A single TPK is too large to bundle into a MMPK so we end up having to create multiple Quickcapture projects which is very inconvienient. We use Survey123 to record form data and link to quickcapture for point and polyline collection however with multiple quickcapture projects we can't easily open the correct project in quickcapture from Survey123 and we would ideally pass some parameters to the quickcapture project (e.g. job no.) from survey123 if we could.

If we could sideload a basemap of the entire region onto the field workers phone we would only need to sync over the polygon feature layer for offline use everyday. This would mean less data to download and we could have everythign in one project for the field worker.

Re: Offline basemap with live/online feature layer - Status changed to: Under Consideration

JohnathanHasthorpe — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 02:27:54 GMT

@MarkC1 - Note that QuickCapture does support MMPKs with an offline basemap and online feature layers. You need to check on the Reference online content option when creating your MMPK. See steps here: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/sharing/overview/mobile-map-package.htm

This idea is being considered on the basis of supporting the sideloading of map packages (tpk, mmpk and vtpk).

Thanks

John

Re: Sideload quickcapture maps

MarkC1 — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 07:23:27 GMT

Thanks @JohnathanHasthorpe . I believe I tried this previously but there were issues with the features from the online layer not being loaded when working offline or more specifically when 4G coverage was lost. A better explanation of what I suggesting was the ability to (1) sideload the basemap on the device and (2) download/sync features from the online layer for offline working (for example on a daily basis).

Perhaps with the latest version and the caching functionality the above will be less of an issue so I will test it and see how it works. However a big issue we have had when working with online feature layers is that if the network connection is spotty (or sometimes even if it's not) sometimes all the features don't get drawn on the map and then get missed by the field crew. When everything is wrapped up on the MMPK we don't have to worry about online features not getting loaded in but then of course we have the problem with the large size of the basemap for downloading.

Re: Sideload quickcapture maps

JohnathanHasthorpe — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 09:46:51 GMT

Hi Mark

For mmpks with online layers, the user will need to open the map in order to cache the layers and make them available offline.

Have you looked into offline map areas, is this the functionality that you would need?

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/manage-data/take-maps-offline.htm

Note, that this is not supported in QuickCapture, but we do have it as an enhancement request.

Thanks

John

Re: Sideload quickcapture maps

MarkC1 — Thu, 05 May 2022 07:14:33 GMT

Thanks, yes I'm aware of this bug! Offline map areas is exactly the functionality needed so it would be great to see this implemented.

Re: Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

Shashibhushan — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 09:52:21 GMT

Hi @JohnathanHasthorpe Is there a visible timeline to support offline area in QuikCapture? We are in a trial phase of the project to implement the daily inspection activity by 300 plsus users and it requires offline areas. All our users will be in remote areas and without offline areas, we can't implement QuickCapture.

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/manage-data/take-maps-offline.htm

In the above page "Take web maps offline", QuickCapture is not yet listed.

Re: Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

EricaNova — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 18:35:29 GMT

Seconded. I would really like to use quick capture for wildlife surveys, but our operators need to be able to see their flight tracks and observations on the map to be able to make decisions on the fly. They need the ease of data entry Quick Capture offers and also the ability to see the map and points they drop during the day.

Re: Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

JohnathanHasthorpe — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 09:52:39 GMT

Hi Erica, are your users working offline? What is the extent that they are covering and do they need to see the tracks and observations of other users?

Re: Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

EricaNova — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 18:19:39 GMT

Hi @JohnathanHasthorpe , thanks for answering my other post, hopefully we can connect soon. Just wanted to extend my apologies for not responding sooner. I just found out my account wasn't verified so I couldn't subscribe to this idea to be notified if there was a response without my name being tagged. 🙂

Re: Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

grover556 — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:16:11 GMT

@JohnathanHasthorpe Adding my support for this request - would be really useful to have pre-allocated offline basemaps, as well as the ability to create an ad-hoc offline basemap. This would save a ton of time and energy when conducting large scale search and rescue operations in a disconnected environment. For my workflow, the same interface that already exists in Field Maps for managing offline maps would work great in QuickCapture.

Re: Support offline map areas in QuickCapture

JFujikawa — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 17:57:37 GMT

@JohnathanHasthorpe My organization would also like to sideload basemaps without having to download. We conduct aerial surveys for invasive species over a wide area and it would be extremely helpful to load our basemap on our devices without having to transfer the basemap through our slow internet even once or think about it after the initial copy to use in disconnected environment. As noted, the same interface already exists in Field Maps and would be great in QuickCapture (we're using tpks).