Can map tour apps be made available offline?

[MariahChambers]

I downloaded a map tour app from the Google Play store, but it wouldn't function without a WiFi or data connection. I'm wanting to create apps for geology field trips where I will be away from any connection, but want to still be able to view and navigate my map tour app. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

[MarikaVertzonis]

Currently the map tour needs to be online to operate - the data for the tour is stored online.

Making the template work offline is something we want to do, and will do, its just not there yet.

In the meantime, depending on your own developer skills you can customize the app that you create from the template, to make it work offline, or indeed build your own custom app that specifically suits your needs.

[MariahChambers]

Thank you so much for your information on making web mapping applications available offline. I am a beginner and am wanting to learn how to make applications available offline. Can you point me in the direction of tutorials or other information to get me started?

Thanks.

[MarikaVertzonis]

Ah, so your second question is slightly different to the first - so i will be very specific to cover all cases.

The map tour that you will have downloaded from an app store is based upon our map tour template app. You can use this template as is from the AppStudio website to build your own tour, but as you clearly observe, it is built to operate online. You can download the app that you create to the desktop and edit the code, modifying it to work offline. Saying that, this template contains quite a lot of functionality, and unless you are an experienced JavaScript developer, it can be a little daunting. We don't have a tutorial for modifying that template - as described above, we do want to actually make the template work offline - if we had a tutorial we would already have the working offline template . That will come.

In your second message however, you ask about making offline web mapping applications. This is a much broader statement. We do have a reasonable number of samples​ that demonstrate the different elements that you need to build any web mapping app - including offline functionality. The library is not exhaustive yet - but is growing. the samples are more 'bite size' sections of code, suitable for all levels of developer.