"An error occured downloading the map area" - New Collector

[Henry]

Hi all,

My organization has recently been running into a consistent problem downloading Offline Map Areas in the new Collector. This may be similar to other issues users are experiencing but I have not seen anyone post this error message yet.

We are running an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.7.1, and this issue is in Collector App version 20.2.1 Build 2956.

These errors so far have all been occuring on phones and tablets running Android operating systems, although they are happening on iOS too.

I have created a number of offline map areas for use in the field. The map begins to download alright but when the icon is almost complete the following message appears at the bottom of the screen "An error occured downloading the map area". I've managed to download several other, smaller map areas and sync them without issue, but not this one. This specific area is 228.7 MB.

When going into Server Manager Error Logs the most consistent error with every download failure is the following:

SEVERE

Sep 30, 2020, 1:49:04 PM

Missing layers.

System/SyncToolsEx.GPServer

The web map itself from which the offline map areas are devised does not appear to be missing any layers, and it has been refreshed and packaged prior to a download attempt. Is it a size issue? An instance cap issue with the SyncTools? The Offline Map Areas would be a great functionality for our team but it's been unreliable so far and isn't very explicit in telling users what exactly went wrong.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[SBrandenburg]

Did you find a solution? I am still having issues taking maps offline.

[danbecker]

Same issue here, Enterprise 10.7.1. Seems like certain Android devices cannot download offline areas (Google Pixel 3) using the latest version of Collector. All our webmaps have Enterprise feature layers; postgresql 9.6

[Anonymous User]

The issue doesn't seemed to be resolved in the Field Maps App either. I've tried to use a geodatabase feature layer (hosted) for offline data collection and continue to get he same error message even though it's offline enabled. It doesn't matter if I create predefined managed map area on the desktop or try to add an offline area on the Android mobile device.   I'm wondering if anyone has found the source of the error and/or a solution?

[Anonymous User]

Same here. I cannot get any of the ESRI apps to download Offline Map Areas. Works perfectly fine on my iPhone, but not the Android TDC600. Does anyone have a solution for this?

[Henry]

I've been testing the same issue in Field Maps as well, and running into similar download errors, even with only Hosted Feature Layers, Offline Imagery, everything shared at the appropriate level - offline map area is 7.6 MB. Download fails one time - succeeds and syncs another - wildly inconsistent and a big frustration for myself and our field workers.

When I've looked at the Server Manager logs the Publishing and Sync tools always seem to act up. I'll test it some more and see if I can find any error codes or more details from the logs.

I've been directing our field workers to use the offline map areas in Survey123 for polygon collection, which works fine so far - but it doesn't include any of the hosted feature layers from the Web Map which affects some of our collection when we need context from other features (such as land ownership). Occasionally we use an app from another company for polygon collection since it more reliably works in areas without service and provides important land ownership details as a basemap. But I have to go in and add in the data afterwards.

I'll keep testing, seeing what helps/what doesn't . . . but so far Collector and Fieldmaps have not been very useful for us.

[ZacharyHart]

Are you by chance seeing this error alongside the missing layers error?

[Henry]

Yeah I get the Missing Layers error a lot when I check the server logs, as well as additional errors sometimes for the Offline Packaging and SyncToolsEx services.

Which is why I think that it may be an issue with the Offline Area as defined through the Portal not syncing with the most recent feature layer records that have been collected in the field. The data collected in the field still syncs with the Hosted Feature Layer and I'm able to see the most recent records through other means. But if the Offline Map Area in the portal isn't "Updated" prior to download to include those new features then maybe that prevents a successful download to a mobile device. Since our crew is collecting data fairly often across a wide landscape - frequent updating of these offline maps can easily get ahead of me.

If our users successfully download an offline map area and keep it on their devices there doesn't seem to be the same number of problems with syncing their changes with whatever editable layer they are using. It just becomes a problem with that initial download of new offline areas or if I have to significantly change the original map.

But I'm not certain if that's the exact issue. There is the option to schedule recurring updates to the offline areas for download but only if it's an app/map/feature that doesn't require editing - which is the main purpose that I'm trying to accomplish with these offline maps.

[LindseyGordon]

Unfortunately I haven't found the error source or a solution, but I wanted to chime in to echo that am experiencing the same issues and this is an on-going issue for my team. ArcGIS Collector on Android continues to show 'An error occurred downloading the map area'. It doesn't matter whether I'm on a mobile network or Wifi, nor does the size of the map area seem to matter. I am not using any enterprise geodatabase layers - all of the layers in my map are hosted feature layers. 

[Henry]

Our mobile field workers have had greater success choosing a web map and creating an offline area from their mobile device rather than downloading a pre-created Offline Map Area. In Field Maps at least.

It seems there's always an issue with the SyncToolsEx when downloading Offline Map Areas that were first created for the Web Map from Portal. Less problematic when the mobile user defines their own area.

It's a pain because it still means more work for them when they'd like to get out in the field and not stress about creating and downloading map areas for themselves - and having too many people creating offline maps at once stresses our server out.

[Anonymous User]

I tried that the other day and was running into similar issues. Not sure whether that was Collector or Field Maps, but I'll give it a shot again. Thanks for the suggestion, Henry!