"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]

I am experiencing the same issue. Download always fails after a few seconds. Doesn't matter what size the offline area is. I have GB of storage on my phone I know that's not the issue. Seems to be a serious bug. 

[Henry]

Some of the layers we were using were Enterprise Geodatabase files and not Hosted Feature Services. EGDB layers can be configured for offline edit and sync (these were) but they seemed to be source for many of the issues with downloading.

I noticed a slight improvement when I removed those EGDB layers from the Collector maps.

At this point the issue could be anything from our server configuration to issues with replicas and the synctools service to problems of multiple users accessing the server at the same time to download and the server just being overwhelmed.

Still haven't totally solved the issue yet.

[StaceyDudenhoeffer]

We have a Collector map where the source for all the layers is a versioned enterprise geodatabase.  We are using an offline area for this map, but have the same Severe error for Missing Layers. 

Did you every find a solution to your issue?  We love the idea of prepackaged offline areas, but it has not been easy to troubleshoot the errors we are getting.

[NatashaDakouri-Hild]

I also have the same problem. Why I hesitate to adopt the new Collector. Seems kaputt and half baked.

[Anonymous User]

I resolved the issue by creating a new geodatabase for data collection in ArcCatalog. I believe my issue was due to duplicate field names.

[StaceyDudenhoeffer]

Can you elaborate on your comment about duplicate field names?  Where there duplicate field names between multiple features/tables?  When you created a new geodatabase, did you name the fields differently so there were no longer duplicates?  Or did creating a new geodatabase clean up something else that was related to duplicate field names?

I am working with ESRI support now on this same issue.  Any hints for testing are appreciated.

[AW_Grove]

Henry Haro‌ - we are seeing the same issue since about Monday this week. Hosted Layers are fine, but any feature service sourced from an enterprise geodatabse will not download. It will stream fine.

Have you created a ticket with ESRI yet?

[Henry]

I have created a support ticket for this issue in the past, which where we settled on the enterprise geodatabase layers being a contributing problem.

Our organization also has a longstanding issue with our web adaptor - as the system was set up with Azure Cloudbuilder for Enterprise 10.5.1, and we have been using a series of URL rewrites as a proxy ever since. Installing Esri web adaptors can cause a cascade of issues. Unfortunately that could be  another contributing issue regarding user access to these services.

[AW_Grove]

Good to know. We just submitted a ticket to ESRI this afternoon. Will respond to this chat if there is a resolution. We have narrowed the issue down quite a bit so hopefully we will have a solution soon! We have 240 users unable to download maps with enterprise geodatabase layers right now.