Allow Managed Group Members to Create Offline Areas
Real-world Problem: Urban Search and Rescue, large-scale disaster response, wide area search operations.
We sometimes support +20 Search and Rescue Teams in an incident with offline mapping and situational awareness. We have a single GIS Specialist (GISS) supporting the incident in most cases, but each team has a Tech Info Specialist (TIS) that can be trained to do some basic app support.
Technical Problem: Only the web map author can create offline areas in Field Maps and web map offline areas. This means the GISS is the only one that can create offline areas, even though they may not know where teams will be deploying.
Technical Solution/Idea: Provide a shared capability for multiple users to create offline areas. This could be done through Field Maps or the web map interface itself. It could be a built-in capability OR perhaps Esri could leverage the Managed / Administrative Group concept. There are many workflows where this capability could be used, but none more important than for saving lives.
More Background
The image below is a diagram of how the Lead GIS (GISS) support Tech Information Specialists (TIS) in the field. The GISS may be located in one City, or even at home. The TIS may all be in different Counties (or even States!), accessing internet periodically. There could be over 20 Task Forces / TIS on one incident.
Proposed Workarounds
- Share a headless account for the GISS and all the TIS (not a good idea!).
- Allow field teams to cache their own areas (this can cause a lot of confusion and downloading of the wrong areas).
- Have the TIS fill out a Survey123 Form and indicate where they think their Task Force is going the next day, then have the GISS create offline areas before the next Operational Period.
- Create multiple web maps, one for each team, change ownership of the web map to TIS user. This can be extremely confusing as well.
@jeffshaner @PaulBarker
