Field Maps offline downloads keep failing

[HowardWalter]

I'm evaluating field maps to see if it is useful for forestry activities.  However, downloading maps of about 20 acres for offline use to an iOS device often fails repeatedly, before finally succeeding.  The progress clock goes about 1/3 around and then the message "Download failed" appears.  The maps show up fine when I'm online.

For 'street level' of detail, I've been able to finally download a few different maps after several tries, but for a map at 'building level' of detail, 9 tries have failed so far.

Is this normal for Field Maps, or am I doing something wrong?  It's beginning to look like Field Maps is useless for offline activities. 

[DanielFox1]

Hi @HowardWalter 

Sorry to hear about your issue with Field Maps. There are few things to consider when taking areas offline

1. Make sure your basemap can come offline - are you using an out of the box Esri basemap?

2. Make sure the basemap and data are in the same coordinate system 

3. At least one of your layers is editable and sync has been enabled

4. Your layers all have Global IDs

When looking in the Field Maps Designer > Offline, do you get any warnings or errors

5. Are any field names longer than 32 characters?

6. In the settings of each layer are there any special characters in the field indexes?

7. Can you create a pre-defined area from the Field Maps Designer, are you creating areas in an area of poor connectivity?

8. Is your data hosted?

 Work offline with Field Maps

Take Your Web Maps Offline with ArcGIS Field Maps

I appreciate there are lots of questions there but they strong considerations. You can export the log file also which might help understand this a little more 

Export logs from the ArcGIS Field Maps mobile app

[HowardWalter]

The maps download successfully eventually, after many tries.  Do any of those points you mentioned apply intermittently?  There's no warnings in Field Map designer that I haven't resolved.  I'm not changing anything in between attempts, except varying the offline area selected from the map. I have great connectivity when trying to download, I can stream 4k movies.  

I'm attaching some of the error log from the last attempt. But it's all Greek to me.  If you can help I would greatly appreciate it. 

[HowardWalter · Accepted solution]

Update:

I changed the basemap to World Street Map, and now when selecting an offline area in Field Maps, a rectangular extent outline appears.  This didn't happen previously.  Now the map downloads!

[ChristopherCounsell]

Hi @HowardWalter ,

As you've  identified the basemap was the issue.

Your logs indicate that this URL:

https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/USGSTopo/MapServer/

Was having issues e.g.:

• Job error 22 Propagated error. Error while handling get location of tile cache URL. Job error -1 Service error code 400. Job not found on server. Details: JobId not found

Roughly speaking, it wasn't able to provide the cached tiles to the request to take the map offline.

The resolution to this issue would need to be applied at the Server side - meaning the USGS server admins. 

Generally, better to use your own or Esri's basemaps for offline workflows. Helps avoid sync issues or other things outside your control. Relying on a third party's service can bring difficulties when it's not available or performing as expected.

Cheers,

Chris

[JamesTurner2]

My organization has had similar results to @HowardWalter. Creating offline areas is always hit and miss. We are using basemaps that are properly configured, most maps use the same custom basemap but we have tried ESRI basemaps configured for export as well.  

I have checked everything in @DanielFox1's list. Most of our maps have different coordinate systems between the basemap and the data. I have tried switching everything over to one coordinate system and that did not solve the issue. It is frustrating that the issue is so hit and miss. If you try the same area multiple times that you eventually get a download that works. This has been plaguing our organization for years at this point and we would love to engage ESRI on the issue.

[JBH]

Configuring a map for offline use in Field Maps is one of the most frustrating experiences. Without changing anything - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The error logs are usually unhelpful. It's hard to sell the product to different departments as a solution when it has so many issues.