Tracker Newbie Questions

[JasonCyphers]

My org. is in the process of obtaining tracker licenses for our Enterprise Portal, and while we wait for ESRI to provide them to us, I'm trying to put together our first project utilizing it - a regulatory inspection where field users walk out our mains and services, and inspect meters within a portion of our system, which needs to be started ASAP.

As we need to get this project started as soon as possible, I'm wanting to get some questions answered so I'm able to get everything set up as soon as the licenses are available. 

• I'm assuming I have to create a Location Tracking feature layer in Portal that Tracker will utilize, or does Tracker create its own?
• Am I able to utilize a collector map that the field users will use to view our mains & services, and to perform inspections on meters, while Tracker runs in the background, or does everything have to be done from the Tracker app running in the foreground?
• If Tracker has to be in the foreground, am I able to customize the basemap to show our mains, services, and meters; and, to show tracks walked that are older than 72 hours (the inspection will take a few months to complete, and field users will need to know, for the duration of the project, what areas have been inspected, and which ones haven't)?
• If I'm able to use Collector, with Tracker running in the background, I'm guessing I can just add the feature layer to the Collector map, applying a refresh rate, so field users will be able to see what mains/services have been walked for the duration of the inspection.
• Any other tips/trick/suggestions?  Any project examples anyone is able to provide?

I've watched the handful of YouTube videos related to tracker, but none of them seemed to address my questions above (or if they did, I missed it).

TYIA!

[RodrigoLama]

Everything you mention so far can not be done, I expected the same. Changing the map of the tracker app is not possible, it is not possible to customize the field that the terrain user can send. it's just a tracker.
The truth is that it automatically creates a layer with all the data for analytics, no more.

[JasonCyphers]

Yikes!

So, your saying the field users that will be walking our mains & services have to have the Tracker app running (in the foreground) and the Tracker app's map won't show any of our mains or services - so the field users won't know where they need to walk; nor will they be able to see tracks that have been walked by themselves or other inspectors that were obtained prior to 72 hours ago?

[Anonymous User]

It sounds like you'd be better off moving directly to ArcGIS Field Maps. Field Maps combines Collector, Explorer, and Tracker into a single app. It can be used with Enterprise versions 10.6.1 or newer. You just need to install the clientId for it if using a version prior to 10.8.1. You still need the Tracker licenses to track with Field Maps so there really isn't any cost difference. The Tracker mobile apps are being deprecated in December since Field Maps can do 99% of the things Tracker can do.

Anyway, to answer you specific questions:

• I'm assuming I have to create a Location Tracking feature layer in Portal that Tracker will utilize, or does Tracker create its own?

Location tracking is an organization wide capability that you enable. This creates a hosted feature service that all tracks are stored into. You can create Track Views (view layers) to view subsets of the tracks.

• Am I able to utilize a collector map that the field users will use to view our mains & services, and to perform inspections on meters, while Tracker runs in the background, or does everything have to be done from the Tracker app running in the foreground?

Tracker works in the background. Tracking with Field Maps also works in the background.

• If Tracker has to be in the foreground, am I able to customize the basemap to show our mains, services, and meters; and, to show tracks walked that are older than 72 hours (the inspection will take a few months to complete, and field users will need to know, for the duration of the project, what areas have been inspected, and which ones haven't)?

This is not supported in Tracker. If you use Field Maps the tracks can be displayed on any existing map. You can also change basemaps, toggle layer visibility on/off, and many other things that you can't do in Tracker.

• If I'm able to use Collector, with Tracker running in the background, I'm guessing I can just add the feature layer to the Collector map, applying a refresh rate, so field users will be able to see what mains/services have been walked for the duration of the inspection.

If you are using Tracker iOS and Collector iOS the tracks (for the signed in user) from Tracker are visible in Collector. This is not supported on Collector/Tracker Android. Otherwise, yes you can add the feature layer to map with a refresh rate.

[JasonCyphers]

Ok, this sounds a little more promising.  I've seen info on Field Maps, but was reluctant to tell the crews to now use Field Maps, instead of Collector, for the sake of change management.

I'll research Field Maps a little more, as it sounds like it's the solution I need.

Thanks for the info!!

[RodrigoLama]

AaronPulver: about what you just mentioned about which tracker will end in December: what will happen to the tracker licenses that we acquired before, and if FieldMap integrates an option called My Tours, does enabling this option not require a license?

[Anonymous User]

@RodrigoLamaThe ArcGIS Tracker licenses are also used to enable tracking in Field Maps. So even though the Tracker app is going away, the license is still used to enable the tracking capability.