Latest Contributions by MichaelDavis3

To close the loop on this... After much troubleshooting and gnashing of teeth we finally identified the source of the problem. We are running ArcGIS Server 10.2 with a pooled clustered configuration consisting of 2 web adapters machines with a load balancer.  The extent errors we were seeing were actually the result of one of the two web adapter boxes spitting out a different spatial reference than the one defined for the feature service. In our case the service was configured in Web Mercator based on a geodatabase in WGS84.  Ordinarily this works fine, but in our case at some unknown point in time after starting the service one of the web adapters would start reporting the extent of the service in Lat/Long instead the correct Web Mercator coordinates.  This was apparent when looking at the REST endpoint; every refresh would alternate between WGS84 and Web Mercator as the load balancer dutifully alternated requests between the two machines. As a result our users would basically have a 50/50 chance of pulling down a database in which they could save data.  If they pulled a database from the server with the bad definition, they ended up with an offline geodatabase with a writable extent in the immediate proximity of NULL island. What is causing the fail-over machine to get out of whack is still a mystery.  This bug has cropped up in at least 3 projects we know of, and forced us to remove the fail-over machine from our production environment... severely compromising the system's capacity.  The bug has only appeared in projects with the WGS84 database/Web Mercator Feature service configuration.  Projects where the database is in State Plane don't seem to exhibit the bug. This appears to be a fairly significant bug with ArcGIS Server, does anyone know if this issue will still exist when we migrate the platform to 10.3? Edit: fixed terminology ... View more

This solved the issue - move the archive of the original database to execute after the [mapView reset] is run in the completion block for the new database download. Thanks! Still trying to figure out why a new feature created in the listViews isn't reflected in the mapView until the user zooms in/out though... Matt Cooper​ ... View more

The iOS version of the runtime SDK doesn't support shapefiles at this time.  This is supposed to be supported in the next version. ... View more

Yes - our mapView loads several featureTableLayers from a local geodatabase (named msm.geodatabase).  When a user triggers the Reset command we throw out an NSNotification, the mapView listens for this and when it receives a reset notification it does the following: archive the existing local geodatabase (and -shm, -wal files) to a folder in the user directory, and rename to archive.geodatabase (-shm, -wal) Initiate a new download of a geodatabase from the feature service and save it with msm.geodatabase name. Trigger a [mapView reset] to clear all contents of the map Rebuild the mapView layers from newly downloaded geodatabase The last step we've tried by both kicking off the specific function to add the basemap and local layers to the map, as well as triggering the viewDidLoad function, which pretty much does the same with plus some extra configuration. Either way the mapView (and our list views connected to the same featureTableLayers act like they are still connected to the old database... which has been moved, renamed, and replaced by a new one.  If we kill the app and re-start it layers display data from the new database as expected. ... View more

Right now - no.  The manufacturers (Geneq, EOS) provide SDKs that you can use to access this info, but Collector doesn't have that support yet.  Can confirm that it does work though, we are able to access and record GPS quality info in our apps developed with the ESRI Runtime SDK. ... View more

Potentially related to this but not sure - when collecting new features in the offline geodatabase added features do not show up in the MapView until the map is zoomed in or out, despite kicking off a refresh on the AGSGDBFeatureLayer in the MapView when the new item is saved to the database. ... View more

We've been actively exploring picking up an EOS Arrow 100 or 200 to add to our existing iSXBlue units... but it doesn't seem like they are actually out and available in the sales channel just yet. We are interested in picking up an Arrow vs. an additional iSXBlue because of the significantly increased Bluetooth range, as well as the ability to use OmniStar for correction in locations where it is tough to acquire SBAS signals. One of our folks talked with the EOS rep at the ESRI Dev Summit and they mentioned that EOS was formed by folks who came from Geneq (manufacturer of the SXBlue) specifically including the guy who created the Bluetooth stack for the iSXBlue model.  We haven't been able to get an evaluation unit just yet, but we expect good things. That said we have been VERY happy with our current iSXBlue fleet.  The are reliable and work as advertised... delivering a .7 meter signal in real time, most of the time.  The only time we have issues is when we are in an environment where we can't get access to the SBAS signal or in dense canopy. ... View more

Yeah - that's your problem. You need to tell your IT department to get over their hang up with iTunes. Pulling the geodatabase off the iPad with iTunes is the ONLY way to recover the data so you can convert it and sync. Before we started using iOS runtime apps iTunes was a no-go with our IT folks as well... But eventually even they have to wake up to progress. - Mike ... View more

Strange - every time I've used it the tool produces a geodatabase, and it takes care of merging all the delta  tables together. Is it possible that your SQLite database was modified after you pulled it from the mobile device? ... View more

ArcGIS 10.3 has a toolbox tool to convert the SQLite .geodatabase file to a FGDB.  Once converted you can add the data to your SDE however you choose.  It's a manual sync, but better than no sync at all. ... View more

As it exists now - what you are describing is not very practical with the ESRI SDK.  The 2 supported options for offline data are this: Generate a feature service in ArcGIS Server with sync enabled.  Download geodatabase (with existing data or empty) to device, collect data, and sync it back up Generate a geodatabase from ArcGIS Desktop with read-only data. That said, there are a couple of other things you could do within the ESRI framework that aren't exactly supported: Generate a feature service with sync, download a geodatabase... and then embed it in your app.  You wouldn't ever be able to sync really, but you could collect data into it and then export other ways... the trick is you still have to authenticate your app against ArcGIS Portal or AGOL to be able to write offline data, which leads me to... JSON.  JSON is your friend.  We used JSON files to maintain offline data before ESRI added it to the SDK and it is still extremely useful.  You can export feature data to JSON, and once there use any number of tools to make CSV, SHP, GPX, whatever.  We set up a basic set of add/edit JSON files for maintaining offline features and it worked pretty well.  Got a bit sticky when the data got large, so if that is going to be an issue you might use SQLite or http://realm.io/  to store the data, then just use JSON as the intermediary.   ... View more

We are also seeing these errors, especially when checking offline databases from Collector or Runtime apps.  We've also noticed that if we try to edit the data in ArcGIS we get "edit buffer returned no data" errors.  For us the issue can be corrected by stopping services, deleting the database archive, and recreating it... however we still can't nail down the cause.  it happens frequently enough these days that it is a major concern for deploying apps.  ... View more

You may be interested in this Kickstarter project that just got funded: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1101202238/connect-any-high-precision-gnss-unit-over-bluetoot?ref=users It is a dongle that connects to a variety of GPS units from the major manufacturers (any that support NMEA output) and then connects to an iOS device via bluetooth and provides the data stream.  This will get you sub-meter from any device that supports it using real-time WAAS correction. From the same programmer who did the bluetooth connectivity for the iSXBlue so I expect it to work as advertised.  He will also be offering a paid app to do on-device NTRIP correction which has the potential to get you CM level accuracy. ... View more