Latest Contributions by MattSheehan

Web and Mobile GIS Project: from idea to reality in easy steps - This guide will walk you through every thing you will need to embark on a mobile GIS project. From preparation and planning, to development and ArcGIS platform integration. ... View more

We have been working with a number of transportation focused clients helping them set up mobile online and offline editing using Esri's new Collector for ArcGIS mobile app. There are a number of common steps to set up Collector which we will walk through in this post. Collector for ArcGIS Data Preparation What data do you plan to edit: point line and/or polygons? A first and crucial step is preparing this data. This often involves the use of ArcGIS desktop tools such as ArcMap. Agreeing feature types, and attributes then building out each schema. You may already have data, but need it cleaned or updated. Time spent at this stage is important. What data do you intend to use for base maps - satellite, topographic etc - existing data provided by Esri, or your own data? Offline base maps will use the same base map data. ArcGIS Online Data Upload Once you have all your data ready, its time to publish this data to ArcGIS Online. You may wish to use ArcGIS Online to host all your data as hosted feature services. If using ArcGIS Online alone, you will need to upload your prepared data. This can be done directly from ArcMap. Setting up users and groups in ArcGIS Online Once your data is ready, it is time to consider users and groups. Most often clients want map layers to be private, that means accessible only after users have logged in. ArcGIS Online provides ways to control users access to map layers, and grouping them. So one team has access only to the maps relevant to their work. Layer Publishing Web maps are the cornerstone of ArcGIS Online. Layers hosted in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Server are combined in a web map and published, or made available to users. You set the extent, base map, editable layers, styling etc. Once logged into Collector these web maps are what field staff will be loading and editing. Training field staff in the use of Collector There is a learning curve for working with Collector for ArcGIS. This is particularly true for those without GIS training. The steps to successfully edit a layer, going offline and loading both the base map and editable layers, uploading edits etc. There will likely be training needed to help field staff become familiar with Collector. We provide our clients documents and videos to help staff, and serve as a reference source. Updates and staying current Collector is on a regular release cycle. Each release provides updates and changes to the mobile app. Staff have to be kept aware of these changes. If you upgrade to the most current release, additional training might be required. Collector for ArcGIS is an important mobile GIS release. This is a free app which works against your ArcGIS Online subscription. Its important to spend time setting up the data and layers correctly, and helping staff use the application. Collector has the potential to dramatically improve how your field staff work, as they lose their reliance on pen and paper. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about Collector for ArcGIS. ... View more

Mobile GIS offers exciting opportunities to apply GIS technology in a plethora of new ways. In this post I wanted to share some of the details of a mobile GIS project we are working on for a large gas utility. The work is focused on the utilities gas pipelines, using mobile GIS and GeoEvents to track excavators. Mobile GIS and GeoEvents for Utilities The new ArcGIS GeoEvent processor from Esri is a powerful new service. It allows the tracking of vehicles in real time. Should a zone or buffer be entered, an actionable alert can be generated. Safety is an important element in pipeline management. This is particularly true in highly populated areas. Work done in and around pipelines needs to be monitored very carefully. In particular excavation, or digging, in areas close to a pipeline is a particular concern. Using a smartphone or tablet (iPhone, iPad or Android/Windows equivalent) it is now possible, using the GeoEvent processor, to build a mobile app which tracks excavators. Three phases are critical: 1) An excavator enters a zone or buffer within a certain distance of a pipeline. 2) The excavator is in motion within the buffer. 3) The excavator is stationary within the buffer. The mobile device with installed mobile app is placed in the excavator cab. As the excavator moves the app send position data, using the inbuilt GPS, to an ArcGIS GeoEvent processor. Buffers have been set around critical sections of pipe in ArcGIS for this user. Should the excavator cross a buffer, a warning is sent to the user and supervisor. Most problematic is when the excavator stops. This indicates potentially it is about to start digging. Should this occur the ArcGIS GeoEvent processor sends an alert to all concerned parties. This then provides a mechanism to enable intervention before any potential problem arises. It could indeed prevent a disaster. This is a simple yet very powerful mobile GIS application. It should prove a crucial tool to utilities. Helping with monitoring, in the ongoing quest to improve safety. ... View more

Published on Jun 24, 2014 http://webmapsolutions.com A demo of a framework we have been building which provides online and offline ArcGIS mobile editing, with custom functionality based on client requirements ... View more

We are generating custom forms as part of an ArcGIS app. After specific fields have been populated by users, we are generating a pdf report. We'd like to embed the current state of the map (extent, layers visible etc) as an image in the report. Wondering if somebody could help point us in the right direction on how to get the map image? Thanks --Matt ... View more

I've been testing the oath authentication sample code with Phonegap: https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/jssamples/portal_oauth_inline.html In a browser all works fine, but with generated apk installed on mobile device the sign in link does not appear. Any ideas? Thanks --Matt ... View more

Just looking at the cool geoenrichment samples: https://developers.arcgis.com/flex/sample-code/infographicscarousel-custom-skin.htm I noticed in each of the samples there is an issue with average household size; no data is ever returned. [ATTACH=CONFIG]31318[/ATTACH] Sure this worked until recently. Any ideas on what is causing the problem? Thx --Matt ... View more

Nobody really knows the future of Flex. At our company we continue mobile development using the ArcGIS Flex api. And it continues to amaze us. For hybrid mobile development there is still nothing quite like it. The Phonegap route with Javascript is cool, but more work and with more hoops to jump through. In Flex, complex mobile apps are far easier to build.  Just to highlight what is possible. We've been investigating offline mobile editing for a year now.  Our clients wanted a low cost solution for both iOS and Android. Javascript proved not to be an option, native SDK's did not support offline and (even if there had been support) a native approach meant we would need two code bases; Objective-C and Java. Mobile ArcGIS Flex to the rescue. We have now built and launched a mobile Flex ArcGIS app which provides disconnected editing capabilities in both the Apple Store and Google Play. http://www.webmapsolutions.com/disconnected-mobile-arcgis-online-editing-app-released Imagine what else is possible? If you haven't tried mobile ArcGIS flex, give it whirl. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to build a cool mobile apps. True we don't know the future of Flex, but developing ArcGIS apps with mobile Flex is simply the bollocks! ... View more

I had a quick question on mobile finger pinch. We have an offline editing app which provides tile packages for base maps in offline mode. In the trial version of the app (not full version) we do not provide these base maps, so users can still edit their feature services (point, line, polygon) in offline mode but lack the base map reference. But we have found without this base map though the zoom control still works, pinch zoom does not cause the features to re-render. See the video below for a quick example: http://www.webmapsolutions.com/demos/FingerPinchIssue/FingerPinchIssue.html Any help with a solution would be most appreciated. Thanks --Matt ... View more

I have working code which allows users to login and see their published items: protected function portalService_loadHandler(event:PortalEvent):void {       var queryString:String = "owner:" + event.target.user.username;        lastQueryString = queryString;    var queryParameters:PortalQueryParameters = defaultQueryParameters.clone();    //Load 100 features    queryParameters.withLimit(100);    queryParameters.addQueryCondition(queryString);    portalService.queryItems(queryParameters); } I'd like them also to see all shared items which are in membership groups. Wondering how I might change the above code? Thanks --Matt ... View more

We've just been testing a Mobile Flex app on an iPhone. One thing we notice is for point features, they are hard to tap. We've made them large in the published service, but too large overwhelms the iPad screen. Just wondered if anybody had found a way to increase the area/sensitivity of a finger tap, to help in selecting features? Thanks --Matt ... View more

We are adding OAuth to a Flex Mobile app. We've looked at the online samples, but see none for Flex Mobile. We have the following:    public function login():void    {     //Oath authentication - App id     var oAuthInfo:OAuthInfo = new OAuthInfo("........");     IdentityManager.instance.registerOAuthInfos([ oAuthInfo ]);         IdentityManager.instance.enabled = true;         defaultQueryParameters = new PortalQueryParameters();         portalService = new Portal();     portalService.addEventListener(FaultEvent.FAULT, esriService_faultHandler);     portalService.addEventListener(PortalEvent.LOAD, portalService_loadHandler);     portalService.addEventListener(PortalEvent.QUERY_ITEMS_COMPLETE, portalService_queryItemsCompleteHandler);         portalService.url = serverURL;         portalService.signIn();        } This works just fine, but we suspect we are missing some pieces for full OAuth. Could somebody let us know if we are correct, and what else we need add? Thanks --Matt ... View more

We are trying to configure the executive dashboard and have run into a snag. See the video below which walks through the issue: http://webmapsolutions.com/question/execdashboardIssue/execdashboardIssue.html We are running Apache locally for testing. Any insight would be a great help. Thanks --Matt ... View more