Latest Contributions by MarkBockenhauer

(... continued from Part 1) Pop-ups   Pop-ups allow users to see information about features by tapping the features on the map. Pop-ups that you define in ArcGIS Pro are included in the offline map. 1. Right-click on an Operational layer like buildings and select Enable Pop-ups. 2. Control how the pop-up displays by selecting Configure Pop-ups. Pop-ups display as specified in the Pop-ups pane. Create the Mobile Map Package   OK, our map in ArcGIS Pro is now setup to create an efficient and useful offline map.  The operational layers have feature search and pop-ups enabled. Our basemap is a vector tile package, the most efficient and fastest way to display vector data in an offline map, and we have a bookmark that allows users to easily zoom the map to a specific location.  In addition, we have a locator that allows users another method for finding locations on the map.  Let’s make the Mobile Map Package! 1. Click Analysis tab and Tools to open the Geoprocessing pane , search for Create Mobile Map Package, and open the tool. 2. For Input Map choose the Operational map.  Note: The Create Mobile Map Package tool supports including multiple maps in a package, which may be useful for workflows that involve opening the Mobile Map Package in ArcGIS Pro or custom applications.  Explorer only supports reading one map from a Mobile Map Package.  If multiple maps are included in a package, Explorer will use the first one. 3. Specify an Output File name and location for the Mobile Map Package.  While the example pictured below uses Grand_Teton_National_Park, use a name that is uniquely your own. When you share the map to ArcGIS Online later, you'll have an easier time distinguishing your map from those of others that have completed this exercise. 4. Include one or more locators. The locator that you created for the project is included in the drop-down list. 5. When creating the Mobile Map Package, you can specify the Area of Interest or extent of the map to include in the package. Using an Area of Interest polygon feature class with the Clip Features option allows you to create maps that match the outline of the feature class being used.  For Area of Interest you could use a feature class that has polygon boundaries for the 5 largest metro areas in the United States with the Clip option.  The resulting Map package would only contain data for the metro area, clipped to the metro boundaries.  Note: Using detailed boundaries with high vertex count for clipping will take longer to process. Another option is to use an Extent or bounding box to package a subset of the map. Default uses the extent or combined extent of the maps included in the package.  In this example, it uses the extent of the Operational map as defined in the Map properties. Click Full Extent to see the currently defined extent. The extent of this map is set to the whole world.  Just like we did for the VTPK_Source_BM basemap, we could define the Operational map’s extent; however, we can make use of one of the Extent options provided by the Create Mobile Map Package tool. Right-click on the Basemap and select Zoom to Layer.  On the Create Mobile Map Package tool, set the extent to Current Display Extent. This will limit the features in the package to those that intersect the current display extent.  If the Clip Feature option is not used, the entire features are included. Included locators are also limited to this extent, ensuring that users only find locations that are on the map.   Note: Area of Interest and Extent options, as well as Clip Features, don’t apply to the vector tile package.  Regardless of these settings, the entire vector tile package is included in the offline map. 6. Specify a title for the map. The best practice is to use a title that matches the name you used for the Mobile Map Package filename. Filenames can’t have spaces, but your title can.  Explorer users see the Mobile Map Package filename before downloading a map, but see the title once the offline map is downloaded. 7. You can also further fill out Summary, Description, Tags, Credits and Use Limitations specific to the Map Package that you are creating. 8. Enable Anonymous Use: The Enable Anonymous Use option is available to users that have the ArcGIS Pro Publisher Extension. Enable Anonymous Use allows you to create Mobile Map Packages for users who are not ArcGIS Named Users.  Explorer for ArcGIS can be used anonymously without signing in, so users don’t need an ArcGIS username to use the app. Enabling anonymous use makes Mobile Map Packages that can be downloaded and used by anyone with access to them, independent of their login. The Enable Anonymous Use check box will not be present if you don’t have the Publisher Extension. Note: Anonymous Explorer users can also open any publicly shared web (online) map.  9. Click Run to create the package. Share the Mobile Map Package The finished package is now ready to be shared with an Explorer for ArcGIS (or AppStudio app or Runtime SDK app) user.  The package can be shared using ArcGIS Pro and the Share Package tool.  This tool uploads the package to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise (depending on the account you are signed in to in ArcGIS Pro). 1. Search for and open the Share Package 2. Browse for the Mobile Map Package created in the previous step. 3. Choose who to share the map with—everybody, specific groups, or everyone in your organization—and click Run. Since this map was shared with everyone and enabled for anonymous use (if you have the Publisher Extension), anyone can open it using Explorer for ArcGIS. Use the offline map in Explorer 1. Start Explorer and Continue Without Signing In 2. Search for the name you gave your MMPK and your offline map appears in the search results.. The cloud arrow icon indicates that it is a downloadable mobile map package. When the download completes, the map is in the On Device section at the top of the list of maps. 3. Tap on the map to open it. 4.  Search for “Grand Teton” and see the feature on the map. 5. You can also access the bookmarks. 6. Tap features for pop-ups. So, there it is... those are the basics.  You’ve created a map in ArcGIS Pro that you can use offline in Explorer, AppStudio, or a Runtime SDK app, and it is optimized for mobile use on a phone or tablet. If you like the map used in this blog, you can find more of it here.   ... View more

Fieldwork takes you and your mobile workers places without a data connection, but that shouldn’t stop you from using your GIS data. You can make a map that doesn’t require the internet, and you can use it on your device in the field. You might be using ArcGIS Field Maps, or perhaps a custom application built with AppStudio for ArcGIS or an ArcGIS Runtime SDK. In this blog, we’ll look how to build a map that can be used offline (without a data connection) in any of those apps. We’ll then look at using that map in Field Maps.   First, let’s see an example of an offline map using ArcGIS Field Maps. If you don’t have the app installed already, start by installing it on your iOS or Android device.  Search for ArcGIS Field Maps in the App or Play store.   Start Explorer and tap Skip Signing In when it launches.         Then search for “Shenandoah National Park” and tap to download the map.         Check out the map to get an idea what is possible: tap features and see information about them, view the map’s layers, measure, or draw markup on the map. If you are new to Field Maps, take a look at Get started and try some of the things called out there using this offline map.   Now we’ll use ArcGIS Pro 2..x (ArcGIS Pro 2.1 - 2.9) and build an offline map like the Shenandoah National Park map. Behind the scenes, an offline map is a Mobile Map Package (MMPK). As you create the MMPK by following this blog, you’ll learn the recommended pattern for creating an offline map (or MMPK) like the one you just tried in Field Maps.   In this example, we are going to start with a basically finished map.  To do so, we’ll get an ArcGIS Pro project that already has some completed maps in it.   Note: This exercise requires ArcGIS Pro 2.1. Estimated time to complete - 40 minutes. Get the Example Project Start ArcGIS Pro and click Open another Project Click Portal and then Browse to get a shared project from ArcGIS Online. Click the All Portal filter and search for “Make Offline Map example.” Select it and click OK. 3. The project downloads and opens with three maps (often called views) – Operational, VTPK_Source_BM and Basemap. The Operational map consists of places, points, and areas of interest.  The layers in this map provide searchable and clickable features for your offline map.  You can author the Operational map to allow your map users to search for features by attributes and to tap on features to see pop-ups.     Click on the tab for VTPK_Source_BM to activate the basemap view. It shows the boundaries for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  The information in this map provides background reference data for the operational layers.  Layers in the basemap are purely for visualization.  Users of the offline map won’t be able to access attributes through a pop-up or be able to search for features in the basemap.  If there are layers in this map that you want users to interact with, move them to the Operational map.   Note: The source data in both maps comes from The National Map  https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/   Click on the Basemap tab to activate the view, and see that it is empty.  We’ll make use of this map later.     4. Activate the Operational map by clicking on its tab, click the Basemap gallery and choose the VTPK_Source_BM basemap     Pan and zoom around the map to familiarize yourself with the basemap and operational data.  This will give you context for how the operational layers work with the basemap layers.        Note: if you do not see any labels, check an Operational layer off and back on to force a redraw. Create a Vector Tile Basemap The best practice for creating an efficient offline map is to use vector tiles in a Vector Tile Package (VTPK) for vector data and a Tile Package (TPK) for raster data.  In this example, we’ll use vector tiles for the basemap.   Note:  Raster file data (imagery) won’t be covered in this example.  A future update to this exercise will use it, but at this time raster file data in an offline map is not supported in apps built on the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs (including Explorer and those built through AppSudio). The teams are working to support raster files in offline maps in coming releases.   You can use Tile Packages (.TPK) in Mobile Map Packages.  You can use the Create Map Tile Package geoprocessing tool to create them. 1. We could create an offline map of all of the content of the map; however, it’s common to create an offline map or multiple offline maps from a portion of an existing map. For example, we may have a project including the entire United States, and we are only interested in making an offline map for a specific city.  With that in mind we’ll make an offline map for a portion of this map.   Zoom to the extent of Grand Teton National Park, this will be the extent of the offline map that we create.   Activate the VTPK_Source_BM basemap. All of the maps in the project are linked by scale and extent, you should see the same extent of Grand Teton National park.  The data in this project is comprised of vector file geodatabase data. We could use this data offline, as is, but the most efficient way to use vector data offline is in the form of vector tiles.  This is especially true for our basemap, which does not need to provide access to attributes or user interaction with features.  Vector tiles provide visualization and do not provide access to feature geometries or attributes.  As mentioned earlier, if map users need access to attributes and geometries, add the layer to the Operational map. (If you look closely at this project you’ll notice that some of the same layers are in both the Operational map and VTPK_Source_BM basemap.  This allows efficient feature visualization while still providing access to feature attributes.)   2. The tools for creating a vector tile package will create vector tiles for the map’s defined extent.  Let’s set the extent of the map to Grand Teton National Park by right-clicking on VTPK_Source_BM in the table of contents and clicking Properties.  Click Extent and set the Custom extent to the Current visible extent and click OK.     When you click the Full Extent button on the ribbon, the map now zooms to the custom extent.  Use this button to confirm that what you are seeing in the view is what you are going to get when creating the Vector Tiles.     Next, we ‘ll use a Geoprocessing tool to create vector tiles for the basemap.   3. Click the Analysis tab and click the Tools button.   This opens the Geoprocessing tools pane.   4. Search for “Vector Tile Package” and open the Create Vector Tile Package tool.   5. Choose VTPK_Source_BM for your input map.     6. In the Output File, specify a name and output location for your Vector Tile Package.     7. Uncheck Package for ArcGIS Online | Bing Maps | Google Maps   The tiling scheme automatically updates to match the coordinate system of the map.   Note:  The tiling scheme shows the coordinate system defined in the Map Properties.  In this case, the coordinate system being used matches the coordinate system of the map and the data.  To use the ArcGIS Online | Bing Maps | Google Maps scheme the map needs to be in the WGS 84 Web Mercator auxiliary sphere coordinate system.   Note: You can change the coordinates system for each map in the project to WGS 84 Web Mercator auxiliary sphere and produce vector tiles in the ArcGIS Online | Bing Maps | Google Maps tiling scheme.  However, drawing performance in ArcGIS Pro will be less efficient, as all of the map’s data is in Geographic Coordinate System North American 1983, and displaying the layer will require more processing as the data is re-projected on the fly.  When possible, always put your map and data in the same coordinate system for the fastest data display.   8. Accept the Default tiling format, which is Indexed.   9. Set the Maximum Cached Scale to 0. Some offline map use cases require zooming in close to the map, and without this setting the vector tiles stop displaying once past the maximum cached scale. By setting this to 0, users can zoom in as close as they want and still see vector tile information.     10. The tool will use a default index, so Index Polygons are not needed. The Summary and Tags are also optional and not necessary to fill in.   11. Before running the tool, right-click on the VTPK_Source_BM map in the Contents pane and click Properties.     Click Metadata and write a Description for the map.  If the map doesn’t have a description, the Create Vector Tile Package tool will fail to run. (Yes, this could have been done as part of the example project, but this is an often-experienced road block to success… so good to know!)   Click OK to add the Description.   12. Click Run on the Create Vector Tile Package tool.     Using Vector Tile Package as a basemap 1. When the tool has completed, click the Basemap tab to activate the empty Basemap view.     Click Map Tab and Add Data, browse to the Vector Tile Package that you created, select it, and click OK.         2. Click the Operational Tab to activate the Operational Map view.     In this view, you’ll switch basemaps to use the “Basemap” that you just added the Vector Tile Package to.   3. Choose the Basemap from the Basemap Gallery.     The basemap in your Operational view updates to use the Vector Tile Package you created.     4. Right-click on Basemap in the Contents pane and select Zoom to Layer.         This is the extent of the map that we will be sharing for offline use.    Enhance Map Usability Search Let’s make the map searchable.  There are two ways to provide search functionality for offline map users.  We can enable feature search or create locators to use with the map (or both). One of the key differences is that locators support suggestions as the user is typing, which aren’t supported in feature search. The tradeoff is that locators increase the size of the map.  Feature search doesn’t increase the size of the map, but it doesn’t provide suggestions.   Note: Different apps support different types of search functionality. Both are supported in Explorer. Navigator for ArcGIS only supports locators. It is up to the developer with an AppStudio or Runtime SDK app.   Let’s start by enabling feature search, and then we’ll create a locator.   1. Click Locate on the Ribbon and click Settings on the Locate Pane.     The online locators associated with your Organization are listed.  These won’t be accessible for offline map users in your organization or users you share the map with who are not members of your organization, so you need to include search functionality in the map.   2. Click the “Add Locate Provider” button and click Add Layer     The feature layers in your map will be listed.  Let’s allow users of the map to find mountain peaks.  Highlight the TowerSummitMinesDam layer and click OK.   Note: many of the operational layers in this map reference the same Geonames USA point data.  A layer definition query is being used for cartographic purposes to group varying Geonames Point of Interest types     This shows all Fields in this layer and allow us to choose a search operator for each field that we want to make available for search by users of the map.   3.  Allow map users to search by FEATURE_NAME and use the Contains This will return search results for all features in the TowerSummitMinesDam layer that “contain” the characters typed in by the map user. If you use the “Equals” operator the user will need to match the attribute exactly to find it.     4.  Click the Back Arrow to save and return to settings.     5. The Layer is listed in the Locator list. Uncheck the locators provided by your organization and then click Locate to test the feature search on the TowerSummitMinesDam layer.     6. Search for ‘Grand Te’ and see that Grand Teton is returned in the search results.     If needed, you can enable search for more operational layers in your map and multiple fields in those layers.   7. Another way to provide search capabilities for your Explorer users is to include a locator in the map. You can create locators for feature layers in your map by using the Create Address Locator geoprocessing tool.      8.  Choose a Locator Style, Gazetteer and Single Field work well for Named features. For this case use the Gazetteer style.     9.  Choose a layer to build the locator from. This feature layer does not need to be in your map. For this example, use the LocalePopPlace feature layer.     10.  Specify the attribute field with the attributes to search for: FEATURE_NAME.     11. Specify an output address locator name or just use the default.     12. Check Enable Suggestions.  As users type their search string into the map, suggestions will be presented (which isn’t supported with feature search).     13. Click Run to create the locator.     In Locate settings you will see that the locator you just created is available for use.      14. Search for “White Grass” and see “White Grass Ranch” and “White Grass Ranger Station” returned in the results.    Note: Suggestions are not supported for file-based locators in ArcGIS Pro 2.1, but they are supported in Explorer and Navigator and are available to developers of AppStudio and Runtime SDK apps.       Bookmarks Bookmarks are predefined named extents that you can include in the map.  Bookmarks allow map users to easily zoom to an extent.  Bookmarks that you create for the map in ArcGIS Pro are included in the offline map.   1. To create a bookmark, zoom to a specific extent, click Bookmarks on the ribbon, and click New Bookmark.     2. Name the Bookmark and click OK, to add it to the map.     (... continued in part 2) ... 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