offline question

[LonSharp]

After reading through various ESRI help documents, it seems like the only way to take maps offline into the field is with ArcGIS Mobile (which is currently not an option for us) or with the Collector app. 

To take maps offline with Collector, at least one of the layers needs to be sync-enabled, and the only way to publish a sync-enabled map service with Server is if the source is an enterprise geodatabase.

Which means that to take maps offline, we either need to purchase a license for ArcGIS Mobile, or a license for SDE.

Is that correct?

What I need to do seems fairly straightforward:   Inspectors need to be able to identify specific parcels while out in the field, often in areas with no cell coverage (else they could simply use the ArcGIS app for iOS/Android).   No editing, feature capture or data collection, just feature identification from their current location.

Am I missing something?  Is there another way to take maps offline with what we currently have (ArcGIS Desktop Advanced 10.2.2, ArcGIS for Server Workgroup Standard 10.2.2)?

[RiyasDeen]

Hi Lon,

Not sure if there are other ways to take maps offline, but regarding your concern on setting up enterprise GDB. You don't need an ArcSDE license if you make direct connection to your database. You need ArcSDE license only if you need to use ArcSDE Service for accessing the Spatial database.

May be discussions in this thread will help understand better. Why would I install ArcSDE with 10.1?‌

As always for all licensing suggestions i advise you contact your local ESRI distributor before making licensing decisions.

More help on how to set up direct connection can be found here. ArcGIS Desktop‌

[LonSharp]

Thanks Riyas.

Unfortunately, everything we have is file based in either a file geodatabase, personal geodatabase or shapefile (something I should have mentioned initially).    The layers I want to be able to take off-line are in a file geodatabase.

Perhaps what I should have asked is:  can I create a sync-enabled layer from a file geodatabase?

[TomEarp · Accepted solution]

Lon,

You cannot create a feature service without storing the data in an Enterprise GDB.

However, you can publish your data as a feature service to ArcGIS Online.

Tom

[LonSharp]

Thank you Tom!   I figured I was overlooking something obvious.  I usually do.    In my defense, I'm still learning ArcGIS.com

Do you happen to know if I will be able to do this with Portal?   I know it will be included with the next version of Server, and I'd prefer to keep everything in-house.

[TomEarp]

You can do this with Portal now, but you still need the Enterprise GDB for Feature Services.

[LonSharp]

Thanks again.

[LonSharp]

Another question:

I successfully uploaded a zipped shapefile of parcels to ArcGIS Online, published it as a feature service and was able to create a map that I can use in Collector, exactly as needed.

The next question is updating the data.    We have regular (monthly) updates to our parcel layer.   I can see where to update the parcel shapefile in ArcGIS Online, but that doesn't seem to update the feature service that was created from the shapefile.   How do I go about updating the feature service that the map references?   Do I need to delete and re-publish it every month?

[TomEarp]

This might be your best bet:

Updating your hosted feature service for 10.2 | ArcGIS Blog