End of "life"? for ArcPad? Yikes!

[EugeneDashiell]

I have relied totally on ArcPad since 2002 when I did field work on Rota, CNMI for an airport runway extension (finally construction has been completed!). In places like that in the Pacific Islands, and even in many locations in Hawaii, in fact all islands with hills, valleys, etc in remote areas, there is limited if any cell phone service. I need ArcPad. Should I be buying up old versions of this software to keep my business alive? Maybe most of the ESRI folks are not as hard-core field workers as some of us. Working with streets, etc. is a different livelihood altogether. I guess I could go to Terrasync, but ArcPad is so basic and useful!

[curtvprice]

Eugene,

Esri is pretty good about keeping old things working, even though they have extended support through 2021 I would be surprised if it didn't keep working for you.  (Believe it or not, I can still run Arc/INFO under Win 10 [sort of, the help does not work anymore] ArcInfo Workstation Guidance‌) - was just using it the other day to import old .dlg files : old school!  So what you have you can keep using.

But I do strongly encourage you to look into the new offerings, the field apps that work with AGOL over the last three years have been updated to really well off line using onboard GPS (all iPhones have one) and higher accuracy external GPS (by bluetooth) (including basemaps) - you can disconnect and work without internet connection and when you get back in service everything synchs up. One positive development I just heard of is that they are looking at consolidating the many different apps into one with more features. You may need some new hardware but some of the new stuff is so awesome and easy to use with these apps, for example BadElf GNSS Surveyor (1-2m for $600) or their new BadElf Flex which can give you cm accuracy from a $3K device anywhere (except the polar areas). 

 Collector for ArcGIS‌ ArcGIS QuickCapture‌ ArcGIS Survey123‌

Mobile GIS

[JoshuaBixby]

I agree BadElf makes some good value products.  I am not sure BadElf GNSS Navigator is part of the current product line.  The companies website lists:  GNSS Surveyor ($600), GPS Pro+ ($300) and GPS Pro ($200).