Taking web maps offline allows you to view, collect, and update features when you are disconnected from the Internet. Once you're reconnected, you can synchronize your map, send any updates you have, and get map updates from other users.
You can create a web map in an ArcGIS Enterprise portal for use offline in ArcGIS apps such as Collector for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Pro, and custom apps built with ArcGIS Runtime SDK.
You have the following two options for taking a map offline. Some apps may support one or the other, or both.
- On demand—Field users can download any portion of the map whenever they need it. The field user specifies the area they want to take offline along with the details of the basemap required.
- Create map areas—Map authors can create map areas to package data for specific areas ahead of time. Map areas speed up and simplify the map download process for field workers.
Enable the layers and map for offline use
To take a web map offline, all the layers, including the basemap and reference layers, must be enabled for offline use. Esri basemaps are automatically enabled for offline use, but additional configuration is needed to use them in Collector for ArcGIS. See the Collector for ArcGIS documentation for instructions. You can enable the following types of map layers for offline use:
- Cached ArcGIS Server map services (from ArcGIS Server 10.3 or later) and cached ArcGIS Server image services (from ArcGIS Server 10.5.1 or later)—Check the Allow clients to export cache tiles check box in Advanced Settings.
- ArcGIS Server feature services (from ArcGIS Server 10.3 or later or, if using map areas, 10.6.1 or later)—Choose the Query and Sync options to enable offline use. If you want the data to be editable, also choose any combination of Create, Delete, and Update.
- Hosted feature layers—Check the Enable Sync check box on the Settings tab of the item page.
- Hosted tile layers—Check the Allow this layer to be downloaded and used in an offline map check box on the Settings tab of the item page.
To determine whether vector hosted tile layers can be used offline in a specific ArcGIS app, see the app documentation.
Note:
You must use the same spatial reference for the map and all cached services in the map, including the basemap and hosted tile layers.
If you want to create map areas for offline use of your map, ensure that if you only allow editors to edit their own features in a feature layer, you also allow editors to see all features in the layer. For hosted feature layers, this means selecting the Editors can see all features option if Editors can only edit their own features (requires tracking) is also selected.
After the layers are enabled for offline use, the Offline section appears on the Settings tab of the map's item page with the Enable offline mode toggle key on. If you don’t want your map to be taken offline, click off the Enable offline mode toggle key and click Save.
If the map you want to take offline contains a tile layer, the source service definition file, tile package, or vector tile package for the tile layer must exist in your portal.
Create, edit, and manage map areas
To simplify the experience of offline field workers, it's recommended that you create map areas for web maps that will be used offline. Map areas allow you to package data from specific areas of a web map to make it easier and faster to download maps for offline use. Map areas can be used in Collector for ArcGIS and ArcGIS Runtime SDK custom apps.
When you create a map area, the data in the specified area is bundled into one or more downloadable packages. Feature layers are bundled into SQLite database files (.geodatabase), tile layers into tile packages (.tpk or .tpkx), and vector tile layers into vector tile packages (.vtpk). Package names reflect the names of the layers they contain.
When layers in your map are updated, corresponding map area packages must be refreshed. You can set a refresh schedule to refresh feature layer packages at a specified interval and time—for example, every Monday at 9:00 a.m.—or you can refresh individual or all layer packages manually. If layers are added to or removed from the web map, you must refresh the entire map area to update the data. In some cases, you may also need to re-create or delete map areas.
To create, edit, and manage map areas for a web map, you must be the owner of the map and have privileges to publish content.
Create a map area
You can create up to 16 map areas for your web map. The number of map areas you create depends on the needs of your organization and its field workers. Before creating a map area, be sure to configure the advanced offline settings for your map. If you modify these settings after you create map areas, you will need to re-create the map areas to use the updated settings.
Do the following to create a map area:
- Ensure that all the layers in your map are enabled for offline use.
- On the web map's item page, click the Settings tab and click Offline at the top of the tab.
- In the Offline section, ensure that the Enable offline mode toggle key is on.
- Under Map Areas, click Manage Areas.
- In the Manage Areas window, click Create Area.
- Do any of the following to navigate to the part of the map where you want to create a map area.
- Use the zoom buttons to zoom in or out.
- If your map has bookmarks, click the Show bookmarks button and click a bookmark to navigate to the bookmarked area of the map.
- To navigate to a specific place or address, enter keywords in the search box. Keywords can include addresses, street intersections, places, points of interest, longitude and latitude coordinates, and feature IDs.
- To draw a shape representing the map area, click the Sketch button and drag a box on the map.
- Do any of the following to make changes to your shape as needed:
- To resize the shape, click to select it, hover over a vertex until the pointer changes, and drag the vertex to the desired position. Repeat this action with any of the vertices until you're satisfied with your shape.
- To move the shape, click to select it, and drag it to a new location on the map.
- In the Name box, type a descriptive name for the map area.
- To change the quality and resolution of the downloaded raster or vector tile layers, move the Level of Detail slider to the right (for more detail) or to the left (for less detail).
- Under Update packages for download, set the interval and time that you want your map area packages to be refreshed to capture any changes to feature layer data. If you don't want to set an automatic refresh schedule, select Never from the drop-down menu.
Note:
Scheduled refreshes don't apply to tile layers. You must manually refresh tile layer packages as needed.
- Click Create.
A progress bar appears, followed by a message indicating that your map area is being packaged. This can take several seconds or minutes, depending on the size of the data being packaged. Once packaging is complete, you can view a list of created packages by clicking the arrow for the map area.
- Repeat the steps above to create additional map areas. A web map can have up to 16 map areas.
Edit a map area
Once you've created a map area, you may want to change its name, shape, level of detail, or the schedule for refreshing feature layer packages (if set).
Do the following to edit a map area:
- On the web map's item page, click the Settings tab and click Offline at the top of the tab.
- In the Offline section, ensure that the Enable offline mode toggle key is on.
- Under Map Areas, click Manage Areas.
- If necessary, type part of the map area name in the Filter Map Areas field to help you find the map area you want to edit.
- Click the arrow for the map area you want to edit, and at the top of the map area pane, click the Options button
and click Edit. - In the Edit Map Area pane, change any of the settings, or change the shape of the map area as needed.
- Click Save when you're finished.
Manage map areas
Map area packages can be refreshed, re-created, or deleted at any time.
If you set a refresh schedule for a map area, its feature layer packages are automatically refreshed at the specified interval and time. You also have the option of manually refreshing map area packages. Refreshing a package updates the data it contains to reflect any changes made to the map data since the package was last created or refreshed. Packages should be refreshed if either of the following occurs:
- Layers are added or removed from the map. In this case, you must refresh the entire map area to update the data accordingly.
- The data in one or more feature layers has changed significantly since the last time it was packaged.
In some situations, you must re-create a map area. When you re-create a map area, all existing packages are deleted and new packages for all layers in the map are created. You must re-create a map area in the following cases:
- Fields have been added to or removed from a layer in the map.
- Domains or feature templates in the map have been modified.
When a map area is no longer needed, it can be deleted. Deleting a map area deletes all existing packages for the map area. However, if a map area is deleted from the web map, apps that have downloaded the map area can continue to synchronize data as long as the feature layers exist.
To manage existing map areas, do the following:
- On the web map's item page, click the Settings tab and click Offline at the top of the tab.
- In the Offline section, ensure that the Enable offline mode toggle key is on.
- Under Map Areas, click Manage Areas.
- To refresh one or more map areas, check the box next to the map area or areas you want to refresh and click Refresh.
- To re-create one or more map areas, do the following:
- Check the box next to the map area or areas you want to re-create and click Recreate.
- Click Recreate to confirm that you want to re-create the map area or areas you selected.
- To delete one or more map areas, check the box next to the map area or areas you want to delete and click Delete.
Choose the right advanced offline options for your project
When authoring a map for offline use, you can control how data will be initially downloaded and subsequently synchronized to offline devices by adjusting the advanced offline options. These settings do not affect edits made by users on mobile devices; those are always synchronized back to the original data.
Note:
You can configure advanced offline options if your map meets the requirements for offline use, plus the following requirements:
- There is at least one editable feature layer in the map.
- All editable feature layers in the map are either hosted feature layers or ArcGIS Server 10.4 or later feature services.
The advanced offline options work out of the box in Collector for ArcGIS. Developers building their own apps with ArcGIS Runtime SDK can take advantage of these advanced options using unsupported JSON. For example, if you're building an app using ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET, you could use the UnsupportedJson property.
To adjust the advanced offline settings, complete the following steps:
- Ensure that all the layers in your map are enabled for offline use.
- On the web map's item page, click the Settings tab and click Offline at the top of the tab.
- In the Offline section, ensure that the Enable offline mode toggle key is on.
- Click Advanced Options.
- Under Control feature and attachment delivery, specify how you want to deliver attachments and features to offline devices when the map is downloaded for the first time and each time data updates are synchronized from the map to the device. By default, devices will download and get updates to both features and attachments for editable layers and read-only layers.
- Under Editable features, choose an option for delivering features and attachments in editable layers. You can deliver both features and attachments, features only, or neither.
- Under Read-only features, choose an option for delivering features and attachments in read-only layers. You can deliver both features and attachments or features only.
Tip:
Choose the options that make sense depending on what users need to see offline, as well as any concerns or limitations related to device storage, cellular data usage, and download and synchronization speed, especially in areas of poor connectivity. For example, you can choose to deliver only feature updates if offline users don't need see attachments, or you can have attachments and features delivered for editable layers but not read-only ones.
- Under Use a tile package for the offline basemap, choose one of the following to specify what should be used as a basemap on offline devices:
- Device will use the basemap defined by the web map—If you choose this option, the basemap that is currently in the map will be used offline.
- Device will use a tile package it already has—If you choose this option, the offline map will use a tile package that is already on the device. Using a tile package as a basemap allows you to download a larger and more detailed basemap for offline use when required. Before choosing this option, ensure the tile package covers the area or areas you plan to work with offline.
- Click Save to save your changes.