Working off-line

[Alexander_Muir]

I am currently having an app tested for working off-line collecting road data in Bourke, NSW. It's probably as remote as you can go. The council has internet access but for only approx. 25% of the surrounding area. The app is currently on an iphone 12. The person involved has been having problems with the app when off-line. He is using google maps on the app and when offline the map disappears so he cannot easily find the asset to amend. He is collecting photos as well.

We have had a range of problems when setting different switches.  the current switches that are on are

• Delayed sync for manual syncing
• The app can start when offline
• Store content for offline use

One case as follows "

I've encountered this problem two times as you can see from the attached screenshots. It was heading out to ford's bridge about 25 to 29 km from North Bourke when it happened. 

After the first incident I came back to north Bourke and went back towards Ford's Bridge when it happened again".

Another instance

I wanted to ask if there is any way to make the road map in app sheet work more reliably while offline. I am asking this as I encountered a problem with the map on adding about 10 km of data. The road map page suddenly appeared blank and I was not able to see any points that I added. I was able to access the road list but I need a visual interpretation to identify the point, hence that map is important to add or modify points while at site.

[WillowMobileSys · Accepted solution]

Certain capabilities are not available when users are offline because they require connections to external services.  You can get most of the details in this article:

Offline and Sync: The Essentials 

For example, the article covers this (note the comment about caching map data):

 

[Alexander_Muir]

I appreciate your response. If I have a client wanting to use the feature what can be done? 

[WillowMobileSys]

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@Alexander_Muir wrote:

If I have a client wanting to use the feature what can be do

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Do you mean using mapping capabilities while offline?  In general you can't.  

Apps don't permanently store map images.  However, if they have accessed the location before going offline, they will have a map image to view while offline.  I don't know how long it is persisted though.

If the client truly needs full mapping access to work in remote areas, there are connection services that provide special hardware that can allow internet in these areas.  They are mobile and the phone would simply connect to that network to have the online access it needs.  I have checked into some of these internet services and they are not overly expensive and would likely work well for a business.

[WillowMobileSys]

One other idea came to mind while I was reading another post. 

You can create KML map layers.  These typically use a static image as a background - a map, blueprint, diagram, etc.  Then you can overlay items onto that background image.

For more details, and examples of how KML Layers can work, visit this article and scroll to the KML Map Layers section:

Work with maps 

There is a LOT you can do with KML Layers - which translates to a large learning curve!