ArcGIS Field Maps 4+

Offline mode is rough

Offline would be made significantly better by allowing the user to select both the size of the offline area and the scale. Right now you either get crystal clear imagery of a tiny area (which takes forever to download) or you get a huge blurry area (which also takes forever to download). Being able to download a medium section at low to medium image quality should fix this issue…

Photo direction errors

All in all working in offline mode functions pretty well after you have enough experience to figure out all the quirky non-intuitive issues. For example, the photo direction (I.e. - exif data) is apparently not captured when you actually take the photo but when you “add data” or “update point” so if you change direction to take the photo the direction arrow in your field report/photo log will be off. Or if you hit “update” point while in landscape thinking you are refining your location and direction, your photo direction in your photo log will actually be off 90 degrees since the app is set up to lock it in while holding it in a portrait position (so you basically need to first rotate it back to portrait position and hold your phone at as close to the same direction in portrait as you took the photo in landscape to lock in the correct direction)….very annoying it doesn’t just use the exif data the moment a photo is taken.

Very unstable and completely unreliable

I developed multiple map projects in 2019 for Collector that worked great and transferred to FieldMaps fine when Collector was discontinued. However, ever since we created new map projects in 2021, they have all failed. Map projects will work sometimes then crash repeatedly without any way to resolve unless we completely delete the app, reinstall, and then reload map projects. I have my entire field crew using and relying on map projects developed for FieldMaps and it’s failed us time and time again on every device (new iPads, iPhones 8 through 12, and Androids). Because of crashing and not being able to sync, we’ve lost hundreds of data points collected in the field for professional purposes (federal grants and agreements, and contracts) over two years with no possible way to recover our data. I’m so frustrated and tired of this app and its complete unreliability. I think I now must forget Esri and find a better solution for our professional needs to collect data in the field.

Developer Response ,

This is very unfortunate to hear. Please contact Esri support so that we can determine what has gone wrong with your maps and help you find a resolution.