Offline mapping apps | Documentation

ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native AppsArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps, previously known as ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, are developer products for building mapping and spatial analysis applications for native devices.Learn more support developing offline mapping applicationsAn offline application, also known as offline app, is an application that runs on a phone, tablet, laptop or desktop device with limited or no network connection. Offline applications are built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more that work where network connectivity is unreliable or entirely absent. You can build offline applications to display maps and layers, style data, edit data, find places, geocode addresses, and find routes. As part of your mobile development workflow you can use toolsTools, also known as developer tools, are ArcGIS software applications such as portal and ArcGIS Pro that developers can use to prepare content and data for custom applications they are building.Learn more such as Map ViewerMap Viewer is a browser-based mapping tool that can view, create, and save web maps. It can also perform mapping, visualization, and spatial analysis operations.Learn more and ArcGIS ProArcGIS Pro is a professional desktop GIS application that can explore, visualize, analyze, and manage 2D and 3D data.Learn more to prepare different types of mobile data sourcesA mobile data source is a data format used to build offline apps. The formats include offline maps, offline data, mobile packages, and data files.Learn more for your applications such as offline mapsAn offline map is a map area and its data content downloaded from an offline-enabled web map for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more, offline dataOffline data is data that is generated and downloaded from a feature service, vector tile service, or image tile service for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more, mobile packagesA mobile package is a stand-alone Mobile Map Package (MMPK) or Mobile Scene Package (MSPK) file for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more, and data filesA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more. Two common workflows for preparing and accessing offline maps are ahead of timeThe ahead-of-time workflow, also known as the preplanned workflow, is a development pattern for building offline applications where offline map areas in a web map are used by the offline application.Learn more and on-demandThe on-demand workflow is a development pattern for building offline applications where the offline application defines an area of a web map to take offline.Learn more. The workflow you use determines how you prepare, synchronize, and access offline maps in your applications.

What's in this guide

This guide shows you how to build different types of offline apps and covers the following:

Partially offline appsA partially offline app is a type of offline app built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps that is designed to work where network connectivity is unreliable.Learn more
Fully offline appsA fully offline app is a type of offline app built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps that is designed to work where network connectivity is entirely absent.Learn more
Mobile data sourcesA mobile data source is a data format used to build offline apps. The formats include offline maps, offline data, mobile packages, and data files.Learn more