How to build a partially offline app

1. Define the app requirements

Before you start building your partially offline app, you need to define the functionalities you want to offer in your app. Your specific use case will determine the most suitable mobile data source for your application. Some questions to get you started are:

• Will you be working with preconfigured 3D scenes or 2D maps?
• Will you be editing data offline and synchronizing offline edits?
• Will you be geocoding, routing, or finding an address using a locator file?

Once you have outlined the requirements of your partially offline app, you can begin to prepare a mobile data source.

2. Prepare a mobile data source

To start creating a partially offline app, you select a mobile data source as the foundation for your app. You can download an offline map from an offline-enabledOffline-enabled is a setting in a web map or hosted layer item that allows it to be downloaded and used by offline apps.Learn more web map, download offline data from a data service, use a mobile map packageA mobile map package (MMPK) is a standalone file that contains one or more map definitions, including the basemap layers, data layers, layer styles, and pop-up styles for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more (.mmpk) or mobile scene packageA mobile scene package (MSPK) is a standalone file that contains one or more scene definitions, including the basemap layers, elevation layers, data layers, layer styles, and pop-up styles for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more (.mspk) created in ArcGIS Pro, or use data files containing geospatial features.

If you choose an offline map or offline data as your data source, you have the additional capability to synchronize offline edits as soon as your device is connected to a network.

Use the following table to help select your mobile data source.

Once you select a mobile data source, the general steps to prepare the mobile data source are:

3. Build the app

Once you have prepared a mobile data source, you are ready to build an offline application. Use the 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 to create a partially offline app that runs on your preferred platform.

Example code to access data from a mobile data source in an offline app:

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var portal = await ArcGISPortal.CreateAsync();
var portalItem = await PortalItem.CreateAsync(portal, "YOUR_ITEM_ID"); // Replace with your web map ID
var map = new Map(portalItem);

OfflineMapTask offlineTask = await OfflineMapTask.CreateAsync(map);

GenerateOfflineMapParameters generateParameters =
    await offlineTask.CreateDefaultGenerateOfflineMapParametersAsync(areaOfInterest);

GenerateOfflineMapJob job = offlineTask.GenerateOfflineMap(generateParameters, "path\\to\\map\\directory");

GenerateOfflineMapResult result = await job.GetResultAsync();

if (result.OfflineMap is Map offlineMap)
{
    MainMapView.Map = offlineMap;
}

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MainMapView.Map = new Map(BasemapStyle.ArcGISStreets);
var areaOfInterest = new Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Geometry.Polygon(new [] {
    new MapPoint(-88.153245, 41.778064, SpatialReferences.Wgs84),
    new MapPoint(-88.146708, 41.778870, SpatialReferences.Wgs84),
    new MapPoint(-88.145878, 41.769764, SpatialReferences.Wgs84),
    new MapPoint(-88.153431, 41.770330, SpatialReferences.Wgs84)
});

var featureServiceUri = new Uri("https://services2.arcgis.com/ZQgQTuoyBrtmoGdP/arcgis/rest/services/WaterDistributionNetwork/FeatureServer");
GeodatabaseSyncTask geodatabaseSyncTask = await GeodatabaseSyncTask.CreateAsync(featureServiceUri);

GenerateGeodatabaseParameters gdbGenerateParameters
    = await geodatabaseSyncTask.CreateDefaultGenerateGeodatabaseParametersAsync(areaOfInterest.Extent);
gdbGenerateParameters.ReturnAttachments = false;

GenerateGeodatabaseJob job = geodatabaseSyncTask.GenerateGeodatabase(gdbGenerateParameters, "path\\to\\file.geodatabase");

// Optionally listen for progress changes
job.ProgressChanged += (o,e) => { };

Geodatabase generateResult = await job.GetResultAsync();

MainMapView.Map.OperationalLayers.AddRange(
    generateResult.GeodatabaseFeatureTables.Select(table => new FeatureLayer(table))
  );

MainMapView.SetViewpointGeometryAsync(areaOfInterest, 50);

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try
{
    var mobileMapPackage = await MobileMapPackage.OpenAsync(path: "path\\to\\file.mmpk");
    await mobileMapPackage.LoadAsync();
    MainMapView.Map = mobileMapPackage.Maps.First();
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
    // Handle error.
}

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var shapefileTable = new ShapefileFeatureTable("\\path\\to\\shapefile.shp");

var shapefileLayer = new FeatureLayer(shapefileTable);

MainMapView.Map.OperationalLayers.Add(shapefileLayer);

Tutorials

How-tosTutorialsSamples

Create an offline app with predefined areas

Learn how to build an offline app using an offline-enabled web map and feature layer using the ahead-of-time workflow.

Create an offline app with user-defined areas

Learn how to build an offline app using an offline-enabled web map and feature layer using the on-demand workflow.