Creating Maps for Anonymous Use

ArcGIS Field Maps is an all-in-one app that uses data-driven maps and mobile forms to help workers perform data capture and editing, find assets and information, and report their real-time locations. ArcGIS Field Maps is the go-to field app that streamlines the critical workflows mobile personnel use every day.

However, the application of FieldMaps goes beyond capturing data to be used in a professional sense, it is also a wonderful tool to make maps and data available to the general public. There are many ways that offline maps can become essential for any business or organisation that want to share their data with the public or stakeholders.  

Some examples are:

• Hikers who can download configured maps with information on the trail they are walking;
• Large festivals that provide a map of the campsite, these can be configured with useful pop-ups if toilets, food trucks, water stations etc.
• A city map tailored toward tourists; University campuses ….the list could go on and on

As part of my rotation in the Technical Pre-Sales team, I have been working on with a customer that involved creating a tourist/trails map with the intention of sharing it with the public. I’ve learned a few things along the way that will be useful to you if you wish to produce and share a map in a similar way.

This Technical Blog will walk you through how to create a map in ArcGIS Pro with useful information on how to export it as a Mobile Map Package that can be downloaded and used online or offline via FieldMaps, anonymously without a login. 

NOTE: 

• First things first, you will have to ensure that you have the necessary privileges to publish an .mmpk. You will need to have a Publisher role and you can check this in your ArcGIS Online by clicking your username in the top right hand corner and navigating to settings. Your User type and role will be listed under the License tab. Find out more about user types and roles here.
• You also want to avoid using any service layers, this would include basemaps such as the World Imagery basemap and any hosted feature layers. If you intend your map to be used offline any layers that are hosted and referenced via your map will not be available if taken offline. To avoid issues related to do this you can download a section of the map to be exported in the .mmpk. Navigate to the map tab and in the Offline group click Download Map:

You first want to configure map with all the information the end user will need. Include polylines to represent roads or pathways, points to show where first aid tents are located and polygons to represent various sections such as campsite. Of course, this is where your personal use case will determine what is on the map and what will be needed.

Next you will want to enable pop-ups for layers if necessary, if a point requires more information than can be represented from the symbology, go ahead and configure them as required. You can include images as well as audio to make the information more accessible to the user. Check out this blog that goes into more detail on configuring pop-ups. In ArcGIS Pro you can run the Enable Pop-ups tool which can be found by navigating to the geoprocessing group from the Analysis tab and clicking on the Tools button. Simply search the name of the tool and put in the layer for which you would like to enable pop-ups.

If necessary you can also enable labelling which you can configure using Arcade expressions. Check out this blog for more information on using Arcade expressions to configure your labels. 

NOTE: 

Before moving onto the next section do ensure as always that all your feature classes and basemaps are in the same coordinate system and projection. We recommend using the default Web Mercator as it is the standard for web maps and online services. 

Once you have your map configured and everything is as it should be you can now export your map as an .mmpk or Mobile Map Package. Navigate to the Share tab on the ribbon and in the Package group click on Mobile Map Package: 

You can upload it to ArcGIS Online or download it as a file to your device. We would recommend uploading to ArcGIS Online as it saves some steps further down the line. Give your Map a name, include a summary and tags to make it easy to find. You can then choose what area you want to be packaged, using the Current display extent is a straightforward method and you can also select the Clip option to make packaging and downloading the map much easier.

If you intend to share this map with the public, make sure to select Enable Anonymous use (if you don’t see that option check your it will be because you are not using a Publisher Extension) this will allow people to access the map without a login. Finally, do share it with everyone, again so that the public can find it easily. Run the Analyse option to make sure everything will run fine and click Package (It can take a few minutes to run, especially if you are using an imagery basemap)

When your map has been packaged you will be able to find it in your content in ArcGIS Online as well as by searching the map in the FieldMaps app.

See for your self how you can access an interactive map via FieldMaps without a login. If you have the FieldMaps app, click on this link and it will take you to a map configured as described in this article. Remember to sign out to see how an anonymous user would be able to access the map.