Mobile ArcGIS Online

Stepping into Mobile Development

In early 2011 we began to turn our attention seriously from development for the PC Web to mobile. Blackberry released their excellent, but not well received, Playbook. As a first step into mobile GIS development we built and launched a mobile ArcGIS viewer to the Blackberry App World. Accompanying this release we wrote a paper for ESRI’s ArcUser publication on the development process, available at this link.

http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0112/files/arcuser56/pageflip.html

GeoMobile for ArcGIS

1) GeoMobile for ArcGIS Server

The Blackberry App World app was released as a free download, and was well received. This encouraged us to turn our attention to the new wave of tablet devices being released; notably the iPad and the increasing number of Android tablets. In mid- 2011 we released the first in our range of mobile ArcGIS viewers; GeoMobile for ArcGIS Server. Details of this product can be found here:

http://www.webmapsolutions.com/free-mobile-arcgis-viewer-upgraded

Again this was a free release. Our goal was to demonstrate the use of ArcGIS on a tablet. With over 300 downloads a week in the Apple market and similar in the Android market, the app has proved very popular. Not only does the app allow users to load sample maps, but they can load their own ArcGIS server endpoints by setting up their own configuration file. As with all our free mobile app releases we encourage any and all user feedback

Figure 1: GeoMobile for ArcGIS Server

2) GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online

In 2012 we shifted our attention to ArcGIS Online. ESRI have focused much of their work on this new cloud based platform. Users can now sign up for an ArcGIS online account, and publish their data to map services running in the cloud. So base maps with a combination of ArcGIS server layers, shapefiles, CSV, KML. Now it easy for users to quickly publish their geospatial data, and consume/display it on a plethora of different devices; both mobile and non-mobile.

Figure 2: GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online

As mobile GIS developers we were quick to start building apps against this new platform. We took what we learned from GeoMobile for ArcGIS Server, restructured the code and launched GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online; read more here:

http://www.webmapsolutions.com/arcgisonline

Once again we released this as a free application in the Apple and Android markets. The first version of the mobile app relied on a configuration file; we have recently released a new version which allows users to log in to their own portal in ArcGIS Online.

Figure 3: GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online LogIn

We included a number of free tools with the mobile app. These include overview map, geocoder, and a recently a Google tri-viewer.

Figure 4: GeoMobile for ArcGIS Online Tools

Here is a demo on the new Google tri-viewer tool.

All GeoMobile for ArcGIS products are cross platform mobile solutions built with Mobile Flex. That means one code base which can run across multiple different platforms.

Conclusion

Our GeoMobile for ArcGIS mobile apps have proved very popular. As we deepen our work in mobile, we have begun building more advanced solutions; notably editing and offline or disconnected mobile ArcGIS. Feel free to contact us for more information.

Tags: Android, ArcGIS Online, argis, free GIS mobile viewers, IOS, IPad, map viewer, mobile, tablet

Categories: Mobile ArcGIS, Mobile GIS

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2012 at 1:04 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.