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• Required

  • Simple Feature Symbols - Use Esri’s Simple Feature Symbols (esriSMS, esriSLS, esriSFS) instead of more complex Picture Marker Symbols. This is especially important for points. Simple Marker Symbols (esriSMS) use JSON instructions to define the size, color, outline color, outline width, etc. for the symbol, instead of using an encoded image as the symbol. The image below shows how to ensure that a point symbol is a Simple Marker Symbol. Note that this format has a limited number of options, including only the following shapes: Circle, Square, Cross, X, Diamond (square rotated 45 degrees).

  • Example of setting simple marker symbol symbology in ArcMap

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    Example of setting simple marker symbology in ArcPro (note the use of ‘Shape Marker’ and the selection of the circle shape that is access from the shape dropdown. This is not the same as using the gallery and selecting Circle 1 or other symbol, which will use Picture Marker Symbols).

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  • Example of setting simple fill symbol symbology for polygons in ArcPro (note the need to select a ‘hollow’ shape from the gallery first, then modify the outline width and color properties). When a no-color or transparent fill is selected instead, InventoryManager will display a faint blue fill color rather than a hollow polygon.

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  • Unique Value Renderer

    • If using a Unique Value Renderer (e.g., a different color for each Plot according to it’s Status value), only use a single field to determine the symbol (not 2 or more fields). In ArcMap, use the option for ‘Unique values’ not ‘Unique values, many fields’.

    • Default values - use a default value with Unique Value Renderers to ensure that features that have a null for the category field will still have a symbol on the map. This unique value is what will be displayed in MobileMap when selecting this layer for query or edit.

• Suggested

  • Points

    • Size greater than or equal to 10

    • No outline - while outlines can be helpful for seeing points with low contrast to background (e.g., a green point on a forested stand using imagery background, they can also make things visually cluttered and can obscure the fill color when points are too small. Instead, try to use colors that have high contrast and avoid using outlines. We have found that bright green is generally sufficiently high contrast to vegetation in most scenarios.

  • Lines

    • Line width of 2

    • If lines might overlap, consider use of dashed lines for layers that will be above, or increased thickness for layers that will be below

  • Polygons

    • Hollow (no fill) allows for viewing of imagery within the polygon. This is especially true for forestry applications where users want to see the distribution of vegetation cover in forest stands

    • Line width of 2

Symbology Layer Files

The attached Zipfile below can be used to import symbology into ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro.

Publishing the Feature Service

Once the symbology, projection, data model and Editor Tracking (see MobileMap: Data Modeling Process for more information on data modeling and Editor Tracking) have been set and saved, follow the steps below to publish the map document as a feature service in ArcGIS Online / Portal. 

Note that some users have reported problems publishing feature services from ArcGIS Pro when the data (file geodatabase and/or Project file) are stored in OneDrive, rather than being stored locally. If you experience problems publishing to ArcGIS Online and you are using OneDrive, consider copying the data locally and re-attempt the publish. See more details on Esri’s support article: https://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000025605

• Make sure to zoom out to an extent that covers all of the area for the relevant data to be published. For example, if you have data which consists of all counties in California, zoom out on the map to show California, Oregon and Mexico.

• Once zoomed out, save the map document and do not zoom back in before publishing.

• Ensure that you are logged in to your ArcGIS Account in ArcMap / ArcPro. To sign in from ArcMap, go to File -> Sign In.

• Publish the service using the ‘Share’ option in ArcMap (File -> Share As -> Service).  Select ‘Publish a service’ and name the service (pick a short name, all lower case with no spaces). As described above, we recommend naming the ArcMap document (MXD) with that will be used for the feature service. This helps when overwriting a service after changes are made to the data model or symbology. Complete the following information during the publication process:
  

  • Capabilities - check Feature Access and uncheck Tiled Mapping.  

  • Feature Access - check the boxes next to Create, Delete, Query, Sync, and Update.  (Figure 11)

  • Item Description - add text in the Summary and Tags. If these were set in the Map Document Properties as suggested above, these will already be populated. Review them to make sure they are correct. 

  • Sharing - choose the level of Sharing.  

    • Selecting Everyone makes the feature service a ‘public’ service, meaning anyone could potentially find the service if they know what to search for on ArcGIS Online.  This is NOT recommended.

    • Selecting your organization limits the sharing to just your group. (If you select your organization, you will need to put your ArcGIS Online user name and password in the settings of MB&G MobileMap).

    • For MobileMap to find the service and display it in the ‘Select Feature Service’ dialog, the service must be shared with at least one group that the user is a member of. Sharing via ‘Everyone’ or ‘Your Organization’ is not sufficient for MobileMap to find the service.

    • See section below on Managing ArcGIS Online Groups and Users for more information on this topic

• Finally, select Publish in the upper right corner.

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