Get started with ArcGIS Field Maps

ArcGIS Field Maps is a mobile solution that allows mobile workers to explore maps, collect data, and share their location from the field. It includes two components: the Field Maps Designer web app and the Field Maps mobile app.

With Field Maps Designer, you can create maps, build forms for data collection, enable maps for offline use, set up geofences, and configure a variety of settings to prepare maps for field workflows. With Field Maps, mobile workers can access the maps, forms, data, and tools required to complete their work. Field Maps works online, offline, outdoors, and indoors.

This topic describes the high-level capabilities of ArcGIS Field Maps and provides additional resources for getting started. To learn how to prepare maps for field workflows, see the Prepare maps tab. To learn how to use maps in the mobile app, see the Use maps tab.

Prepare maps

With Field Maps Designer, you can prepare the maps mobile workers use to complete work in the field. You can create maps and build forms for data collection, set up geofences for situational awareness, enable maps for offline use, configure a variety of settings, and share the map so everyone in your team can access it in Field Maps. To get started with a new map, see Create a map.

Deploy maps

Once you've prepared maps for use in the Field Maps mobile app, you can deploy them to the field in a variety of ways. You can share maps with your entire ArcGIS organization or a specific group, and you can use app links and mobile device management (MDM) to help streamline the process of opening a map in Field Maps. To get start with deploying maps to the Field Maps mobile app, see Deploy your map.

Explore maps

In the Field Maps mobile app, you can explore and interact with maps created in ArcGIS that are shared with your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise account. You can turn layers on and off, filter layers, open pop-ups, search for assets and locations of interest, change the basemap, download maps for offline use, receive location alerts, and view your own location. There are a variety of tools available for interacting with the map, such as a compass, tools for measuring distance, area, and m-values (for linear referencing), and a floor filter for filtering indoor assets by floor. If your map contains a utility network, you can view and trace the network in Field Maps. To learn more about the Field Maps interface and all of the available tools, see Quick reference.

Field Maps also allows you to draw on maps with the markup tool. With markup, you can add arrows, drawings, and shapes to the map along with notes. You can share any markup you've created as a layer with others in your organization or as a screenshot that you can share as an image, such as with email or text. To learn more about markup, see Use markup.

Collect data

You can collect data and perform inspections using the Field Maps mobile app. With forms built in Field Maps Designer, mobile workers can add new point, line, or polygon features to the map, update data, or add new records to a related table (for inspection workflows). There are a variety of ways to collect data, such as collecting at or offset from your location, using snapping and streaming to capture points, and by copying existing features to create new ones. When mobile workers submit data they've collected, the updates can be viewed in maps and apps where the layer is present. To learn more about how to collect data in Field Maps, see Capture.

While you can collect data using your device's built-in GPS, you can also pair Field Maps with GNSS receivers for high-accuracy data collection. When you collect data with a high-accuracy receiver, the point or vertex is automatically generated in Field Maps and includes additional GPS metadata. To learn more about high-accuracy data collection, GPS metadata, and the receivers supported in Field Maps, see Prepare for high-accuracy data collection.

Share location

Location sharing allows you to monitor the real-time location of your mobile workforce, ensuring safety and situational awareness during an event or workday. When mobile workers turn on location sharing in the mobile app, Field Maps can record a breadcrumb trail of tracks, their last know location, and track lines that represent where they are and where they've been. Location sharing can be automatically enabled and disabled using geofences, used offline, and combined with indoor positioning systems (IPS) to generate locations indoors. Mobile workers can view the tracks layer in Field Maps and tap on individual track points to view detailed information, such as activity status and battery percentage of their device. To learn more about location sharing in Field Maps, see Enable location sharing and Share location.

Additional resources

In addition to the help documentation, the following resources can help you get started with ArcGIS Field Maps: