Access offline edits from ArcGIS Field Maps directly from an Android device

Summary

ArcGIS Field Maps stores offline replicas in an SQLite database or runtime geodatabase (as .geodatabase files) before they are synchronized to the feature service. In the event the offline edits cannot be synchronized, the locally stored edits are extracted from the mobile device and converted to a file geodatabase. The instructions provided describe the steps to do this in ArcGIS Field Maps on Android operating systems, and how to work with or convert the recovered data.

Note:
These instructions form the last option to salvage data from the device. Contact Esri Support Services for help with device information and errors.

Procedure

Recover the runtime geodatabase from the Android device

1. Connect the Android device to the PC.
2. Browse to the ArcGIS Field Maps folder.
   For example:

<Name of phone>\Internal shared storage\Android\data\com.esri.fieldmaps\files\<username>\mapareas

3. Copy the entire folder containing the .geodatabase file from the device and paste it on the local machine. Ensure the .geodatabase file is inside the folder first, as shown in the image below.

Note:
If unable to browse files using the Android device, install a file explorer application to access the data.

Working with or converting the recovered data

In ArcGIS Pro

Note:
Feature Service sync is available as of ArcGIS Pro 2.1.

Sync the edits recovered above using the steps below.

1. Recover the runtime geodatabase (based on the operating device explained above).
2. Open ArcGIS Pro.
3. Sign in to ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS with the same user credentials that was used to download and make the offline edits in ArcGIS Field Maps.
4. In the Catalog window, navigate to the folder location of the recovered runtime geodatabase. Drag and drop the geodatabase files to add the layers to a new map view in ArcGIS Pro.

5. On the ribbon, select the Map tab. In the Offline group, the Sync and Remove tools become active when a valid offline dataset is added to the map contents.
6. Click Sync.

Alternatively, convert the runtime geodatabase to a file geodatabase using the following steps:

1. In ArcGIS Pro, search for the Export XML Workspace Document tool.

2. For Input data, drag and drop the .geodatabase file or files from your device.
3. Select a location for the output .xml file. All the other options must remain at default.
4. Click Run.

5. Once complete, search for and open the Import XML Workspace Document (Data Management > Distributed Geodatabase) tool.

6. For Target Geodatabase, select the location of the geodatabase to contain all the exported data. (The tool automatically creates one if it does not exist in the specified folder.) Always use a blank geodatabase.
7. For Import File, select the .xml file created earlier. All the other options must remain at default.
8. Click Run.

In ArcMap

In ArcMap, use the runtime geodatabase recovered from the device as the input for the Copy Runtime Geodatabase to File Geodatabase tool. The output of this tool is a file geodatabase containing unsynchronized edits and photo attachments that can now be migrated back into the original database if necessary.

Note:
The Copy Runtime Geodatabase to File Geodatabase geoprocessing tool is available at ArcGIS Desktop version 10.3 with all license levels: Basic, Standard, or Advanced. However, all geoprocessing tools in the Attachments toolset require an ArcGIS for Desktop, Standard or Advanced, license.