Deploying mobile projects

The mobile projects catalog contains both a web page that you can access via a web browser either on your desktop or on a mobile device and a web service that can be used by the ArcGIS Mobile application to locate and download both the ArcGIS Mobile application and projects that have configured using the Server Manager. You can access the mobile web page by clicking on View Mobile Projects via the web link at the top of the Mobile Projects Catalog page.

There are a number of strategies for deploying the mobile application, mobile projects, and mobile data to your field-workers. Regardless of the technology that you use to deploy your mobile projects, you should consider provisioning the mobile devices that your field-workers will use with as much information as possible while they are in the office. You need only install the ArcGIS Mobile application CAB once on a device, and the maps and projects that field-workers use to accomplish their tasks can be deployed independently. With regard to map data, it is recommended that you identify which layers are basemap layers and use the Mobile geoprocessing tool called "Create Mobile Base Map" to build a highly compressed basemap that can be provisioned onto the device and utilized across mobile projects. Please refer to the ArcGIS Desktop documentation for more information on building an effective mobile map.

If your organization currently manages field devices, you may already have purchased one or more mobile device provisioning software products. In this case, you can directly access the application CAB file and the mobile project files from the web server they are stored on. The application CAB file is located at <web server name>\inetpub\wwwroot\ArcGIS\Mobile\Software. The individual mobile project files are located at <web server name>\inetpub\wwwroot\ArcGIS\Mobile\Projects\<Project Folder Name>\<Project Folder Name>.amp. You can browse directly for the CAB and .amp files and include them into your provisioning software for scheduled deployment.

If you do not have a mobile device deployment solution today, one solution is to use the field device to pull both the application CAB file and the projects directly from the web server that you are using to serve mobile projects. The web server contains both a web page and web service that the mobile device can connect to and use either when cradled in the office or when connected by WIFI or cellular. The field-worker can then use the Synchronize task to get map data from the server from the field and start working. If you would like to provision basemap data, you will need to do this in the office using Microsoft® ActiveSync (Microsoft® Windows Mobile Device Center for Vista) or by copying the basemap to a storage card and then inserting the card into the mobile device.