Adding Cached Base Maps

Map services that are published using ArcGIS Server can be cached to improve the performance of Web applications. The cache itself, called a tile cache, is stored on a Web server and includes images organized in a tiling scheme that was defined when publishing the map service. That tile cache can be used on your mobile device as a local basemap data source within your project.

Using a Cached Base Map has several advantages. You can leverage the same map content you use for Web applications in the field, you can leverage the power of ArcMap software's cartographic capabilities to construct a high-quality basemap for display on your mobile device, and you can purchase and use additional data products from ESRI directly in the field without having to convert the data between different formats.

Note:

There are geoprocessing tools within ArcGIS Desktop that you can use to create a new tile cache with a defined extent and set of levels. You can leverage these geoprocessing tools to build a tile cache that is optimized for your field use.

A tile cache is organized into a collection of folders and is stored on your Web server. The root folder name is given the name of the data frame in the map document that you published. Underneath that folder, you will find two files titled conf.xml and conf.cdi. These files are important to the definition of the tile cache and used by the Mobile Project Center.

To use a tile cache inside of the Mobile Project Center, you need to either have file access to the virtual directory on the Web server where the tile cache is located or copy the tile cache to a local folder. If you plan to store the tile cache on a remote folder location and reference it in your mobile project, you need to create a drive mapping to that remote drive before using the Mobile Project Center. Also note that you can rename the root folder name of your tile cache to something more meaningful (BaseMap_Orthos for example). However, do not rename the _allLayers subfolder, as its structure and naming is enforced.

The ArcGIS Mobile field applications require that all project content be stored in a specific folder location named Projects. You can have more than one location for projects on your mobile device. The Projects folder contains a subfolder for each field project. Your tile cache basemap should be copied into the Projects folder and not into the subfolder for a specific project (for example, Projects/BaseMap_Orthos). By keeping the basemaps at the same location as your projects, you can reference one basemap across multiple projects. It is important to note that the ArcGIS Mobile applications will search across all Projects folders to find basemaps, so you do not need to place your basemap content in the same location as the project.

Steps:

1. With a project already open, click Add to open the Add Layer dialog box.
2. Select ArcGIS Server Map Cache from the left panel of the Add Layer dialog box.
3. Navigate to the folder where your tile cache is stored (the folder location of the conf.xml).You will know when the folder location is correct, as the Add button will enable.
4. Click the Add button to add the cache to your map.