I am using Collector version 10.4.2 with iOS devices including both iPhone and iPad. My editable feature service is hosted on ArcGIS Online, along with a few other non-editable layers present in the web map. My editable feature service was a point feature class shared from a file geodatabase using ArcMap 10.3.1, and includes subtypes and various domains. We are also using our own tile basemaps.
The task was to send staff out to survey different geographic areas where they would collect 27 – 28 points each, and take four (4) photos at each point. This operation was conducted disconnected by four different groups simultaneously. Once back in the office, connected to Wi-Fi, the offline syncs successfully uploaded the points, but the attachments failed. Over two days, using different Wi-Fi connections, and even instructing them to collect less information at a time between syncs still proved to fail to retain the photo attachments.
Is there a limit to the file size for the offline sync upload for photo attachments with the Collector app? What is the limit? Once the sync fails, where have my photos gone? Are they retrievable at that point (able to still be uploaded and attached to their point data), or do I have one chance at success or they are lost forever?
A workaround that I attempted was to instruct staff to save each photo to the device after each submission, which is time-consuming and averts from using the Collector app as designed. However, the photo metadata is stripped with this method, so this option is useless.
Either Collector is going to be a reliable data collection method or it’s going to be a toy with no use or real value. Which is it, ESRI?
Please advise.