clarification on how tracking / location sharing works in field maps

[L77]

Our GIS administrator for our county asked management if he can turn on tracking for our organization. The organization includes several different unions. The public works union will not allow their workers to be tracked. The other unions would like to use tracking. I need clarification on how tracking works so I can provide this information to my boss. Ordinarily I would try things out to figure out how they work, but I need to know how they work without being able to test anything.

I read through the help documentation and watched these two videos.

https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/pdf/implementation-guides/deploy-a-location-t...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IHSl9G9rI0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-5Od_M9Yuo

Here are my assumptions and questions based on the content above. 

1. First our administrator has to turn on tracking as a feature for our organization. This step does not automatically turn on tracking for any users, it just allows him to assign licenses to users.

2. Next he has the option to click a checkbox to allow users to see each others tracks. (Does this mean that in every field app all users will see each others tracks, or can that be restricted in field maps designer per app? So in some apps they can see other users tracks but in other apps they can only see their own tracks?)

3. Then he has to assign licenses to the users who want to use tracking. If he doesn't assign a license then they won't have access to tracking. (so he could theoretically assign licenses for users in one union, and not assign licenses for our public works union? Or is he assigning this to a user type? So he could create a new user type and add this extension to the user type then change all of the users who want to use tracking to this user type?).

4. He has to go into the field maps designer and turn on location sharing in each individual app that needs tracking. (Are there different settings to choose from on this screen? Does this just add the tracking toggle to field maps, or does it require the toggle to be turned on for the users to be able to edit or save changes?)

5. In field maps designer can he select a checkbox to allow users to see each others tracks for the same field app. If he doesn't check this box then they will only see their own tracks. (Is this true, is this a setting in field maps designer?)

6. Users who do not have the location sharing extension assigned to them will not be able to see the field app anymore if location sharing is turned on?

7. The toggle for location sharing is turned off by default in field maps and is not tracking the worker until the click the toggle. The worker has to select the toggle to turn on tracking, and select a tracking duration of 4,8,12 hours or until switched off. Even if they close the app on their device it will continue to track the worker until they click the toggle to turn off tracking on this screen or on the gps screen, or when the time expires.

8. Is the tracking data stored separately for each field map app, or is all of the tracking data stored in one place that is accessible to all users who have the track viewer enabled? For example will the assessors office staff be able to see the tracks collected by the noxious weeds staff if they both have tracking enabled and are using separate field apps?

I have more questions but this is a good start. Thank you in advance for replies to my questions! It is unusual to not be able to test things.

[JustinColville]

Hello,

Answers to your questions below. Also a couple of additional help docs to look at if you have not seen them:

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/administer/configure-location-tracking.htm

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/administer/create-track-views.htm

1. “our administrator has to turn on tracking as a feature for our organization”

Correct, an admin needs to turn on location sharing for your organization and this does not turn on location sharing for any user. It just allows farther configuration to occur.

2. Configuration of what organization users can view track data is configured in TrackViewer where track views are created (https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/administer/create-track-views.htm). Only users with a role that has the view tracks privilege can view other user’s tracks.

3. “Then he has to assign licenses to the users who want to use tracking.”

If the users are of type mobile worker they will be able to use location sharing, otherwise the user type extension will need to be assigned to each user that you want to be able to share their location.

4. “He has to go into the field maps designer and turn on location sharing in each individual app that needs tracking.”

Configuration of an individual map to require location sharing be turned on (like you show in your screen shot) is an optional step.

5. “In field maps designer can he select a checkbox to allow users to see each others tracks for the same field app. If he doesn't check this box then they will only see their own tracks.”

Configuring which users can view other’s tracks is done in TrackViewer with track views (https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/administer/create-track-views.htm). By default, in Field Maps a user can only view their own tracks. You would need to author a map, make sure they had the correct role/privilege and have a track view to be able to have them view other user’s tracks.

6. “Users who do not have the location sharing extension assigned to them will not be able to see the field app anymore if location sharing is turned on?” Users who do not have the location sharing extension will be able to use Field Maps without any issues, they just wont be able to share their location.

7. “The toggle for location sharing is turned off by default in field maps and is not tracking the worker until the click the toggle. The worker has to select the toggle to turn on tracking, and select a tracking duration of 4,8,12 hours or until switched off. Even if they close the app on their device it will continue to track the worker until they click the toggle to turn off tracking on this screen or on the gps screen, or when the time expires.” Correct, users need to turn on location sharing in the app and it will continue to share their location when the app is in the background

8. “Is the tracking data stored separately for each field map app, or is all of the tracking data stored in one place that is accessible to all users who have the track viewer enabled?” Tracks data is stored in one service per organization. Who has access to view this data is configured in TrackViewer with track views and by assigning roles that has the view tracks privilege can view other user’s tracks.

I hope this helps with our questions.

[L77]

@JustinColville Thank you for the information.

All of our field staff have a User Type of Creator, and a Role of Data Editor.

If our GIS administrator turns on location sharing for our organization, then leaves the public works union workers user type as is then would they have access to location sharing?

Is there a way to make it work so that the public works union can keep their user type but won't have access to location sharing, and the other workers can get access to location sharing?

I was assuming that the User Type of Creator would have the Location Sharing included because it is a higher level user type then the Mobile Worker user type, but I read this thread below and it says that only the Mobile Worker user type includes the Location Sharing capabilities and all other roles will need to have the Location Sharing licenses added to their user account.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-field-maps-questions/location-sharing/td-p/1319343

If this is the case then I am thinking that our GIS administrator could leave all field staff with the User Type of Creator, and a Role of Data Editor.

Then he could assign location sharing licenses only to staff that are in other unions. Then the public works union staff would not have access to location sharing because they would not have the license.

Is this correct?

[JustinColville · Accepted solution]

Yes, this is correct.

Users of type Creator would need to have the location sharing user type extension assigned to them.  This is done per user, not by user type or role.  The Mobile Worker users type is an exception as location sharing is part of this by default (but does not apply to you if all field staff are Creators).  As you mention, you can leave the user types and role as is and just assign the location sharing user type extension to only the users you want to be able to share location, dont assign it to the others in the public works union.

[L77]

@JustinColville Thank you! I will let my boss know that our administrator can enable it for our organization, and just not assign public works the licenses.