Just wanted to post this funny info.
Survey123 is now allowing you to use any TPK or tile cache from a SD Card. So one group in Esri says no while another says sure! Imagine if we could ever get the different groups in Esri to talk to each other.......
See the bold and underline below. I tested it and it works - just pointed it to the directory of TPKs I already have on my SD Card. My large imagery TPK is a bit slow but Survey123 said it should find unzipped ones also (which is what we do for speed in our other app) - it does not so I am asking them on that.
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Whats new in this release
Survey123 now supports the use of offline basemaps. These basemaps must be of the Esri file type of tile package and web mercator projection. Tile packages can be created using ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Pro.
Note:Currently there are many manual steps required to use basemaps in your survey. It is expected that a more streamlined process will be added, but we wanted to make the functionality available as soon as possible. This topic will be updated as the user experience of including basemaps in your survey, evolves.
Create a map tile package
You can create a map tile package using ArcGIS Desktop or Pro. Once created you can copy it directly to your device for use in Survey123 or share it in ArcGIS for others to use.
To create a map tile package:
Launch ArcGIS Pro. < li>Open an existing map or create a new map. Ensure your map has a suitable name and description. To edit these, right click the map in the table of contents, and choose properties.
In Toolbox, choose the Create Map Tile Package tool and enter the input map name and the output file name.
Input map name and output file name are the minimum requirements for this tool. You can optionally enter other properties.
Run the Create Map Tile Package tool.
A new .tpk will be created in your chosen output location. To use this file in Survey123 you can upload it to ArcGIS to share with others, or manually copy it to your device. Copy your tile package directly to your device
If you do not have internet connectivity or are unable to connect to ArcGIS, you can copy your tile package directly to your device, or use it from an external storage card.
To copy your tile package directly to your device:
Connect to your device If you are using an iOS device, you will need to use iTunes.
Copy you .tpk to your ~\ArcGIS\My Surveys\Maps folder. For example, on Windows this would be C:\Users\UserName\ArcGIS\My Surveys\Maps.
If you already had Survey123 open before copying, restart Survey123.
To use your tile package from an external storage card:
Copy your tile package to your storage card and place the card in your device.
Launch Survey123 on your device and on the My Surveys menu, choose Settings .
Nominate an additional Map Library Folder that represents your storage card. The default path of ~/ArcGIS/My Surveys/Maps will already be shown. You can add additional paths by - Typing the additional path directly into the edit box (use a semi colon to separate paths). - Use the folder browser to select an additional path. Any path selected will be appended to your Map Library Folder.
When you next open a survey that has the map append property set to true, tile packages on your storage card will be appended to the list of available basemaps