[GIS] Mobile, Offline viewer for geographic data

arcgis-mobilegpsmobileviewer

Currently, field crews consumer geographic data via laptop (no internet, no gps). ArcReader.

I would like to get them shapefiles (or some derivative of a shapefile) on a mobile platform (smartphone) – because of its usability (built in GPS) and to get them acclimatized to using (trusting) a smart phone, among many other reasons.

It needs to be offline (we have limited cell service). It needs to contain some basemap information (which I can providen if needed; imagery, road centerlines, etc…).

No editing, just viewing.

What are my options here? Is there an app I can download that provides this functionality? Very surprised ESRI doesn't have an offline viewer for data on smartphones or tablets.

Best Answer

OsmAnd

" is a fully open OpenStreetMap-based navigation app for Android. " [This don't require that you use navigation]

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Hints for using offline map data:

offline map data files that can be used with OsmAnd have *.obf as file extension.
in latest versions of these map files all vector map data, POIs and address indexes for offline search are included.
you can generate your own *.obf files by getting fresh raw OSM data for example via geofabrik.de or cloudmade.com, then process these osm files with OsmAndMapCreator (Java program for desktop PC) that is offered at Osmand's Google-website (try to get latest nightly build).
when you have several *.obf files for single regions of a certain country, you can combine them with inspector.bat or inspector.sh that is delivered with OsmAndMapCreator. Start this script on a command line without any parameters to see all options and proceed.
Maybe there is a named street in the OSM data, but OsmAnd cannot find it via its offline address search? Run the above mentioned inspector with parameter -v and [nameofyourmapfile].obf >list.txt ... this will give you a text file with all places that are within that obf file and all streets that are associated to that place. Thus you can find out whether OsmAnd's street list is incomplete (this can have several reasons like missing administrative borders etc.)

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Osmand

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