Native geospatial PDF support in Field Maps is a genuinely valuable addition, and for public land management it arrives at the right moment now that the free tier of the app many of us used for agency PDF maps no longer supports custom imports for professional use. To make Field Maps a complete replacement for those established field-PDF workflows, a few capability gaps remain. Requesting these be considered together:
1. Multi-page PDF support — agencies produce atlas-style map books (one page per unit, sale, or sector). Today each page must be split into a separate single-page file, which multiplies item management. Native multi-page navigation would match how field map sets are actually produced.
2. Draw-and-auto-measure for area/line markup — when a field user sketches a polygon or line, return its acreage/length directly on the sketch rather than requiring the separate Measure tool and manual transcription into a note. This is a core field workflow for quick area estimates.
3. Heading/azimuth indicator on the location dot — facing direction on a north-up display, without rotating the whole map (see related idea).
4. Easier on-device basemap management — reduce the friction of getting sideloaded PDF basemaps into the basemaps folder, particularly on Android 14+, and improve switching between multiple on-device PDF basemaps while fully offline.
Why it matters: public agencies are migrating field-PDF workflows into Field Maps now, by necessity. Closing these gaps would let us standardize on the platform we already license instead of maintaining a second paid app. Glad to share concrete forestry, fire, and wildlife use cases for any of these.
