Hi,
I am getting frustrated with the new Explore tool (Map tab) in ArcGIS Pro as I cannot click & drag a polygon to explore (formely identify in ArcMap) multiple features. Is there any workaround?
If there is no solution, please ESRI add this functionality to the next release.
There is always the option to click & drag with the Select tool but I have to open attribute tables in order to explore my features. It is rather cumbersome, in addition to ArgGIS Pro being slow.
Thanks
Are you referring to holding down the Shift key then dragging the mouse to form a rectangle?
Navigation shortcuts plus other links around this thread
Not quite.
Shift + click opens the zoom in icon for the mouse pointer, in order to draw a rectangle to zoom in.
I am referring to click & drag a rectangle only to "select" multiple features in the Explore tool in order to scroll through the selection in the pop-up window. Just like it used to be in the Identify tool in ArcMap... Simple things but it makes work easier and faster...
Exactly. This is what I currently do. But it forces me to open all relevant feature class tables in order to explore the attributes... Not the best.
To me, the former Identify tool in ArcMap was more flexible and powerful!
Thanks
Oh that one Vincent!!
You just have to learn to be more patient
This is in ArcGIS Pro 2.2 which is the upcoming release:
To do a rectangle select with the Explore tool, hold Ctrl and drag a rectangle:
Holding Shift will give you the zoom rectangle.
Good news!
Will this improved Explore tool (to Identify features) be able to click & drag polygon to select with multiple options? The Explore has currently Topmost/Visible/Selectable/... Will it be possible to select features only in a given group layer?
Looking forward to use this tool...
Yes, you should be able to control only working with a group layer using Selected in Contents and highlighting just that group layer.
In the example above, drawing a box around a feature in Cities, Countries, and Contours, only returns the Cities and Countries features and not the contour because the group layer is Selected in Contents and only contains Cities and Countries.
So how do we do this? I tried shift click and only get a zoom in window.
ESRI should really make this a button. Who the heck knows any keyboard hotkey combos ... INTUITIVELY ....?? Where as visible buttons a labels/drop downs are way easier to self teach/intuitive. I miss identify. It seemed like it had less over head and was faster.
Then again, everyone survived the switch from DOS to Windows
They did. And your point?
they will survive the migration to Pro... as did people when they moved from ArcView 3.x to Arcgis
Not sure what your getting at.. Are you saying I should not voice my opinion and criticisms? That I shouldn't be upset with ESRI for replacing a great all in one tool with a bunch of individual "tools" (some call them bandaids, others call em workarounds) and all their extra buttons and clicks?
No... you voiced yours... I voiced mine... reminding people that transition isn't going to please everyone.
It is also useful to use ArcGIS Ideas to make suggestions for improvement. Just calling out defects won't move anything forward
I suppose then it comes down to forum moderation.... Calling out defects in the appropriate thread vs starting a new thread for every individual one... What do you suggest I do, Dan? As you can see, MY original question to this comment was HOW do we do the drag and identify. The GIF Kory originally posted does not state how to do, just that it is being done and we can see him do it.
I don't typically like to do this, but I marked my answer as correct since what was being asked for in this thread (draw a polygon with the Explore tool with the end goal of multi-select to identify features) was implemented at ArcGIS Pro 2.2.
Right. Which I can see, but TO MY original question on this comment thread and to the answer you posted and marked as correct, you don't actually explain in that post to hold ctrl then drag. The first mention of that seems to be in the tool tip you showed me.
If you decide to keep your post as the correct answer, to the question of this thread, can you edit it to include the ctrl + drag part?
Thanks
Hi Aaron,
A pattern that is used throughout the Pro interface is to provide tool tips when you hover over something. To do a rectangle select with the Explore tool, hold Ctrl and drag a rectangle:
Holding Shift will give you the zoom rectangle.
Good to know Kory. Thanks. I haven't left my mouse on explore long enough to see that. Or any tool tips really.. They do not stand out to me. I would not have been able to guess that was an intended pattern without you pointing out that.
Will there be continued development of the explore tool?
The hover tips used be a wait of 900 milliseconds, and we did find that it was too long for most people to hover to get information about a tool. So we tightened that up to 500 milliseconds which I believe is a standard used by Microsoft, hoping that that would be a long enough wait time to not annoy people by having this stuff pop-up in your face all the time as soon as your pointer touched something.
For feedback on Identify functionality, we've shared some extensive consideration on that topic in Add a Real Identify tool to the ArcGIS Pro's Inquiry Ribbon Area. So that you don't have to search the thread, here is the content of the post:
This is being marked as Implemented in ArcGIS Pro 2.2.
Thanks for all the input – we took as much feedback on board as possible, and the results are below.
LIST OF POP-UP ENHANCEMENTS IN PRO 2.2
Identify multiple features using drag-box
Use the ‘Ctrl’ hot-key with the Explore tool
Configure which layers participate via the drop-down list control for the Explore Tool
Provide a list-view for the identified features
Shown in a collapsible section in the top of the Popup pane
List-view has the following capabilities…
Provides access to related rows, per relationship classes (note: the related content must be in the map)
Shows attributes (and multiple rows) for joined tables, including 1:1 and 1:m
Sortable order (per layer): via r.click context menu for each layer name in the list view
Ability to remove an identified feature from the list-view (via node context menu)
Ability to select/unselect the feature associated with the node in the list-view (via node context menu)
Control over the node names, including expressions (and expressions that work with joins)
Tip: the popup node name is initially defined using the layer’s Display Expression
Can be updated (via r.click layer in TOC > Configure Popups) any time thereafter
Popup pane to be dockable
The pane can be docked, just like other panes (eg: TOC, Catalog, Symbology, etc)
If you have multiple maps/scenes open, the contents will reflect the identify results for the active view
Can be shown side-by-side with the Attributes pane (whose content is based on selection)
Feature coordinates
Shown at the base of the Popup pane for the selected-node in the list-view
Coordinates are shown in the Map’s coordinate-display units
You can change this setting (eg: to UTM / MGRS / DDM) in the Map Properties > General tab
Coordinate values can be copied by drag-selecting over the label and pressing Ctrl-C (or r.click > Copy)
Pull out individual features to their own popup pane, for simultaneous viewing / comparison
Right-click a feature node in the list-view and click ‘Move to pinned pop-up’
Multiple pinned popups can be shown at once (eg: side by side) for direct comparison
Pinned popups are displayed only when the map they are associated to is active
10.x CAPABILITIES NOT INCLUDED IN PRO 2.2 (to be considered in a future release)
Some additional items are planned for a specific future release, and some require more investigation. If you’re able to provide feedback and clear use-cases for any, please let us know.
Ability to quickly switch the map’s coordinate display
Planned for Pro 2.3, via a quick-pick list in the status-bar area of the map view (next to the coordinate display)
In 2.2: change the property on the Map Properties > Display tab
Persistence of the user-defined “identifiable layers” setting for Pro
Planned for Pro 2.3
Ability to create a bookmark for the feature’s location
No release specified
In 2.2: r.click a node, zoom to it, then use the Map > Bookmarks > Create Bookmark command
Ability to create a graphic / call-out / feature at the feature’s location
No release specified
In 2.2: create an empty / pre-symbolized feature class using Insert > Map Notes, manually place a feature (using snapping or exact coordinates, as required)
A dedicated / separate tool that does nothing but identify/popup
No release specified, and unlikely unless heavily requested. Maintaining a smaller number of tools is a design method we’re trying to adhere to. We had many complaints about the size and scope of the ArcMap UI.
In 2.2: use the Ctrl hot-key
Tip: hover your mouse over the Explore tool to see the most common hot-keys (inc. Ctrl)
CAPABILITIES NOT PLANNED FOR PRO
These are requested popup options that are not planned for Pro. Please send your use-cases and requirements if you believe any are needed for a critical workflow.
Use the Identify/Popup pane without activating the map in a Layout view
The map frame is an object with properties and settings that users need access to
With an un-activated map, we cannot know from a single click if the user wants to: (a) select and (edit / delete / move) the map frame object, or (b) interact with the map’s contents
The (right-click-map > Activate) step tells us the user wants the latter
Have the Popup pane return results for features that are not being rendered
Users can exclude features from the map display using a variety of methods - such as a Definition Query, or not symbolizing a particular class
Pro uses a WYSIWYG method for selection and for popups, so non-visible features will not be included in either the select-rectangle-result list of the drag-box-popup list
The Select By Location tool is recommended for locating all GDB features within an extent
Tip: open the tool directly from the Map ribbon
Tip: Select by Location GP tool lets you interactively digitize in a selection-area polygon
Open the popup pane so it is focused-on (or scrolled-down-to) a specific feature attribute
The popup can be highly formatted (eg: with images, etc), and each popup is different per layer, so it would be extremely difficult to operate the auto-scrolling in a logical manner, especially when identifying features across multiple layers or multiple maps
The Attributes pane (which works on a selection set) operates as described – the displayed position down the list of attributes remains unchanged when moving between features within the same layer
Thanks for all the input on this issue. While some pieces may not exactly match ArcMap, we hope it allows you to complete your workflows using Pro.
Learn more at What's new in ArcGIS Pro 2.2
After reading that and working with the tool in 2.2, if you have constructive feedback to share with the development team that works on that tool, please comment on that thread.
Thanks!
Yes there is a careful balance for speed vs annoyance. I am very glad you pointed out the tool tips. There is quite a bit of information packed in there. I am used to dismissing these things as full names.
Hi Kory,
I was looking for this new functionality but in ArcGIS Pro 2.2, I cannot get this tool work properly!
Holding C + click open the Pop-up window fine. But clicking the Explore tool, then holding Ctrl to drag a rectangle does nothing with me! No Pop-Up. Weird?
Is there anything wrong I am doing?
Thanks
1. You shouldn't have to hold C and click to open a pop-up. Just click.
2. With the Explore tool active, you will need to hold Ctrl down, then left-click and hold the mouse button down at the same while dragging a rectangle.
Does that work?
Ok. I tried it again and it does not work. However, I just opened another project and it works fine ctrl + clicl hold drag rectangle.
This means something does not work in this particular project. But I have not idea on what prevent the tool to work.
Thanks
Are you still using Pro 2.1 for these projects? If not, were the 2 projects you are testing created in different versions of Pro as ESRI has put out patches for 2.1 and released 2.2 with it's own set of patches which might impact how the tool works?
Kory and Aaron... we should also note that the help files are fully of stuff.
Keyboard shortcuts for navigation—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop
Keyboard shortcuts in the Contents pane—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop
Keyboard shortcuts for exploratory analysis—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop
Keyboard shortcuts for working with tables—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop
Keyboard shortcuts for editing—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop
Keyboard shortcuts for working on the layout—Layouts | ArcGIS Desktop
plus more
This is in ArcGIS Pro 2.2 which is the upcoming release:
To do a rectangle select with the Explore tool, hold Ctrl and drag a rectangle:
Holding Shift will give you the zoom rectangle.