idea Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

TanGnar — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 13:10:32 GMT

It would be wonderful to have a dynamic solution for dispersing overlapping markers for point data. This could work similar to the way Labels in Maplex can be configured for placement. If the Maplex Label engine can do this dynamically, and we have other symbol effects that work dynamically, it seems possible to have a dynamic disperse points option.

This could be very helpful for our mapping workflows, where we have data in an enterprise database and we make many maps with lots of markers. Instead of having to maintain separate data for cartography, or fiddle with 'labelized' versions of the symbology, this solution would make our mapping easier.

Dynamic Point Feature Dispersal

KyleWikstrom — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 21:35:14 GMT

Looking for dynamic point feature dispersal capability in order to disperse point features that are stacked or within close proximity to others and dynamically update the dispersal based on map scale. A use case for this is in public works and highway where we map the inventory of road signs. Each sign is effectively mapped as a single point feature, and often multiple signs are placed on the same post. Being able to disperse or offset the display of these stacked sign points, or sign points that are too close to each other to see the complete symbol, helps all of our stakeholders to:

More completely understand the concentration of sign assets
Better understand the situation along a roadway (communicating that a discrete location is informing travelers of multiple pieces of information)
1. Example: Travelers at a specific location are informed to Stop AND of the names of two intersecting streets
2. Example: Travelers at a specific location are informed of the route number AND that they are approaching a junction
3. Example: Travelers at a specific location are informed of the name and direction of an upcoming intersection AND the names of tourist attractions in the same direction AND that a public water access in the same direction exists
Take advantage of the map layout space and communicate more information in it without having to filter off features (definition query) in order to see what other types of signs are communicating information to travelers at a location - losing the complete context of what information is shared at a single location
Supporting this capability dynamically so that users do not have to create multiple feature classes using the Disperse Markers geoprocessing tool for use at multiple map scales. Providing this visualization seamlessly, and removing the time it takes for the map author to create these feature classes manually for multiple scales.

The option to "explode" a cluster of point features when a user hovers over the cluster may have value when trying to declutter the map. However, this does not enable users with the ability to understand the entire situation in a neighborhood or along a roadway if they have to manually over a cluster in order to disperse a point cluster's features and when they are comparing and visualizing multiple locations simultaneously along a roadway. I am not looking for the point symbols to change size, but for the symbols to disperse or offset dynamically as the user zooms in and out on the map.

I do anticipate that beyond a certain scale that point dispersal will make the mapped features' locations indistinguishable from others and this would have to be considered for any such capability or by the map author, but it's a place to start.

Below is an initial rough diagram of the type of desired dynamic point feature dispersal capability we're looking for.

Additional use cases for this capability include, but are not limited to:

Visualizing stacked or proximal assets
Asset inspection condition records over time
Weather and forecasting (ex: sunny AND cloudy)
Soil types at a drill sample site
Crime incidents and types

I have not seen this capability described in ArcGIS, but have received requests for it and understand the value. Looking forward to hearing what others have to share.

@KoryKramer @GregoryLehner

Re: Dynamic Point Feature Dispersal

jcarlson — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 21:41:23 GMT

I regularly use both ArcGIS Pro and QGIS in my work, and point dispersal symbology is one of the things that QGIS does very well, and has for some years now. I bet it's only a matter of time. I mean, Pro finally got blend modes, too.

I would definitely use this if it were implemented.

Re: Dynamic Point Feature Dispersal

KoryKramer — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 21:49:33 GMT

@jcarlson make sure to add your Kudos if you'd like to see this 😉

@KyleWikstrom what you're asking for specifically sounds a lot like https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/dynamic-solution-for-overlapping-points/idi-p/1154730 I think that the original understanding on our side was to have a <some action like hover, etc.> to dynamically and temporarily "explode" the points apart. From your detailed (and excellent by the way) description, it actually sounds like you're looking for what is described in that other idea.

Please review that and let us know. It doesn't mean that both can't be done - we're not designing a solution just yet... just trying to fully understand the use case and your idea outlines that well. Let me know about that other idea.

Cheers

Re: Dynamic Point Feature Dispersal

KyleWikstrom — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 22:00:36 GMT

@KoryKramer The idea described in https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/dynamic-solution-for-overlapping-points/idi-p/1154730 sounds like what we are looking for as well. I had not considered an action like <hover> to dynamically and temporarily "explode" the points apart, and while this may be beneficial in some use cases, our users have a need to "explode" the points apart based on an action more like <zoom> and <pan>. An action like <zoom> and <pan> should "explode" all of the points apart that are in the visible map extent.

I see value for both <hover> and <zoom/pan> actions, however, our users have a greater need for all visible clusters to explode simultaneously in order to understand the entire situation of all the data in the map extent/area versus a single cluster.

Your speedy response is much appreciated! 🙂

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

JesseWickizer — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 21:57:18 GMT

@KyleWikstrom, I realize this isn't exactly what you're asking for, but I'll offer this workaround to use in the meantime that uses Maplex labeling settings.

Build label classes for each sign type.
Configure the placement settings for sign labels. Note how the center position is top priority so it places on top of the point if there is only 1 sign point at a given location. Use these properties for all signs except street names.
To put the street names at the top, I made them the highest priority label class, and used slightly different placement properties.

End results:

Large Scale:

Small scale:

Adjusting Points that have the same coordinates for Report Mapping

GISJess — Mon, 08 May 2023 14:23:45 GMT

Sometimes when creating a report map in Layout, a few points will share the exact same lat/longs. Displaying this on a report can be tricky. In the past, I just have made the point that is in the background slightly bigger. I really don't care for how this looks. And I don't like moving points around, since that is not giving the true story.

It would be nice if there was a tool that could separate points that share the same coordinates, but create an extent indicator showing the locations the points share. Google Earth does this when you hover over points that are close to each other. I would also like if the points could keep their original lat/longs.

I am attaching an example of Google Earth, and my work around in Pro.

If there is a tool for this already, please let me know. I tried playing with Offset and Disperse Markers, and I couldn't get those tools to work for me.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

JesseWickizer — Mon, 08 May 2023 14:31:08 GMT

@GISJess, using labeling for the points like described in my earlier post has the benefit of the point data keeping the original lat/longs like you're looking for. If you don't want actual number labels on the points like in this example below, change the label expression to something simple like "o" and set the color to 100% transparent.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

GISJess — Mon, 08 May 2023 22:45:03 GMT

@JesseWickizer Thanks for a quick reply.

Quick question, how did you get the Leader line to from the symbol to the label. I played with the different settings and I cannot get the line to connect to the new blue square label symbol.

Thanks!

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

DanLee — Tue, 09 May 2023 14:24:58 GMT

Have you checked this tool, Disperse Markers?

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/cartography/disperse-markers.htm

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

JesseWickizer — Tue, 09 May 2023 14:34:01 GMT

@GISJess, do you have a Gap set on the Point symbol callout? A Gap value greater than zero would cause the leader to start away from the point marker. Below are the callout settings I used in my example map.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

GISJess — Wed, 10 May 2023 18:05:31 GMT

@JesseWickizer My Gap value was at 0.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

JesseWickizer — Wed, 10 May 2023 18:20:16 GMT

@GISJess, then in that case I suspect you need to make the font size much smaller, and change the Label expression to something small like "." or "*". The leader is extending from the edge of the text box - even though it is fully transparent, the text is larger than the little blue square so the leader starts outside the blue square.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

GISJess — Wed, 10 May 2023 20:22:07 GMT

@JesseWickizer That worked!🎉 I originally had ".", but changed it to play with the settings, and didn't change it back. Thanks for the workaround.

Thanks a bunch!

Another question: these points represent bird observations, (each color representing a different species), and some points represent more than one bird observation for a particular species. I was originally using labels to display the number of birds, if the point represented more than one bird observation. Now that some of these modified points are labels themselves, is there a way to offset a number label to the side of this new symbol-label? I figure I can use graphic text as a workaround.

Update: I played around with 'Format Point Symbol' under Callout. Since I didn't see any halo effects, I created two extra numbers in white in bold with bigger outline widths in white to go under the black numbers. All of these number were offset from the square point.

I feel like I am close, but it's not 100% what I want. The font, even though it is the same format as the regular labels, the numbers don't quite match.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

JesseWickizer — Fri, 12 May 2023 23:09:49 GMT

@GISJess, here are a few ideas to consider.

Numbers not matching label style:

The black 16 in the image looks like it might have a stroke on it because the letters look "rounded" - or it could be you're just using a rounded looking font. But if you're adding a stroke around the black text it will look different than label text because the added stroke rounds out the appearance of each character.

Using Shape text symbol for numbers in icons:

Instead of adding a '1' and a '6' twice each to make '16' with a halo, you could use a "Shape text symbol" with the "White halo" style in 1 layer.

Label marker symbols with dynamic text:

Making individual label classes for every icon with various quantities of observations could be tedious if there are many different amounts to create symbols for. Perhaps you could label the squares with the number of observations inside the square. Then you may only need a couple label classes - one simple square where there is only 1 observation that uses the blank number. Then another label class that labels the square with the number of observations. You can set the background callout point symbol to scale by width to allow the icon to widen to accommodate bigger numbers.

Composite Callout:

Another idea is to use the Composite callout symbol. It takes a little more configuration with various Text formatting tags, but you can achieve something similar to what you're describing and allow for dynamic labels to be used.

In this example I use this label expression to set following:

Set the placeholder asterisk to the middle position of the composite callout.
Change the color of the placeholder asterisk to transparent.
Place the objectid field label in the right position of the composite callout and offset it 5px to the right.

"<PART position='middle'>" + "<CLR red='255' green='255' blue='255' alpha='0'>oo</CLR></PART>" + "<PART position='right' x_offset='3'>" + $feature["objectid"] + "</PART>"

Then I configure the Composite callout symbol so that the background is actually a point marker symbol centered in the polygon.

The final symbol looks like this:

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

GISJess — Thu, 25 May 2023 03:04:51 GMT

@JesseWickizer Thank you for all of your help, I was able to get the number labels to match, I just had to play with outline thickness.. 😅

I am glad that there is a work around, and I learned so much from this exercise thanks to you.

It would be nice to have tool to be able to separate two points that share coordinates to give a similar result like we just created. It would be great if the tool could do this whether the points are from the same or separate layer.

Thanks again for all of your help!!

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

TanGnar — Thu, 25 May 2023 13:08:56 GMT

Back here to say that while the labeling can work in some cases, it's tedious compared to what's being suggested, which is to disperse point markers dynamically, for instance with dynamic symbol effects.

Please see the Point Displacement renderer in QGIS.

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

PaulLong — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:46:53 GMT

Yep, this whole discussion should be bumped way up on the development list

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

Iguillen_abt — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:28:42 GMT

Hello @JesseWickizer , I want to thank you for the solution you provided, which has been very helpful for my project. In ArcGIS Pro, everything works perfectly, but when attempting to publish the service to ArcGIS Online, the labeling configuration is not being maintained. Could you please let me know if there is a solution for this issue?

Thank you!

Re: Dynamic Solution for Overlapping Points

NigelBaker — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 09:18:42 GMT

hi,

i have a similar issue that isnt really addressed by the previous solutions.

our geological maps and data commonly have points for localiteis where structural data has been collected in the field. often more than one reading is taken at each point. the points are rotated symbols visually showing the orientation of the structure in question (dip of a bedding plane or rock surface etc). these points are also labelled with a value corresponding to the angle of dip of this plane, as shown in the image below.

so the issue with the previous workaround is that i cant label the point with the symbol as i need the label for the numeric value.

so i require the entire object; symbol and label to be distributed around the point location with an accompanying callout/leader to show exactly where the reading was taken. this should be available as a dynamic option and also map scale dependent so that this can be shown on a layout.

at the moment i am essentially losing data as i cannot use the 'distribute' tool as i am left with inaccurate point data that doesnt tell the reader/user where the measurment was taken.

i would love to hear that this has progressed to development, especially when i can see from other comments that this is possible in QGIS. i might have to learn that software after all........