idea Pan to Layer in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Pan to Layer

AlfredBaldenweck — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:35:32 GMT

One of my users has asked for a "pan to layer" option.

The use case for this would be to move to the center of layer WITHOUT changing the current camera scale. For workflows that require us to print at specific scales, using "zoom to" adds a few extra clicks to then actually get the camera back to where you want it.

Current alternatives are:

"Zoom to Layer" (discussed above)
Select all in the attribute table-> right-click on layer in Contents Pane -> Selection-> Pan to selection.
- This is time-consuming and also overwrites anything you currently had selected in that layer, making you have to re-select it.

Re: Pan to Layer (ArcMap Equivalency)

Robert_LeClair — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 23:51:30 GMT

So there is a way to do this in ArcGIS Pro.

1. At the top of the application on the Quick Access toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of the undo/redo buttons and select Customize the Quick Access toolbar.
2. In the Customize the Quick Access pane, select All commands from the "Choose commands from" dropdown.
3. In the Search box, type pan to
4. Of the 12 items filtered by pan to, I chose the 11th one - Pan to Selection (Selected features).
5. Click the Add-> button and then click OK

In ArcGIS Pro, you can select a feature or features in a map. The layer in the Contents Pane must also be selected. The newly added button on the Quick Access toolbar will be "on" - click that and the map pans to the selected features at the same scale as it was before. There are other pan to commands that work in attribute tables as well.

Re: Pan to Layer (ArcMap Equivalency)

AlfredBaldenweck — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 14:11:05 GMT

Thanks for the response, Robert.

I tested all 10 currently available to me in ver 3.3, and, unfortunately, all of them require a selection or are context-specific such as a topology error or device location, etc.

This request is to move the camera while maintaining scale, without having a selection active, and currently none of the offerings available fulfill that need.

Re: Pan to Layer (ArcMap Equivalency) - Status changed to: Needs Clarification

KoryKramer — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:24:38 GMT

@AlfredBaldenweck since this is being reported as an ArcMap equivalency request, can you share what command or workflow your user is using in ArcMap. I've poked around a bit and haven't found a "pan to layer" command (and its entirely possible I could just be missing it, so please help! :))

Thanks

Re: Pan to Layer (ArcMap Equivalency)

AlfredBaldenweck — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:33:05 GMT

That is absolutely fair, I was trying to scour the old documentation for this command since ArcMap was taken from us and even if I were to get a personal license, I wouldn't be able to download it.

My user swears it was there and I also vaguely remember it, but it just might be the case that it didn't exist after all and we're asking for something new.

Feel free to edit the title of this Idea, then, or I can do it instead if we're both in agreement that this isn't an equivalency request after all.

Re: Pan to Layer - Status changed to: Open

KoryKramer — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:38:07 GMT

Thanks @AlfredBaldenweck I updated the title and the intro wording to the request. If you do find where/how it was available in ArcMap, do let us know. I can't find it.

Re: Pan to Layer

JohnDeMartino3 — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 21:39:10 GMT

In Arcmap you can right-click on a layer and choose "pan to" and that will pan you to the centroid of that feature. There is no equivalent in Pro. You need to open the table, select a feature and pan to that feature.

None of the pan tools you can add in the quick access toolbar appear to off the same thing.

Re: Pan to Layer

Robert_LeClair — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 21:55:09 GMT

@AlfredBaldenweck - this idea popped up on my feed again today and it got me thinking about where this was located in ArcMap (I still have ArcMap loaded on my laptop!). Did some searching around the interwebs and found a post that is relevant - arcgis desktop - Does ArcMap have a Pan To Layer command? - Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange - two ways to Pan to Layer - one a Python Add-In button and another via selections. Hope this helps track down what your user may have seen.