Currently, for line features, the automated length display near the top of the edit form (under the title) updates in real time during an edit session based on where the crosshairs are for the feature being edited. The crosshairs, by default, land on the centroid of the line feature’s geographic extent. This makes the automated line length display incorrect upon opening the edit form, as it displays the length that the line would be if one were to add a vertex at the crosshairs.
My suggestion is that when a line feature is opened for editing, the crosshairs land on the end vertex of the line, rather than on the centroid of the line’s geographic extent. This would allow the automated length display to be accurate during an edit session until the user moves the crosshairs.
This crosshair issue seems to apply only to line Length and not to polygon Area. So my suggestion applies to line features only. I’ve attached a PDF with screen shots demonstrating and explaining the above.
