Collect points while collecting lines or poylgons

[Joshua-Young]

Please add the ability to collect points while collecting lines or polygons. I know a similar idea came up in the past, but since that was for ArcGIS Collector I am afraid Esri would no longer pay attention to the idea request since that product is in mature support.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-collector-ideas/dual-collection-stream-lines-while-adding-point... 

I would like to have the ability to pause streaming to add points along a line/area or add points while capturing individual line/area vertices. Some examples of the need for this functionality are mapping trails and trail amenities (benches, trash cans, etc.), mapping water mains, valves and hydrants, or mapping a pond and boat ramps or docks.

I know QuickCapture does something similar, but I need to be able to fill out forms in addition to getting the location.

[willbruce_KarukTribeDNR]

Thank you for making this post and pointing out that this feature has been requested by ESRI's user base for 10 years.

Streaming a track while collecting points is the core workflow of a huge variety of environmental disciplines. In many cases, the tracks are needed for proof of effort. This workflow is so ubiquitous and foundational that requiring an additional license to access a clumsy version of it via location tracking is not feasible for most customers. 

Quick Capture offers this capability, but is not an acceptable solution for these workflows. They usually involve using expertise in navigating complex terrain with a topo map while simultaneously keeping track of a variety of other spatial information, in addition to whatever actual data collection needs to be done. This requires a battery-efficient, map-centric application. It's very common practice for folks to run Avenza in the background for simple track collection or carry an additional GPS while using ESRI applications due to this lack of support.

*Please* consider adding this feature.

[Gavin_Leavitt]

Mirroring what @willbruce_KarukTribeDNR stated, we have a need to track effort when conducting certain types of surveys. The existing tools from Esri are not well designed or suited for robust effort tracking. 

Line streaming requires constantly starting/stopping the line to create other features and the individual points are not timestamped.

Location sharing requires the use of a Mobile User type, is not included with higher level licenses, there is no direct control over how frequently it records points so the tracks are often quite low quality for projects which require precise tracking, there is no way to split it by an attribute directly, and the points are temporary which requires additional effort to download them before they expire. 

Quick Capture can be ran in the background to stream a line or points, but this requires switching between applications to start and monitor data collection and Quick Capture has fewer options when it comes to data forms. This also creates problems with Bluetooth GPS receivers that can only interact with a single app at a time. 

In order to meet this need, we have previously used 3rd party applications to log data in GPX/CSV format before transforming it into point/line data for use in GIS. 

[RebeccaDiGirolomo]

Is there any news on whether this functionality will be added to or is being considered for Field Maps. This would greatly increase efficiencies for our field staff.

[Joshua-Young]

I have rarely seen Esri comment on ideas like this unless it is already under consideration by them in their roadmap. As mentioned earlier, this idea was originally posted to the community 10 years ago. The previous ArcGIS Collector idea only had 109 votes/10,281 views and this version for Field Maps is currently at 16 votes/516 views (as of 5/29/2025). 

Even though I think this idea is very much needed in ArcGIS Field Maps, without more votes I do not think the Field Maps team will give this much consideration. I know of another company that had this functionality in their software almost 15 years ago and I believe ArcPad did this as well. I would think if it was possible back then it should be doable now.