Bearing and distance Measurements While Creating Line and Polygon Features in AGOL

1291
4
07-09-2021 08:19 AM
Status: Open
AnnyaCamykal
New Contributor II

I've noticed while drawing a line or polygon in ArcGIS Online that there is no option for bearing and distance. I'm trying to work with a group of engineers who are creating onsite septic systems they are trying to create sketches that look similar to this image These parts (line from the house, Septic Tank, Trenches, etc. have lengths and dimensions. 12 x 18 ft, 30 ft, 40' x 60' area etc. Currently, none of the drawing options on AGOL allow users to draw a line of a certain distance and bearing. You can draw lines and polygons but not at a predefined length. There is an option on the Community base map program to do this sort of drawing but this is not the typical drawing workflow in AGOL. Please consider adding this option to the line and polygon drawing tools so users can draw lines a certain length and direction and polygons a certain size via input from the user.

4 Comments
jcarlson

For a rough workaround, you can try using the Parcel Drafter widget, which lets you do bearing and distance. It's meant for closed boundaries of polygons, but can be used to sketch basic lines as well. It's far from a good solution, however, and I'd love to see this idea get built up.

RosalyneTaylor

Can you use  parcel drafter if you are not a developer ?

 

jcarlson

@RosalyneTaylorYes! It's simply a Web App Builder widget.

It has some pretty specific requirements for the schema, though, so it's best to create the layers from ESRI's own Solution. Just be sure to get it in the right projection before publishing the layers! Otherwise you might be getting your distances saved in the wrong units.

RichSiko

I agree something like this is needed in AGOL.   In AGOL and  ArcGIS PRO it would be nice to show the measurement length as new lines are being created.

When creating a water line pipe segment I use the measurement tool first to identify the proper length. I then end up using post it notes on my monitor to actually create the pipe or service line segment between the post its.

It just seem odd you can't see the length of a line segment as it is being created or set set a pre-defined length.