Change or add symbol rotation behavior in a web map and field maps to respect map north

[RobNalewajk]

When using the "Rotation by attribute" symbology option, the rotation relative to the basemap is not maintained. 

to simplify the discussion below assume I'm using geographic rotation where north is 0 degrees, east is 90 degrees, etc. . 

When I rotate the basemap, the arrows/symbols stay pointed according to their orientation with respect to the application regardless of the rotation of the map. If I have an arrow symbol at 0 degrees (pointing straight up, which is north for the map, on launch), but then rotate the map clockwise 90 degrees so that north for the map is now to the right, the symbols will continue to point towards the top of the application, regardless of the map rotation.

I would prefer that that 0 degrees is always the North of the map/basemap (and symbol rotations are maintained relative to the cardinal directions of the map) so that if I made an arrow symbol point at 0 degrees and rotated the map 90 degrees clockwise so that north was to the right the arrow would still be pointing north on the map, which is now the right side of the application.

We would like to use this capability to assist field collection staff. In some situations, we need photos taken in specific directions and would like to use the arrow symbology with rotation to describe to field staff which direction their photos should be facing, but if they rotate the map the symbols are no longer showing the correct direction. This adds confusion to field work which we'd prefer to avoid and address at the application level rather than a training level to cut down on field errors.

This seems to be an issue at the webmap level since the same behavior is present in the browser and field maps when a map is rotated. 

In the initial attached image, where map north is up in the application, note the green arrow in the circle which points along Amsterdam Ave toward W 81st ST in the same direction as the purple line, while the red arrow points along W 81st ST towards Amsterdam Ave and the purple line. 

In the rotated attached image, where map north is to the right in the application, note the same green arrow now points roughly along W 81st St towards Amsterdam Ave and the purple line while the red arrow points aways from W 81st St along Amsterdam Ave.  Importantly the symbols themselves have not rotated with respect to the picture although the map has rotated 90 degrees.

thank you!

[BBowers_napacounty]

Hi Rob,

We experienced the same issue with symbols' rotation not respecting the basemap's orientation. This bug renders the "Rotation by Attribute" feature meaningless for use cases like ours and the one you describe.

It got me thinking: this wouldn't have been an issue in Map Viewer Classic, since it wasn't even possible to rotate the basemap at all back in those days. So I tried creating and saving my map in Map Viewer Classic, and then opening it back up in the Map Viewer 2024. And guess what... It worked!

Map Viewer Classic

Map Viewer 2024

Note Camera 3 points away from CA-2 and roughly towards Singing Springs in both basemap orientations 😎

I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I'm planning to check out the map's JSON in ArcGIS Online Assistant before and after editing it in Map Viewer Classic to see if I can identify the specific key-value pair that makes this work. I suspect it is just an "authoringApp" or "authoringAppVersion" value that forces Map Viewer 2024 into a kind of compatability mode. We'll see...

Let me know if this kludge works for you too. And good luck!

Brian

[RobNalewajk]

Hi Brian!

that's a cool thought - I'm going to give it a try for some of the applications on our end to see if there are conflicts between map viewer classic and some of the web apps we'd use it in.

thanks for the idea! I'll look forward to hearing about your JSON investigation!

Rob