"Smart Snapping" for Editing
Real-world Problem: In Urban Search & Rescue we use several different methods for searching. One of these methods involves search "segmentation". Segmentation provides manageable geographic areas we can assign to Task Forces to do hasty search, primary search (door to door search) and secondary search (detailed searching inside collapsed or flooded structures).
It is best if these areas use navigabe linear features as their boundaries (roads, streams, fencelines, terrain, etc) and they are of comparable search effort (roughly equal number of structures / population). Someday we hope to semi-automate this process (working on an algorithm with a National Lab), but for now this is a manual editing process.
Example where census block groups were copied for balanced population and rapid creation.
Example of pre-planned search segments by SC-TF4 where institutional / local knowledge was used.
Technical Problem: We currently utilize WebApp Builder and are moving to Experience Builder for the majority of our creation and editing of segments (most Task Forces do not have a GIS Specialist operating ArcGIS Pro). Sometimes we draw segments from scratch, other times we will copy features such as census tracts or census block groups using WAB Smart Editor (see video series 4.2.6 https://screenpal.com/u/FcTw/SARCOPTraining).
However, there is often a need to hand-draw polygons, especially in rural areas. The big challenge with hand drawing in ArcGIS Online is the limited ability to trace and snap to existing features.
Here is a quick video to give an idea of our workflow and the limitation, see videos below for desired solution. https://screenpal.com/watch/cZVhoTVHGfz
Solution: Provide the ability to configure a "snapping environment" that the author so the end user can:
- Snap
- Trace
- Auto-complete Polygons
We do know that you can now snap in the new Web Map Viewer and Experience Builder Edit Widget (great resource here https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/mapping/make-it-snappy/), but this does not quite compare to the tools often used by volunteer Search and Rescue Teams using the app "CalTopo" (sometimes called SARTopo). See this video https://vimeo.com/795739378 and documentation for more details https://training.caltopo.com/all_users/objects/lines-and-polys#snap
Way back when we worked with Esri to create the MapSAR Templates for ArcMap, they added the "auto-complete polygon" tool https://youtu.be/zgg65TmGqmE?si=aF6mLaltX16hIkke&t=100 (video featuring Jon Pedder @jpedder, special thanks to Edan Cain, Matt Baker, and @DougMorgenthaler). I guess in a sense we are looking for a very easy way to do this that does not involve Desktop software.
p.s. Copying Features, Batch Attribute Editing, Cut/Split are also critical for our workflows but I believe these may be "in the product plan"?
@JeffBaranyi @JeremiahLindemann @JaredDoke
CrossRef https://github.com/pjdohertygis/WideAreaSearchTemplates/issues/238
