measurement tools needs work!

[ClintOffutt1]

I was disappointed to see there were no revisions to the measurement tool in the new Oct 2025 release for web maps.  This saddens me.

Could you please add support for multi segment measurements where each segment will be logged and/or labeled so we can take more complex measurements.  Right now, the tool only displays a cumulative measurement.  This is not what users want exactly.  They want the ability to take multiple linear measurments within one operation.

I also think we need to add the ability to choose which coordinate system the widget is measuring in.  When I have stateplane basemaps, the stupid measurement tool still measures in WGS84! or whatever the default for AGOL webmaps is.

Thanks, please add these next time if possible.  Users have been reqeusting these revisions for almost 1.5 years as indicated in previous forum threads.

[bbollin]

Hi @ClintOffutt1! Thanks for the feedback. There are a few editing/visualization tools that I think will suit your use case well. First, I'd check out editing constraints which you can use in Map Viewer, Experience Builder, Web Editor, and other apps that take advantage of the editor widget.  You can set precise measurements like area, angle, distance, and deflection which snap to existing features on your map.

I'd also recommend you take a look at snap to grid, which you can set specific spacing units if you are using a non- web Mercator planar projection with your dataset/basemap.

Between these two features, I think it should solve your use case, but I'm curious if there's anything still missing in the measurement tool specifically that you'd need. Thanks!

[ClintOffutt1]

Hi, thanks for the reply and ideas.  I don't do any editing or work in editing enviromentment with my web maps.  They are set up for view only for my clients.  In fact, the web maps I build I just us in ExB apps.  So I don't think the editing environment will work for my application.  I just want a more robust measurement tool and many other users do too.  I have tried the contraints in the tool tips of the Draw widget but don't trust the results so tell my users not to use that either.  thanks again

[Noah-Sager]

Hi @ClintOffutt1. This is good feedback. For multi segment measurements where each segment will be logged and/or labeled, this is currently on our roadmap. Can't make any timeline promises right now, but this functionality is targeted for a future release.

For the coordinate system, in geographic coordinate systems (GCS) and in Web Mercator, measurements are computed geodetically. Web Mercator is the default spatial reference of the basemap in ArcGIS Online. In projected coordinate systems (PCS), apart from Web Mercator, measurements are computed in a Euclidean manner (in their respective PCS). So if you're using a state plane basemap, then your measurements should be handled accordingly.

If the behavior you are seeing is different, please contact Technical Support (if you are able), and/or share a publicly accessible webmap (or JS SDK app hosted on Codepen, like this: https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/sample-code/webmap-basic/), and we can take a look.

[ClintOffutt1]

I have posted the following several times:

I have a web map in the my local stateplane projection.  When using the Draw widget tool tips and constraits, the "total length" (or total area if drawing polygon) does not match the label that is placed when Show area measurement is checked on.

I don't think the issue is with the basemap coordinate system, I think the issue is with the measurement widget and draw widgets.  You can't trust either!

[bbollin]

@ClintOffutt1 are you labeling the polygon with the automatically generated shapeArea field on your feature layer? Or are you using an arcade expression? I usually recommend folks use the AreaGeodetic($feature) function, but I'm not sure what projection you are working with.

Like I mentioned above, snap to grid with a planar, non-web mercator basemap could be a great option for inputing exact spacing and sizing for the cells

[ClintOffutt1]

Hi, I am not worried about labeling, as far as my hosted feature classes, I have that figured out.  In the images about, that is an automatic "label" created by the software when using the Draw widget with tool tips contraits and the option to label the graphics created by the Draw widget.  My point is in the example above, is a contrained 500x500' polygon should be 250,000 sq ft, yet the software is calculating more.  It seems as if regardless the coordinate system, the draw widget (and measurement widget) have a mind of their own....the are calculating something else that is independent of the map in which we are measuring!  So, this indicates, as I have previously discovered that the draw widget with contraints and the measurement widget can not be trusted for cadastral type measurements, such as following along a survey or metes and bounds desription or calculating area of an ownership parcel.  Both tools are inaccurate and I have several ways to prove this.