In ArcGIS Pro, create a circle with specified radius in geodesic

[DanielWebb]

Projections and coordinate systems are not my strong suit, to put it lightly, so maybe I won’t be asking this right. Or maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I’m using data using that ‘WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere’ projection.  In ArcGIS Pro, when I create a circle with a specific radius in a polygon feature class, it draws it in planar, which means the radius is shorter than it really should be.

I've verified this using other applications (like this one Geodesic Length vs. Planar Length)  and filling in fields for area, length etc of various feature classes using Attribute Rules.

Is there a way to set geodesic when entering the radius for a circle? Attached is a screen shot of an example.  The green circle was made with a radius of 1 mile (what seems to be planar) and the red line is 1 mile geodesic.  Is there a way to make the green circle 1 mile radius geodesic?

Also, whenever I re-open the project, the Measure tool defaults back to using planar measurements.  I want geodesic measurements to get an actual 1 mile or something.

Is there a setting or something in ArcGIS Pro to always use geodesic measurements?

I hope I explained that well enough. 

Thanks!

[Scott_Harris · Accepted solution]

Hi Daniel,

This add-in is probably the best bet for creating geodetic features: Distance and Direction | ArcGIS Solutions for Defense 

The ability to create geodetic features using editing tools has not been implemented yet.

Regarding the measure tool defaults: I think if your map is in a geographic coordinate system, like WGS 1984, the measure tool should default to geodesic.

-Scott

[DanielWebb]

Thanks Scott!  I'll look into alternatives, like a different coordinate system or something. That tool may be helpful but I'm also trying to set up an ArcGIS Pro project as simply as possible, including customizing the ribbon for quick access to necessary tools.  This is for search and rescue to use and we don't want them having to click through a bunch of stuff to get information they need or creating too many new feature classes due to buffering or something. We want it as simple and straight forward as possible, especially since even us in the office who use the tools fairly frequently are still learning to use Pro.

[Scott_Harris]

Until the ability to create geodetic features (with out of the box editing tool) is added to Pro, you may want to try the suggestion below from Joshua to use Buffer (geodesic). FYI - You can buffer points.

Also Dan below makes a really important point about choosing the proper projection

[JoshuaBixby]

Why not just use Buffer—Help | ArcGIS Desktop , it has a Geodesic option.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Web Mercator is not the projection to be using where distance and/or area values are required....

See this for an overview

Measuring distances and areas when your map uses the Mercator projection