Line & Point Symbols on mobile apps retain their size instead of scaling down.

2763
6
01-10-2017 03:16 PM
Status: Open
JenniferAboaf
New Contributor III

On tablets and phone screens, point and line symbols get really small and thin as you zoom in.

For example: when using mobile apps like collector, a point feature is 40 pixels when you're zoomed out. But as you zoom in, the circle shrinks smaller and smaller, until it's the size of a pin. I want map symbols to remain the same size at different scales on tablet screens, as they do on ArcGIS Online. Another example is line weights. A thick line is easy to see when zoomed out, but that same line gets thinner and thinner as you zoom in. I want line features to stay bold and clear at all scales.

Does anyone else wish features and symbols would not keep scaling down so small as you zoom in? This makes it very difficult to see features, such as hydrants and valves, as you zoom to the large scales, like 1:2400 or larger.

This is very frustrating, and it would be nice if you could add a setting for users to choose whether to scale symbol sizes down with zoom, or keep them the original size.

Thanks ~ Jennifer

6 Comments
DanAllen

And here I thought it was just me that found this annoying.  I have been creating a separate map with giant symbols so when the field guys use it in Collector they can actually see the symbols.  It would be nice if the sizing stayed consistent between arcgis.com browser map and the same map viewed in the collector app.

ScottPrindle

Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for submitting this idea. Could you expand upon how you've set your symbology for these features? Was the symbology defined when publishing the feature service, or in the web map? Could you provide some screenshots showing the difference between large and small scales in Collector and Explorer?

Generally, these apps should be using the "drawingInfo" of a layer to define the appearance of symbols. For example:

{"drawingInfo":{"renderer":{"type":"simple","symbol":{"type":"esriSMS","style":"esriSMSCircle","color":[133,0,11,255],"size":4,"angle":0,"xoffset":0,"yoffset":0,"outline":{"color":[0,0,0,255],"width":1}},"label":"","description":""},"transparency":0,"labelingInfo":null}}

This should be consistent across scales, regardless of how far you've zoomed in or out. If the symbols are behaving as you've described, it's something we would like to better understand to ensure it is addressed.

Thanks,

Scott

JenniferAboaf

Hi Scott,Thanks for taking an interest in my idea.

I tried uploading screen shots, but was unable to post them.

I will email you some screen shots from Arcgis Online, and from Arcgis Explorer on my tablet. When you take a screen shot on the tablet, the actual size of the graphic is larger than the tablet screen. So, I resized the screenshots to simulate the actual size on a tablet and on a phone.

At large scales, the blue dot symbols become very tiny on a tablet and a phone. However, the symbols retain their size on Arcgis Online at all scales.

You can easily replicate this behavior with any map you've got on Arcgis Online. Just look at the same map on Arcgis Explorer or Collector, and you will see how tiny the symbols get as you zoom in. The shrinkage makes viewing and adding data very difficult.

I suspect the shrinkage has something to do with the fact that the sizes are determined by pixels, and pixels are very tiny on phone and tablet screens due to their very high resolution.

Let me know if you have any questions about this symbol behavior. I used some non-proprietary data for these examples, but I could personally show you some of my client's data for the purposes of this problem.

Thanks,

Jennifer

DanAllen

Scott,

To your inquiry about how the symbology is set, we notice this when setting the symbology in ArcGIS.com.  An example, if we wanted to show a fire hydrant for a desktop arcgis.com map, I would select "shapes", choose a circle, and set the size to 30 px, and it looks appropriately sized when viewed in a desktop browser.  If i take the same map and open it in the Collector for ArcGIS app, the symbols are much smaller, especially when zoomed to the 1:1,280 zoom level or greater.  I have to make a copy of my desktop ArcGIS.com map, and change the hydrant symbol size from 30 px, to 60 px to get it to look the same approximate size it appeared when viewed in the desktop browser.

I have not tried this using symbology set on the publishing mxd, but I suspect it would be similar.

thanks for looking into this.

deleted-user-mRXojncx3uS9

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has figured out a work-around for this? We experience the same thing when an AGOL hosted web map is viewed in Collector. I've tried enlarging the symbols (25-30 pixels), but they still look very small and seem to get smaller when zooming in.

MelanieRosenberg2

Here are some steps to reproduce the issue:

- Set symbology in a map service

- add to web map (change nothing)

- Open web map in collector

Expected: symbols look just like they do in the map service or in the web map

Reality: symbols are hard to see in Collector (iPad, latest versions of OS and collector as of this post date)