Community

Enable freehand polygon drawing

9219
38
03-19-2021 12:25 PM
Status: Open
VictoriaTousaw
by
New Contributor III

It would be very useful to be able to draw polygons freehand (like you can in ArcGIS Pro), instead of by adding individual vertices. This would be especially useful when creating polygons that are rounded and require many vertices to properly draw. 

38 Comments
by Anonymous User
‎12-14-2021 09:57 AM

Freehand would be much better than adding each vertex! Especially when out working in the field, you want the workflow to be as simple as possible. Any plans to make the change?

leighlager
by
‎01-31-2022 07:22 AM

I got all excited that I would be able to deploy a new workflow using field maps......but when I showed the prototype to a coworker, he balked at having to add vertices one by one.  This is absolutely not the right direction.  A field worker needs to be able to draw on screen with their finger and move on.  Too many clicks makes field workers less cooperative.  

CAN ESRI PLEASE WEIGH IN?

DavidCriswell
by
‎02-17-2022 08:15 AM

@PeterGamberg1 and others,

I have been implementing geospatial capabilities in our active transportation non-profit and our trail planners were very excited as they were getting trained on ArcGIS Online and FieldMaps...but they recently realized they can't freehand trail polylines like they can in Google Earth. Now they are delineating rough concepts in Google Earth (faster, easier) and I process the polylines before they go to AGOL. A freehand tool for adding features - being able to hold SHIFT and drag a left-click across the screen to freehand a line - would help our GIS workflow be more efficient, streamlined, and entirely within the AGOL system. Please support the development of this function. Thanks for all your work.

KarinaLivingston
by
‎04-26-2022 06:11 AM

I work for a utility company and our reliability team is eager to use our new tablets as they are inspecting our system. I created a feature layer for them to circle and add notes to any discrepancies they see in the field and our GIS. They were eager to draw on the tablet instead of jotting down notes on a piece of paper that half the time they nor I can fully understand once back in the office. However, the polygon draw tool in Field Maps is not very user-friendly and they already made a comment that they will probably go back to jotting down notes on paper. It would be great to select what kind of drawing capability we would like to use. 

JustinReynolds
by
‎04-27-2022 08:22 AM

@VictoriaTousaw @KarinaLivingston @DavidCriswell @RoseF @leighlager 

It is a bit obscure, but it appears partially implemented, at least on the web side of shop.  It doesn't appear that new Collector or FM honors the drawing tool set in the feature template (at least not the freehand polygon tool) -- Tested with AGOL & Enterprise 10.7.1 and Collector (Android).  Works great in the web map though.

To set the tool: Map Viewer Classic > Edit > Manage (bottom right corner) > Select Operational Layer > Click the drop icon of the feature template of interest > Click properties > Select drawing tool

JustinReynolds_0-1651072487774.png

 

 

RoseF
by
‎04-27-2022 08:30 AM

@JustinP Thanks for the tip! We've noticed the freehand draw option in AGOL and would like similar functionality in Collector or Field Maps for data collection in the field.

Since we know it can be done in AGOL, fingers crossed it will be added to Field Maps soon!

EstherTewes
by
‎05-06-2022 02:10 AM

For us it would be very usefull to draw freehand lines! Currently we have to map flight routes of birds with markups. It would be much easier to have freehand lines as saved feature layers.

RobertClark1
by
‎06-09-2022 10:09 AM

This would be great to have for use in our geologic applications!

KerryKang
by
‎06-16-2022 12:22 PM

We really need this! We are capturing polygon data while flying, and using vertices are not very easy.