SimpleMarkerSymbol using meters

[Tom_Prutz]

Good Afternoon

I am trying to create a cross on my map using a SimpleMarkerSymbol. This will be attached to the mouse pointer and is to be used for quick eyeball measuring. As such I need it to be a specific size e.g. 10 meters. I would like it to be a graphic that I can add to my graphics layer.

However the SimpleMarkerSymbol only takes sizes in pixels and points. Pixels can vary depending on the display equipment and I can't find any documentation to help me understand how points would relate to meters.

For other things like the Circle (https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/api-reference/esri-geometry-Circle.html) I can specify a radius in meters and then use a fill symbol to create a visual that matches the size. i.e. by specifying a radius of 5 meters and then add a Simple FillSymbol I end up with a visible 10 meter circle.

There isn't a cross equivalent of the circle (that I can find) and I can't provide a meter measurement to the only cross element I can find (the SimpleMarkerSymbol) so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to achieve this. Should I be converting meters to points and if so what is the conversion rate? If not what is the recommended way to achieve this?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[JoelBennett · Accepted solution]

Rather than using a SimpleMarkerSymbol, you might try something like this:

1. Create a Circle with the 5 meter radius.
2. Using the circle's extent, determine the four endpoints for the cross.
3. Create a Polyline with 2 paths, one path being the vertical line, and one path being the horizontal line.
4. Create a Graphic with the polyline as the geometry, and a SimpleLineSymbol as the symbol.
5. Add the graphic to the view's graphics or some other GraphicsLayer.
6. Whenever the mouse moves:
   1. Calculate the distance between the map location of the cursor and the center of the polyline's extent.
   2. Translate the polyline so it's centered at the mouse's location.

[Tom_Prutz]

Hi Joel

That worked really well thank you, problem solved.

I still find it a little weird that I can specify meters as a size option for my marker symbol but for now at least that doesn't matter.

Thank you very much for taking the time to post such a good solution!