esri / distance-direction-addin-dotnet

Add-in provides the ability to easily and quickly create geodesy lines, circles, ellipses and range rings.

Distance and Direction

Beginning at ArcGIS Pro 2.6 this functionality is installed with ArcGIS Pro. This repository will only be updated with critical fixes to ArcGIS Desktop.

The Distance and Direction component provides the ability to create geodesic features such as lines, circles, ellipses and range rings.

Features

• Creates geodesy lines, circles, ellipses and range rings.
• Inputs can be entered manually or via a known coordinate.
• Add-ins for ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro

Sections

• Requirements
• Instructions
• Resources
• New to Github?
• Issues
• Contributing
• Repository Points of Contact
• Licensing

Requirements

Build Requirements

• Visual Studio 2015
  • Important Note: Visual Studio 2013 may also be required if building on ArcGIS 10.4.1-10.5.1
• ArcGIS for Desktop
  • ArcMap 10.4.1+
  • ArcGIS Pro 2.2+
• ArcGIS Desktop SDK for .NET 10.4.1+
  • ArcGIS Desktop for .NET Requirements
• ArcGIS Pro SDK 2.2+

Run Requirements

• ArcGIS for Desktop
  • ArcMap 10.4.1+
  • ArcGIS Pro 2.2+

Instructions

Follow the links below to select the desired development/deployment environment.

Add-ins for ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro

Instructions for the Add-ins for ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro are here.

Resources

• ArcGIS for Defense Distance and Direction Component
• Military Tools for ArcGIS
• Military Tools for ArcGIS Solutions Pages
• ArcGIS for Defense Downloads
• ArcGIS Blog
• ArcGIS Solutions Website

New to Github

• New to Github? Get started here.

Issues

Find a bug or want to request a new feature? Please let us know by submitting an issue.

Contributing

Anyone and everyone is welcome to contribute. Please see our guidelines for contributing.

Repository Points of Contact

Contact the Military Tools team

Licensing

Copyright 2018 Esri

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

A copy of the license is available in the repository's license.txt file.

distance-direction-addin-dotnet's Issues

Enhancement - Center Point unit update

Center Point coordinates should match what the user has selected in Data Frame properties.

World Mercator does not work with manual input for circle tool

When manually inputting world Mercator coordinates, an invalid coordinate error is displayed, after entering a valid World Mercator coordinate.

Geodesy and Range Add-in button needs tooltip

Geodesy and Range Add-in button needs tooltip.

Issue - to transfer to another repo to copy labels

From @lfunkhouser on March 9, 2016 17:6

transferring labels to another repo

Copied from original issue: ArcGIS/solutions-desktop-templates#247

Updates to the UI

Military Tools GUI Review.pdf

Inconsistant size of "Clear Graphic" button

From @mcalamito

If I switch between From: Points and From: Bearing and Distance, the Clear Graphic button should remain the same size and not change to the size of the "From:" drop-down.

Disable Clear Graphics and Save As Buttons Until Proper Information is Entered

Currently, the Clear Graphics and Save As buttons are permanently enabled. I can click Save As and create an empty shapefile or feature class. The Clear Graphics and Save As buttons should only be enabled when the proper information is entered or available. They should be disabled otherwise.

Circle - Diameter and Radius producing same size circle with interactive input with Map Point Tool

Circle - Diameter and Radius producing same size circle with interactive input with Map Point Tool
Set Create Circle From: Radius, click on the "four corners", drag a radius to the "O" in Mexico label.
Now switch to Set Create Circle From: Diameter , click "four corners", drag a diameter to the "O" in Mexico label. Both circles will be the same size, shouldn't the diameter be half the size of radius?

Add labels

Feedback from @mcalamito

Shown by the "2" in the screenshot, add labels:
Type: Geodesic
Start: [coord]
End: [coord]
Distance: [dist]
Bearing: [bear]

Distance input field auto-populates and changes the entered value

From @mcalamito
If the input "8.00" is deleted entirely and a new number is typed, such as "89", the number will be 8900.00

There is a huge lag in this typing as well as it is graphically draing a line 8900km

Note, in the screenshot, you can notice the cursor bar after the "89"

Fixing #18 may fix this issue

Lower the "Clear Graphics" button

Feedback from @mcalamito

Lower the "Clear Graphics" button (See "5" in screenshot) and make proper distance between that and the future "Submit" or "OK" button that will be used to create feature layer.

Map Point Tool on Ellipse tab needs tooltip

The Map Point Tool on the Ellipse tab needs a tooltip like the other tabs, for example the Circle tab:

Right now the over over Map Point Tool on Ellipse doesn't have any tooltip.

Distance Calculator - Radius / Diameter not updating properly

Example is trying to calculate distance traveled in 28 minutes at 60 nautical miles per hour. Initially have Time: 28 Minutes and Rate: 60 Nautical Mile, and have used Map Point tool to set center. The Radius shows 1680 metes. Then change the units on time from Minutes to Hours (28 goes to 0.466666), Radius does not update. In both cases the radius should be 51781.92 meters or 27.9 Nautical Miles.

Clear Graphics doesn't remove Ellipse graphics

Draw an ellipse graphic. Go to Line tool and select Clear Graphics. Ellipse graphic is not removed.

Rename Range tab to Rings

The user is creating rings based on ranges.
The other tabs are labeled based on what the user creates (i.e. lines, circle, ellipse).

Allow Manual Input of Information on Ellipse Tab

Currently, I can only create ellipses by interacting directly on the map. As a user, I need to be able to input the proper parameters (center point, major and minor axis, and orientation).

Add Tool Tip to button

Feedback from @mcalamito

Indicated by the "3" in the screenshot, Add Tool Tip to button. i.e. "Map Point Tool" or "Interact with Map"

Tool Tip for Map Point Tool on Ellipse Tab

To keep consistency, all other tabs (Lines, Circle, and Range) have a tool tip for the Map Point Tool.

rename repo?

We still want to rename the repo to match the tool name updates? From geodesy-and-range-addin-dotnet to distance-direction-addin-dotnet?

Invalid radius still produces output

For manual entry using Circle tool, input UTM coordinates of 42S 271512 3674322

For radius, input value of 120,000abcdef.00 - need to be input one character at a time. A circle is drawn with radius of 120,000

If you "Clear Graphics" after the above, the graphic is cleared and Center Point and Radius are reset. If you cut & paste the above radius, and then select 'Clear Graphics', the Center Point and Radius values are not reset.

Create Orientation Bracket/Section

I like how there is an Axis bracket that compacts the Major and Minor. If this design is staying, we should also create an Orientation bracket as the Angle and Unit both apply to the Orientation.

When creating a circle the tool should show a circle not a line

This should be a circle not a line.

Can this repo be made public?

This repo is 'private' so very few people have access to it, can it be shared in the same manner as coordinate conversion? https://github.com/Esri/coordinate-conversion-addin-dotnet

Circles are drawn incorrectly when Kilometers is selected

Circles are drawn incorrectly when Kilometers is selected in the dropdown.

Getting incorrect number of radials in Range tab

Testing the Range tab while writing up the solutions pages for creating range rings with the Add-in. When I add a number for the radials (I'm assuming as there are no dialog labels for the input boxes yet) I'm getting an incorrect number.

If I type 4, I get 8.
If I type 8, I get 16.
If I type 0, I get 0.
If I type 1, I get 2.
If I type 3, I get 6.

Example: Type 3 but get 6:

I expected that If I type 3, I would get 3, and that they would be about 120 degrees apart. If I type 4 I would get 4 and they would be 90 degrees apart.

Any Way to Remove the Overwrite Warning Message When Creating a New Feature Class

Is there any way to remove the overwrite existing feature class warning message that pops up when creating a NEW feature class? It is a bit misleading.

Flicker when drawing Circle

Select the Center Point on the map. When selecting the radius / diameter, there is a vertical line that flickers from the center point

Enhancement - Escape key should clear operation

As using a tool in ArcMap, the escape key should cancel the current operation

Writing Columns and Values from Graphics to Saved Features

Saving graphics as features (shapefile, feature class, and KML) is crucial, but so is saving the attributes that correspond to these features. The user will be inputting information into the Distance and Direction form or drawing on the map interactively. These values must be present in the attribute table when the graphic is saved to a feature or the user will not have values associated with each feature.

For any input field that has a unit, the corresponding Column/Field header name in the attribute will end with "_x" where x = the unit in which defines the input field.

The following columns and values should be included when writing graphics to features:

Lines: Start_Pt, End Pt, Dist_x, Angle_x - where x is the unit the user chose from the unit dropdown.

Circle: Center_Pt, Radius_x OR Diameter_x - depending on if the user chose Radius or Diameter

Ellipse: Center_Pt, Minor_x, Major_x, Orient_x - where x is the unit the user chose from the unit dropdown.

Rings: Center_Pt, Rings, Dist_x, Radials - where x is the unit the user chose from the unit dropdown.

These are only suggested column names and I welcome any discussion.

Add Labels - Rings

Center Point: [coord]
Number of Rings: [num]
Distance: [dist]
Number of Radials: [num]

Do not automatically add ".00" after user input

From @mcalamito

When a distance of "8" is typed in the input box, it automatically adds the ".00"

Recommendation is to populate the input field with user input only. Do not auto-populate with ".00" after input.

Circle Tab - Diameter Center Point is Not Plotting Properly

The initial center point preview plots in the correct location. However, after entering in a diameter distance, the center point shifts and is no longer in the original location.

Add warning when user is about to lose data

From @mcalamito

If the user has input information in the Lines tab and begins drawing, a warning should be displayed prompting them that loss of data will occur if the tab is switched to Circles.

A complete description for the add-in

We should have a add-in description

Clear Graphics should complete operation

Not sure how this should work exactly but it should work differently than it currently does. If the user is in the middle of an operation and they select the Clear Graphics button, it currently draws the graphic but continues to accept the next button click to draw the actual graphic and then removes the previous graphic. The Clear Graphics button could possibly cancel the entire operation.

Enable a Scroll Bar When Docking Geodesy Window

When I dock the Coordinate Tool window, a scroll bar appears to enable me to scroll down to my output coordinates. If I dock my Geodesy window, I have to expand the window in order to see all of the parameters on each tab. This takes up real estate and space in my data frame. Implementing a scroll bar would be a huge asset.

Interactive Range Rings

While using the Interactive mode to enter various size Range Rings, the Distance and Direction tool shows updates in the "Distance Between Rings" display box. The value in the "Distance Between Rings" is actually the radius of the ring currently being entered, not the distance between rings.

Circle, Ellipses, and Rings Must be of Geometry Type Polygon, Not Polyline

All Circle, Ellipse, and Ring graphics and feature layers (using the Save As button) are creating polylines as their geometries. These geometries must be of type polygon.

Switch Distance and Bearing text

From @mcalamito

Switch the text to read "Distance and Bearing" - this is how it is listen in the input form

Size of drop-down menu

Decrease the size of the drop-down menus - indicated by the "1" in the screenshot

This enhancement request was from @mcalamito

Review items for Distance Calculator section of README

I've got two topics from reviewing the Create a Circle using the Distance Calculator section of the README.md:

As it reads now:

Create a Circle using the Distance Calculator

1. Choose the Circles tab on the Geodesy and Range Tool
2. Start an interactive session by selecting the arrow icon
3. Enter a starting point and the distance of the circles radius by clicking on the map
4. Expand the Distance Calculator section
5. Enter a time
6. Enter a rate
7. Press Enter key and the graphic will be drawn on the map

• The third (3) step is a little confusing in that the instruction ask the user to *"Enter a starting point and the distance of the circles radius by clicking on the map". By asking the user to 1) Enter the starting point and 2) the distance of the circles radius we are effectively asking them to draw the circle, before they've entered the desired Time and Rate parameters. In following these instructions explicitly I've also found that it actually creates two circles, one from the interactive clicking on the map, and a second one from modifying the parameters. I feel that there are two ways this could read better. One would be to ask the user to expand the Distance Calculator section before drawing on the map. This way the Map Point tool is only selecting a starting point.

Create a Circle using the Distance Calculator

1. Choose the Circles tab on the Geodesy and Range Tool
2. Expand the Distance Calculator section
3. Start an interactive session by selecting the arrow icon (**Map Point Tool**)
4. Enter a **Center Point** by clicking on the map
5. Enter a **Time** and unit
6. Enter a **Rate** and unit
7. Press Enter key and the graphic will be drawn on the map

Or ask the user to use the Map Point tool to draw the center point, it will then rubberband with the cursor as it moves, but then expand the Distance Calculator section, which will stop the rubber banding but still keep the centerpoint.

Create a Circle using the Distance Calculator

1. Choose the Circles tab on the Geodesy and Range Tool
2. Start an interactive session by selecting the arrow icon (**Map Point Tool**)
3. Enter a **Center Point** by clicking on the map (a rubber band will follow the cursor at this point)
4. Expand the Distance Calculator section
5. Enter a **Time** and unit
6. Enter a **Rate** and unit
7. Press Enter key and the graphic will be drawn on the map

• Easier to read if we make use of bold for button/tool names, and italics for dialogs and titles. Following the original text like this:

1. Choose the Circles tab on the Geodesy and Range Tool
2. Start an interactive session by selecting the arrow icon (Map Point Tool)
3. Enter a Center Point and the distance of the circles radius by clicking on the map
4. Expand the Distance Calculator section
5. Enter a Time and select time unit
6. Enter a Rate and select a rate unit
7. Press Enter key and the graphic will be drawn on the map

Circle Tab - Diameter is not Properly Creating Graphic

The diameter distance is not calculating and plotting properly.

Distance Calculator on Circle tab - Need to add "Miles" as a choice in Rate section

Distance Calculator on Circle tab - Need to add "Miles" as a choice in Rate section where the units are selected. This will allow the mph rate calculation listed in Acceptance Criteria in task.

Enhancement request: Interactive Range Ring creation should be ended with double click

Interactive Ring creation should be ended with double click, rather than (or in addition to) a second click on the Map Point Tool on the Distance and Direction tool.
This behavior would be more consistent with the ArcMap Draw graphics capability for shapes that require multiple clicks to create, and are completed with a double click (i.e line, polygon).

Reduce Size of Ellipse Form

The Ellipse form is significantly larger than all other forms. A re-arrangement on the Ellipse form will reduce the size. Suggestions include having the label be on the same line as the text box. The user will not be inputting very large numerical values that take up an entire line for input.

Minor Axis - text box
Major Axis - text box
Orientation Angle - text box
Orientation Unit - drop down

Ellipse tab Unable to type or paste values into Center Point.

Ellipse tab Unable to type or paste values into Center Point. Map Point Tool working ok.

Enhancement: Add choice of units Nautical Miles

Enhancement: Add choice of units Nautical Miles. Important for user base.

Original graphic should be cleared if user switches the "From:" option

From @mcalamito

If the "From:" option is switched, the original graphic should be cleared.

This should follow similar suit for when the user switches tabs from Line to Circle.

If I begin to draw a graphic using "From: Points" and then switch to "From: Bearing and Distance", two graphics are now displayed on the screen.

Enhancement - dynamic center point update when diameter is selected

The center point could dynamically update as the user moves the cursor when Diameter is selected in the drop down. This will prevent the Center Point location to display a different location than the user initially selected and could be confusing.

Consistency with fonts/formats/capitalization

Feedback from @mcalamito

See "4" in the screenshot as an example. The "D" in degrees should be capitalized to maintain consistency.