Measure

Draw a line or polygon on a map to read geodesic distance or area. Ships as a Viewer, Editor, and map-builder tool, not a Custom Web App widget.

basic

Measure is a map toolbar tool for temporary distance and area sketches. It ships on:

  • Web map builder (map item configure view)
  • Viewer apps (when the author enables the Measure tool)
  • Feature Editor apps (when the author enables Measure)

It is not a Custom Web App page widget. CustomWidgetKind has no measure kind, and the Custom Web App builder does not offer a Measure tile. Use a Viewer or the map builder when you need measure on a published map experience.

Modes

  • Distance. Click to start a line; add vertices; finish the sketch. Readout shows geodesic length.
  • Area. Click to draw a polygon; finish to close. Readout shows geodesic area and perimeter. When the map has an active elevation / DEM layer, the primary area number is ground (slope / surface) area; horizontal (planimetric / deed) area stays available as a secondary line.

There is no separate "coordinate lookup" mode and no MGRS / UTM format picker on this tool.

Units

Authors and viewers pick units on the tool itself:

  • Distance: meters, feet, miles, kilometers, and related length units exposed in the control.
  • Area: square meters, square feet, acres, hectares, and related area units.

Measurements are geodesic (on the ellipsoid / spheroid path the map math uses). There is no planar / pixel-distance mode toggle.

Camera while measuring

If the map is pitched into 3D when Measure opens, the tool flattens pitch immediately and locks max pitch at 0 for the life of the tool so the sketch matches the scale bar and ground / deed acres. Closing Measure restores the previous pitch.

Snapping

Measure sketches do not snap to feature vertices. Editor snapping (when enabled) is a separate Feature Editor setting and does not drive the Measure overlay.

Notes

  • Measurements aren't saved. They are ephemeral overlays; closing the tool clears them. For a permanent measured polygon, draw it as a feature in a data layer instead.
  • Not Experience Builder parity. Do not expect a Custom Web App Measure widget, secondary dual-unit config panel, or coordinate / MGRS / UTM modes that some other builders advertise.
  • Elevation optional. Ground (surface) area appears only when terrain elevation is available on the map; otherwise you get horizontal area alone.