Contextual drawing and precision controls

Contextual drawing puts actions beside the location or feature you select. Use it to start collection, inspect an existing item, or choose an overlapping point without searching through several toolbars.

The menu chooses actions from the map context. It does not choose your destination layer: check the active layer before drawing.

Before you start

Activate a project with a suitable layer and permission to create features. Use a practice layer for the first exercise. Open Settings, search for Use radial drawing controls, and turn it on. It is on by default.

This setting hides the floating drawing toolbar and separate measurement button. Long-press the map on a touch device, or right-click on desktop, to reach those actions. Turning the setting off restores the toolbar.

Finish or cancel any active drawing, measurement, or edit, and confirm or close any temporary location pin, before opening another radial menu.

1. Open the menu for the task

Hold one finger still briefly on the map. Moving your finger before the menu opens is treated as a map gesture. Once the menu is open, select an action by tapping it or sliding to it and releasing. Tap outside to close it.

Where you open it	Actions when permitted	Why it helps
Empty map	Draw, Measure, GPS Pin, Paste Loc	Start a task near the area you are reviewing
Existing point or line	Attributes, Geometry, Delete, Measure	Work on the selected record without locating it in a table
Existing polygon	The feature actions plus Split and Merge for Owners/Admins	Begin an authorized boundary edit from its target polygon
Point cluster	Expand and Spiderfy, where supported	Zoom to the group or spread overlapping markers for selection
Large-scale aggregate group	Expand	Zoom in until individual records become available

Attributes changes form values. Geometry changes the location or shape. Measure starts a measurement task; it does not automatically create a saved measurement record for the feature you pressed.

Permissions still apply. A missing edit or delete action is not evidence that the record is broken. Reference or read-only features may not offer the same actions as editable project features.

2. Draw directly on the map

1. Select the intended Point, LineString, or Polygon layer.
2. Open the radial menu on empty map space and choose Draw.
3. Add the geometry:
   • Point: tap the intended location.
   • Line: tap successive vertices, then use Finish after at least two vertices.
   • Polygon: tap its corners, then use Finish after at least three vertices.
4. Complete the feature form and save.
5. Reopen the feature to verify the layer, shape, and attributes.

The long-press location opens the menu; choosing Draw starts drawing mode. It does not itself save a feature at that location.

Drawing can remain active for repeated collection after a save. When the batch is complete, close the form and use Cancel until the map returns to idle; Precision may need its first Cancel to leave the crosshair.

If a center crosshair appears, the remembered Precision preference is active. Follow the next section. Choose the input method before adding vertices, because switching between direct drawing and Precision resets the in-progress geometry.

3. Place vertices with the precision crosshair

Use Precision when a finger would cover a small corner or when panning the map under a fixed target is easier than tapping accurately.

1. Enter Draw.
2. In the bottom action bar, select Add Point once to enter Precision if it is not already active. The first press changes the input method.
3. Pan and zoom the map until the intended location is under the center crosshair.
4. Select Add Point again to capture that location.
5. For a line or polygon, repeat for the remaining vertices. Use Undo Last Point to correct the most recent one.
6. Select Finish, then complete and save the form.

A Point completes after its first captured location. A line needs at least two locations and a polygon at least three. If Finish does nothing, check the captured-point count.

With the floating toolbar visible, use Precision Crosshair during drawing. Precision still shows its bottom action bar, even when radial controls are off.

The preference is remembered for later drawing and measurement. “Precision” describes controlled placement on the map; it does not improve the accuracy of a basemap, phone GPS, or imported coordinates.

4. Snap to an existing edge

Use Snap to Features in the drawing action bar when new vertices should meet an existing visible edge. Snapping is on by default and remembers your choice.

1. Show the source layer and zoom in to the intended edge.
2. Enable Snap to Features.
3. Move the pointer, or pan the crosshair, close to the edge.
4. Inspect the cyan snap indicator, then add the vertex.
5. Reopen the completed feature and check the connection.

Turn snapping off if it pulls a vertex toward the wrong nearby feature. The custom edge snapping uses available visible line and polygon geometry. It is a placement aid, not a complete topology or network-validation check.

Example: When drawing a service area beside an existing boundary, snap the shared corners to that edge. This reduces accidental gaps, while a final geometry review checks that the resulting boundary is the one you intended.

5. Understand the bottom action bar

Control	During drawing
Add Point	Enters Precision from direct drawing; in Precision, captures the crosshair position
Snap to Features	Toggles snapping
Undo Last Point	Removes the most recent draft vertex
Finish	Completes valid geometry and continues to its form
Cancel	In direct drawing, exits the task. In Precision, first discards that crosshair draft and returns to direct drawing

After cancelling Precision, check the status. If it still says Drawing, use Cancel again to return to the idle map. The same two-stage exit applies to the Precision overlay in measurement mode.

Controls change with the task: Finish commits a geometry-edit session, and in measurement it closes a shape for area calculation. Read the current Drawing, Precision, Editing, or Measuring label before selecting it.

6. Use a known or phone-derived location

• GPS Pin starts phone capture, then offers a temporary pin to review. It uses the device's position, not the place where the radial menu opened.
• Paste Loc reads coordinates from the clipboard. If clipboard access is unavailable, enter them in the offered input dialog. A simple decimal latitude, longitude pair is the clearest format.
• Review the resulting temporary pin and select Confirm Location for a point or Add Vertex for a line/polygon draft.

Check coordinate order and the map location even if the text was accepted. A pasted pair is not automatically reprojected from a local engineering grid. See manual coordinates and phone positioning.

If a control does not behave as expected

Symptom	Check
Long-press or right-click does not open a menu	Radial setting, an active task or temporary pin, and whether the finger moved
The menu shows feature actions instead of Draw	You selected an existing feature; open it on empty map space
Add Point appears to do nothing on the first press	Check whether it switched the label from Drawing to Precision
Finish does not open a form	Check that the geometry has enough vertices
Cancel leaves a Drawing or Measuring label	You exited Precision; cancel the remaining task if you want to leave it
Snap chooses the wrong edge	Zoom in, check visible source layers, or turn snapping off
Split or Merge is missing	Confirm Owner/Admin access and select an editable polygon

Completion check: The feature is saved once on the intended layer, its geometry and form reopen correctly, and the map is out of the active task. For quick visual notes instead of collected features, see Sketch notes.