The ability to measure objects, distances, and areas in a scene allows you to gain spatial insights, make informed decisions, and analyze relationships within the 3D environment. For example, urban planners can measure distances between buildings, roads, parks, and other urban features, which helps in determining optimal locations for new developments, assessing connectivity, and evaluating the impact of proposed changes on the urban landscape. Engineers and architects can use it to plan the placement of infrastructure elements such as pipelines, power lines, and transportation networks. Environmental scientists can monitor deforestation by measuring distances between tree cover or evaluate the spread of pollution from a point source. During natural disasters or emergency situations, the ability to do measurements in 3D becomes vital for assessing the affected areas, planning evacuation routes, and determining the proximity of critical facilities such as hospitals, shelters, or emergency supply locations.
Workflows
ArcGIS supports the 3D measurement of objects, distances, and areas in a range of applications.
ArcGIS Pro
The measure tools in ArcGIS Pro measure distances, areas, angles, directions, offsets, and feature locations on a map or scene. When you use the Measure Distance tool in a scene, the measured results include visual feedback for multiple components that are returned.
To measure height or the difference between two points, use Measure Vertical tool. For example, you can measure the elevation of a mountain or the height of a building.
Two other types of measurement feedback are always available in the scene, regardless of whether the Measure tool is enabled as you navigate the view. These values are shown at the bottom of the view, next to the coordinate display.
- Z-coordinate—The height of the surface or feature at the pointer location. The z-units are determined by the elevation units set for your scene.
- Distance to cursor—The straight-line distance from your view position to a location in the view. You must enable this as a navigation option.
City Engine and ArcGIS Earth
Both CityEngine and ArcGIS Earth allow you to measure distances, areas and paths with interactive tools. In CityEngine, you can measure distance with the Measure Distance tool and areas and paths with the Measure Area and Path tool. In ArcGIS Earth, you can measure the coordinates of a point, the area of a shape, the length of a line, the distance of line segments, and 3D distance between points.
3D web apps
3D web apps such as Scene Viewer, Instant Apps, Experience Builder and Story Maps and custom 3D web apps that have been built with the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript provide support for measuring distances in a scene through the integration of the 3D Measurement widgets.
Considerations
The units listed for each measure tool are derived from the units set for the project. In the Measure window, only a single measurement unit can be displayed at a time.
While the measure tools in various applications provide valuable insights into the sizes and distances of objects within 3D space, it's important to note that they do not account for terrain. If you need to know the distance and elevation changes along a line, consider using the elevation profile tool in ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Earth, Scene Viewer or any of the web apps that support the elevation profile widget.
Required software
ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Earth, CityEngine and applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript, such as Scene Viewer, Instant Apps, and Experience Builder, offer interactive tools for measuring objects, distances, and areas.
You will need an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise account to view non-public 3D web apps and to create 3D web apps from web scenes.
Explore the following resources to learn more about measuring objects, distances, and areas.
ArcGIS help documentation
Reference material for ArcGIS products:
ArcGIS blogs, stories, and technical papers
Supplemental guidance about concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
Videos
Esri-produced videos that clarify and demonstrate concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
Tutorials
Guided, hands-on lessons based on real-world problems:
Developer resources
Resources and support for automating and customizing workflows:
Esri community
Online places for the Esri community to connect, collaborate, and share experiences:
- Ask the 3D community questions.