Add features to your video in FMV

Available with Image Analyst license.

Note:

This tutorial requires ArcGIS Pro 2.3+ and the ArcGIS Image Analyst extension for ArcGIS Pro. If you don't have either ArcGIS Pro 2.3+ or the Image Analyst extension, get a free 21-day trial.

As part of the ArcGIS Image Analyst extension, Full Motion Video lets you view and exploit geospatially enabled video in ArcGIS Pro. This tutorial focuses on using the FMV player in Pro to add points in the video player display or on the map. Learn more about all the capabilities of FMV.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create features by marking every point at which a vehicle passes a semi-trailer truck (a "big rig") as it travels along a highway near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The truck is carrying an important load and we want to be sure it is being transported safely. When you add a video to your ArcGIS Pro project and you have the Image Analyst extension, tabs and interactive windows automatically open so you can interact with your video data directly in your project.

If you haven't already done so, familiarize yourself with the tools and options available for visualizing and exporting from the video. Learn how to work with the video player.

Before you get started, download and unzip a sample video to use with the tutorial.

Open the video

Add the video to a project in ArcGIS Pro.

1. Start ArcGIS Pro. If necessary, sign in with your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise credentials.

   If you have a Named User license, you must sign in to use ArcGIS Pro. If you are already signed in, your username will appear in the upper right corner of the ArcGIS Pro window.

   If you have a Single Use or Concurrent Use license, you don't need to sign in to use ArcGIS Pro as a desktop-only application. However, you do need to sign in with ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise credentials to share content to your portal or to access content from a portal. For example, you need to sign in to open the project package for this tutorial.

2. Select Map under the Blank Templates list to create a new project with the Map template. In the Name box, type FMV Player and click OK.
3. To check if the ArcGIS Image Analyst extension is available, click the Project tab, then click Licensing. Under Esri Extensions, find Image Analyst and confirm that under Licensed it says Yes. If it says No and you have a Named User license, check with your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise administrator to activate the license. If you have a Single Use license, see how to authorize an extension. Once you're done reviewing licenses, click the arrow in the top left corner to return to the map.
4. The project opens with the World Topographic basemap already in the display. Click the Inserttab on the ribbon above the map view. Click Add Folder and navigate to the location where you downloaded the tutorial data. Select the FMV_Tutorial folder and click OK.
5. From the Catalog pane, expand Folders, then expand the FMV_Tutorial folder you just added. Expand the Videos folder to see the different videos listed in the folder.
   If you do not see either the Contents or Catalog panes, click the View tab from the ribbon and choose the panes or windows you would like to see in your project.
6. Drag and drop the Truck.H264 file into the Contents pane of the project.
   Three things will change in your project:

   • The video player automatically opens and is docked at the bottom of the ArcGIS Pro window.
   • The Truck video is added to the Contents pane under Standalone Videos.
   • A new contextual tab set appears in the ribbon at the top of the ArcGIS Pro window called Standalone Video. There are two tabs within the tab set: Data and View. Each has a set of tools to work with the video data you added to the project.

Working with point graphics in the video

The video player tools allow you to add point graphics quickly to your video and map.

1. Click the Play button on the video player. Watch the video and see that there are a few times when cars pass the truck.

   If the video player is too small, you can resize the player while docked, or right click the Truck tab and select Float to view the video player in its own window. Right click the Truck tab again and click Dock to return the player to its initial location.

2. Click Go to beginning to move the video time slider back to the beginning of the video.
3. Click Zoom to Video to make sure your map will display the extent of the video.
4. On the Color picker, select a color that will be easy to spot on the video and map. Reds and purples are usually a good bet.
5. Select the Add Graphics button on the video player toolbar. It is highlighted on the toolbar to show that it is activated.
6. Click Play and begin clicking on the video display whenever you see a car pass the truck. You can pause the video if you wish, rewind or fast-forward slightly, or you can simply drop a point while the video plays. Each time you click in the video, a point is generated both in the video and on the map display. Turn off Add Graphics when you're done.
7. If you want to start over, you can delete all the existing graphics from the map and video display by clicking the Remove Graphics button.
8. When finished, manually zoom to the full extent of the video in the map viewer and see the points you have added to the map. Using the time slider, manually navigate to the frame where the point was added in the video. You'll see that the points you added are visible both in the video and on the map.

Convert the graphics to features and synchronize

To use your points for future analysis, you can save the graphics as features in a file geodatabase.

1. Open the Data tab in the Standalone Videos tab from the ribbon at the top of the ArcGIS Pro window. Select Configure Workspace.
   1. The default geodatabase and export folders for metadata, images, PowerPoint slides, and videos are all listed. Check through each one to familiarize yourself with the locations.
   2. Click OK.
2. With your point graphics still in the map and video, click the Save Graphics button at the top of the video player.

   A new layer is added to your Contents pane with the name FMV_Truck. It is a point feature class, symbolized with the same color that was given to the graphics.

   1. In the Catalog pane, navigate to the location of the default geodatabase listed in the Configure Workspace window. See that the new feature class has been stored in this geodatabase.
3. In the Contents pane, right-click on the FMV_Truck layer and select Symbology.
   1. In the Symbology pane, click the symbol to open the Format Point Symbol page. Make sure you are looking at the Gallery tab.
   2. In the Search bar, type cross and hit Enter.
   3. Select Cross 1 and click the Properties tab in the Format Point Symbol page.
   4. Change the Color to Electron Gold. You can hover your mouse over the colors to see the name (Electron Gold is a bright orange).
   5. Click Apply and close the Symbology pane.
4. In the video player, click Go to beginning to start the video at the beginning. Then click the Sync Graphics button to display the features that are on your map so that they display in the video. Click Play.

   Adding new point graphics to the map and clicking Save Graphics again will append the new features to the existing feature class. To create a new feature class for graphics, rename the existing feature class. The new feature class will have the name FMV_[video name].

Digitize features in the video

In addition to adding and converting point graphics in the video player, you can perform full feature editing tasks in the video as well.

1. In the Catalog pane, right-click on the project geodatabase and select New > Feature Class.
2. Type "LotMarkers" as the Name and set the Feature Class Type to Polygon. Click Finish.
3. Drag the LotMarkers feature class into the map to add it to your project.
4. On the Edit tab, in the Features group, select Create.
5. In the Truck video, use the time slider to go to 01:36. Here, the truck is driving past a parking lot on the opposite side of the highway.
   1. Click Play and watch for a few seconds.
   2. As the truck progresses, you can see multiple diamond patterns to the right of the yellow line in the parking area.
   3. Hit Pause with some of the diamond shapes visible in the video player.
   4. Use your mouse's scroll wheel if necessary to zoom in on some of the diamonds.
   5. Click the Zoom to Frame button in the video player to update your map to the current frame.
6. In the Create Features pane, select the LotMarkers template and choose the Polygon option for digitizing features.
   1. Digitize on top of the video in the video player to outline one of the diamonds.
   2. Double-click to finish the sketch. You'll see the feature appear on your map.
   3. Digitize two more diamonds.
   4. Click the Sync Graphics button to see your features appear in the video itself.
7. On the Edit tab, click Save to save your edits. Close the ArcGIS Pro project.

Visualizing and adding features to video data is only possible when you are working with an FMV-compliant video file with all the required metadata. If you have an archived video stream and an associated metadata file, you can combine them using the Video Multiplexer tool and use the resulting video file in FMV workflows. See related tutorials below to find out more about what you can do with Full Motion Video in ArcGIS Pro.