Draw Maps: Map Notes 4+

Not bad, but some frustrating limitations

I really love the concept of this app. I’m in the middle of a real estate search, and being able to easily mark up maps for areas we’re interested in is very useful. However, there are a few limitations of this app that I find arbitrary and frustrating.

First, method for typing text onto the map, with the silly stencil thing, is awkward and slow. Why can’t I just create a text box, select a font face, size, and color, and start typing?

Secondly, while there are a lot of colors available, they are each limited to a specific drawing tool. So if I want to use the highlighter tool, I am limited to the 8 pre-configured highlighter colors. I’d really like to be able to choose any color for any drawing tool.

Finally, the width of the writing stroke doesn’t scale with the zoom of the map. So if I’m trying to highlight streets, the widths of the highlighter mark are different depending on how zoomed in I was when I made a particular mark. I can definitely see how this would be the desired behavior in some use cases, but in mine (and being as much of a perfectionist as I am), it’s super frustrating. I find myself trying to meticulously zoom to a specific level before drawing to make sure my pen strokes all look the same in the final product.

All that said, this is a useful and easy-to-use app, and I’m glad I found it!

Great App

I use the app for mapping out projects for a pavement marking biz. Only a couple things I’d like to see:

1)Measuring tool for measuring a path along a route.

2)To be able to share edits with others that have the app without having to send through email. Sometimes we have multiple crews working off the same map and if we could all see each other’s edits it would be great.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking the time to post this review. We totally agree. Measuring tools and live sharing are planned for future releases. FYI, Draw Maps for ArcGIS (the red icon version) provides live sharing now.

Needs to be updated.

Use it a lot and I find some use cases that needs to be updated through and through. Change the size of the bluefield tool Create lines through pins I dropped Straight line pen tool would be preferable Count function how many pins I dropped Distance and area calculator Layers would be nice Duplicating the map Quick photoshop (select a perimeter and and press it like a button so you can replicate it) Really advanced tools would be population preview like on dots Map highlight tool Airport highlight too