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Configure application settings

ArcGIS Drone2Map options can be set either for the current project or for the application. To access these options, from an open project, click the Project tab on the ribbon, and from the list, click Settings.

New project settings

The New Project settings allow you to set defaults, such as where projects are saved, where to start browsing for source images, and which project template to use. The following settings are available:

  • Create a new project in this default location—Defines where new projects will be created on your computer. By default, this path is set to C:\Users\<your username>\Documents\Drone2Map.

  • Create a new batch project in this default location—Defines where new batch projects will be created on your computer. By default, this path is set to C:\Users\<your username>\Documents\Drone2Map\Batch Projects.

  • Look for images in this default location—Defines the path the Drone2Map browse window will use when adding images or image folders to a new project.

  • Use this default custom template—Defines the path to a Drone2Map template .zip file to be used as the default template when creating a project. To learn more about exporting custom templates, see Export template.

  • Use this default project template—Defines which existing template from the drop-down list will be automatically selected when creating a project. By default, the 2D Products Template option is selected.

    You can set both a default custom template and a default project template. When Drone2Map opens or when you click the New tab on the Project ribbon, the default project template is highlighted. Click Custom to open the browse window to the file path of the default custom template.

  • Use this default image coordinate system—Defines the default image coordinate system when creating projects. If you frequently capture imagery in specific coordinate systems, you can configure Drone2Map to automatically use those systems.

  • Use this default project coordinate system—Defines the default project coordinate system when creating projects. If you frequently generate products in the same output coordinate systems, you can configure Drone2Map to automatically use those systems.

Control settings

Use the Control settings to set a default location, a delimiter type, coordinate systems, and appearance for your control. The following ground control settings are available:

  • Import control from this default location—Defines the default path the Drone2Map browse window will use when importing a ground control file.

  • Use this default delimiter for text-based control files—Configures the default delimiter type that will be used when importing ground control from text-based files. The drop-down menu includes the following options: Comma, Tab, Semicolon, and Pipe.

  • Use these default accuracy values for control—Allows the definition of default vertical and horizontal accuracy values when importing ground control. If no accuracy fields exist in the imported control file, these values will be used:

    • Accuracy Horizontal—Defines the default value used for horizontal accuracy when importing ground control.

    • Accuracy Vertical—Defines the default value used for vertical accuracy when importing ground control.

  • Control points are in this default coordinate system—Defines the default coordinate systems that will be used in the import control window when importing new ground control points.

  • Set control default symbology—Allows the configuration of the default symbology that Drone2Map will use for control and image link markers.

    • Ground Control Point—Defines the color and size of ground control point markers.

    • Check Point—Defines the color and size of check point markers.

    • Image Link—Defines the color and size of image link markers within the Image Links Editor.

  • Set auto link control defaults—Allows the configuration of default parameters when using the automatic link control function.

Note:

Enabling the automatic link control functionality requires the separate installation of deep learning libraries. See Optional installation packages.

  • Enable auto link control by default—Enables the automatic linking control function when new projects are created.

  • Default auto link method—Defines the default automatic link method used when running the adjustment step.

    • Auto Link—Automatically detects and links ground control points. A second adjustment is required to integrate the control points into the adjustment.

    • Auto Link and Adjust—Automatically detects, links, and integrates control points into the adjustment.

  • Default cropped image size—Specifies the default image area used to detect the control point. Increasing the size can improve detection accuracy when the initial estimated position is far from the actual location, but it may reduce performance.

  • Default max links—Defines the default maximum number of images that can be automatically linked to each control point based on detection results.

  • Use highest score by default—Uses the highest score from the deep learning model to estimate the links in other images.

  • Auto estimate links by default—Automatically updates estimates and links based on the newly selected location.

Display settings

Drone2Map allows you to customize the drawing of maps and scenes. The Display options control how maps are rendered and affect the quality and performance of drawing. Settings that you can modify include the following:

  • Antialiasing mode

  • Text antialiasing mode

  • Rendering quality

  • Rendering engine

  • Vertical synchronization

  • Hardware antialiasing

  • Local cache

For more information about display settings, see Display settings.

General settings

The General settings allow you to set defaults for how Drone2Map logging, basemaps, and elevation sources function. You can set the following options:

  • Set the logging level for Drone2Map application log—Defines the default application logging level. This is useful when working with Esri support to provide additional troubleshooting information. Drone2Map supports the following levels:

    • Trace—Designates finer-grained informational events than the Debug option. The most detailed level of logging.

    • Info—Designates informational messages that highlight the progress of the application at coarse-grained level. This is the default setting.

    • Debug—Designates fine-grained informational events that are most useful to debug an application.

Note:

Changing the log level requires an application restart to take effect.

  • Use this default basemap—Defines the default basemap used when creating new projects. Choose from the following options:

    • World Imagery

    • Default basemap of your organization

    • Custom Basemap

    • None

  • Use this default elevation source—Allows the definition of a custom default elevation surface. Otherwise, the Esri World Elevation Service is the default used within Drone2Map.

Products

True Ortho and DSM products support tile-based processing in Drone2Map. This saves time by only reprocessing the tiles that overlap with drawn preprocessing features. You can configure the default behavior of tile-based processing through the following options:

  • Merged TIF Format—This drop-down menu controls the output TIF format of single-file raster products (true ortho, DSM, DTM, hillshade, and so on). Two options are available: GeoTIFF or Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG). It is recommended that you use the COG option for raster layers that will be used in cloud storage or web mapping.

  • Merge True Ortho tiles into a single True Ortho—When enabled, this setting will merge all true ortho tiles into a single true ortho .tif file.

  • Delete True Ortho tiles after the single True Ortho is created—When enabled, this setting will delete all the intermediate data tiles that are created during processing and leave a single true ortho .tif file.

  • Merge DSM tiles into a single DSM—When enabled, this setting will merge all DSM tiles into a single DSM .tif file.

  • Delete DSM tiles after the single DSM is created—When enabled, this setting will delete all the intermediate data tiles that are created during processing and leave a single DSM .tif file.

For more information about tile-based reprocessing, see: Use tile-based processing.

Warnings

Drone2Map can be configured to display warnings for certain behaviors when processing. The following warnings are available:

  • Flight Altitude Accuracy—Enabled by default, this warning will display if there is a large deviation between the calculated altitude range of all flight images.

  • No Products Selected—Enabled by default, this warning will display if processing is run with no products selected.

Hardware settings

CPU Threads specifies the number of central processing unit (CPU) threads dedicated to processing new projects. Slide the bar in either direction to adjust the number of CPU threads.

Note:

The CPU Threads setting can also be customized at the project level in the project’s processing options.

Temperature settings

The temperature settings provide a drop-down menu to specify the default temperature units used for thermal output products. The options are Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Help source

Drone2Map has an online help system and an offline (installed) help system. These two resources generally have the same content, but the online help may be more current.

  • Online help from the Internet—The Drone2Map help system opens in your default web browser. This is the default setting.

  • Offline help from your computer (installed)—The Drone2Map help system opens in an application on your computer. It is installed with Drone2Map by default.

Note:

If you frequently work in a disconnected environment, it is recommended that you use the offline help system.

Application reporting

The Esri User Experience Improvement (EUEI) program helps Esri improve the interface and usability of Drone2Map. You can choose to participate in this program, and you can define the reporting region to comply with privacy standards.

Error reporting can be disabled so Drone2Map will not show the error report submission window. To learn more about error reporting, see Report software errors.

Notifications

Important software announcement notifications can be configured. The following options are available:

  • Allow notifications to play sounds—Enable this option to receive an audible alert when a new toast notification appears.

  • Check for announcements on startup—Enable this option to receive important information that may affect you.

  • Show announcement toast notifications—Enable this option to allow toast notifications to appear outside of the notification pane.

Edit Settings

Enable the Show the editing toolbar on the map option if you want it to appear when you create features or modify them with interactive editing tools. Disable the toolbar to hide it and use only ribbon commands, context menus, and keyboard shortcuts.

User Camera Database Settings

These are functional buttons that allow you to modify the user camera database by importing, exporting, or deleting it.

Sharing Settings

Configure default sharing tags to be used when sharing any type of product.

Catalog Settings

You can configure projects to have a default local and web catalog defined. You can also automatically add project layers to those catalogs and specify a default shared storage path for newly shared catalogs. The following options are available for configuring catalog settings:

  • Default Local Catalog—Defines a default local catalog dataset that will be opened and added to the map when creating a new project.

    • Automatically add layers to local catalog—When enabled, all newly generated products will be automatically added to any open local catalog dataset within the project.

  • Default Web Catalog—Defines a default web catalog dataset that will be opened and added to the map when creating a new project.

    • Automatically add layers to web catalog—When enabled, all newly generated products will be automatically added to any open web catalog dataset within the project.

  • Default Shared Storage—Defines the default shared storage folder that will be used for new shared catalog datasets.

Reset all settings

To return all Drone2Map settings to their original state, click Reset to Defaults.

Inspection settings

The Inspection section allows you to define default behaviors when using the inspection workspace. The following options are available:

  • Use this default report title—Defines a default title that will be used for all generated inspection reports.

  • Use this default report logo—Defines a default logo that will be used for all generated inspection reports.

  • Use this default schema—Defines a default schema that will be used when first creating the inspection workspace.

  • Attach Feature Snapshots—Attaches new inspection feature snapshots to the feature in the feature class.

  • Use this default overview map scale—Defines the default map scale used in the overview image of the inspection report.

Language settings

The Language settings allow you to set the display and proofing language if you have an ArcGIS language pack installed. You can also set your online help system language to supported languages.

For more information about language settings, see Configure language settings.

Navigation settings

You can customize the default experience for 2D and 3D maps in Drone2Map. These settings control how you orient the view, identify features, and navigate and manage the extent.

In the Settings window, on the Navigation tab, you can set the following navigation options:

  • Mouse wheel roll forward—Zoom in and out on a view. By default, Zooms in is selected. With this option, when you rotate the wheel button forward, you zoom in on the view. Select Zooms out to reverse this behavior.

  • Transition time—Control the amount of time the application takes to move from one area to another. By default, this option is set to zero (0) seconds. You can increase the transition time to slow the navigation between locations.

  • Enable panning gestures—Enable navigation assistance when panning in 2D and 3D maps. When you click and release the mouse button, the application assists in navigating toward the direction the mouse was released, such as a push or pull to glide in that direction. This option is checked by default. If you uncheck this option, no assistance is provided.

  • Follow terrain during roam—Specific to 3D navigation, maintain your position above ground, so it stays fixed even as you move forward, backward, uphill, or downhill. The view avoids bumping into or going through hills and can be useful when using roam near street-level navigation in hilly cities. When this option is checked, the wheel button can still be used for zooming in and out and changing the camera's altitude. This option is not checked by default.

  • Show distance to cursor—Specific to 3D navigation, display the straight line distance from your view position to a location in the view, such as a mountaintop or corner of a building. The value displays on the status bar at the bottom of the view, next to the coordinate display units. This option is not checked by default.

  • Show navigation scrollbars (2D only)—Add a horizontal and vertical scrollbar to the edge of a map. Click the arrows to pan 10 percent of the current view in that direction, or click within the scrollbar to pan 50 percent of the current view. This is not available for the 3D map.

  • First person navigation speed exaggeration—Specific to 3D navigation, control the initial camera travel speed when first-person navigation mode is enabled.

  • On Screen Navigator—You can set the following options:

    • Show Navigator when opening 2D views—By default, no navigator control shows when a new 2D map view is opened. You can configure 2D maps to always open showing the navigator using Heading or Full Control mode.

    • Show Navigator when opening 3D views—By default, the navigator control shows in Heading mode, allowing you to always know where north is and click to reset the view to north. Click and drag the outer ring to pan around the scene. Optionally, configure 3D views to always open with the navigator maximized for full control or no navigator at all.

    • Default Navigator size—Adjust the initial size of the navigator as it will appear each time in a view.

  • Pop-ups—You can set the following options:

    • Use classic pop-up mode—Override the default styling and use the classic pop-up styling at all times.

    • Honor dark theme—Use the dark theme when the application is in this mode. This option is on by default. Turn it off to display the attribute portion of pop-ups in the light theme styling regardless of the application setting.

    • Block JavaScript content—Block pop-ups that contain JavaScript content. This option is on by default.

    • Show crosshairs when flashing—Display four lines that draw from the outer edge of the map view to center on a flashed feature.

    • Include the selection buffer when identifying features—Include the selection pixel buffer when performing a single-click identification. In a 2D map, a circular buffer is applied; in a 3D scene, a cube is used.

    • Show pop-up title—Show the pop-up title at the top of the attribute portion of a pop-up.

    • Show feature coordinate value—Show the feature coordinate value at the bottom of the pop-up.

Raster and imagery settings

You can change options that will be applied to all your imagery and raster datasets within Drone2Map. The Raster and Imagery settings include the following categories:

  • Appearance

  • Cache

  • Raster Dataset

  • Mosaic Dataset

  • Multidimensional Dataset

  • Raster Formats

For more information about raster and imagery default settings, see Raster and imagery default settings.

Selection settings

You can review and set the Selection settings before you begin selecting features.

In the Settings window, on the Selection tab, you can set the following default interactive selection settings:

  • Selection color—Specify the color of the selected features. The default is cyan.

    • For polygons only, you can apply a selection color and fill to the interior. You can choose from a hatched fill or a solid fill.

    • You can override the default selection color for an individual layer using the Layer Properties dialog box.

  • Interactive selection mode—Specify how the shapes you digitize will be used to select features. The options are as follows:

    • Select features that are partially or completely within the selection graphic shape. This is the default.

    • Select features that are completely contained by the selection shape (2D only).

  • Selection combination mode—Specify the behavior when selecting multiple features. This can be configured to any of the following:

    • Create a selection set of features each time you digitize with a selection tool. This is the default.

    • Add to the current selection set (press Shift+K while clicking).

    • Remove features from the current selection set (press Ctrl while clicking).

    • Select features from the current selection set (press Ctrl+Shift while clicking).

  • Save layers and tables with their current selection—Maintain the selection for the layers or tables when a project is reopened. This option is enabled by default.

  • Display the interactive selection graphic—Maintain the selection shape graphic after drawing a selection shape. This can be useful for making additional dynamic interactive selections. Click and drag the graphic to a new location and update the selection. You can also resize the graphic by clicking and dragging one of its handles.

  • Show the selection chip—Control whether the selection chip appears near the pointer when you select coincident or overlapping features and display the selection list so you can click the desired feature. This option is enabled by default.

  • Keep invisible features selected with a new selection—Maintain the selection set for layers that you turn off before making a new selection.

  • Buffer the clicked location to include features within (x) pixels—Apply a rectangular buffer (in pixels) around the location when making a selection or opening a pop-up using a single click.

Units settings

The Units settings define the units used in the current project.

In the Settings window, on the Units tab, you can set the units for the following categories:

  • Distance units

  • Angular units

  • Area units

  • Location units

  • Direction units

  • Page units

  • 2D symbol display units

  • 3D symbol display units

For each unit category, a button will specify the default unit for the project. For more information about units in Drone2Map, see Map units, location units, and display units.