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Field manual · 10/17

Field Tools

The wrench button opens the tool kit. Twenty-one tools run on the map you are looking at — so position the map first, then pick a tool. This chapter covers the measurement, capture and output tools; the terrain analysis tools have their own chapter.

the tools sheet

Every tool in launcher order, with the app's own one-line description:

Tools → the full list
ToolWhat it doesTier
ViewshedVisible vs. hidden terrain from the map center5 km free
Line of SightTerrain profile & visibility between two pointsFREE
Slope AngleShades the visible terrain by steepness (27°+)PRO
Slope Between PointsInclination, grade & height gain along a path you drawPRO
Angle Between PointsThe angle between two directions from a pointFREE
Contour LinesElevation contours over any base map, computed on-devicePRO
ElevationGround elevation at the map centerPRO
Sea DepthWater depth under the map centerPRO
Range RingsConcentric distance rings around the map centerFREE
Measure DistanceLive distance along a pathFREE
Measure AreaLive area & perimeterFREE
Measure CircleLive radius & areaFREE
Measure CursorLive readout from you to the map center as you panFREE
GPS PhotoPhoto stamped with your coordinatesFREE
Print MapExport the map as a PDF sheet at a true scalePRO
Position AveragingAverage GPS fixes over time into a precise pinPRO
Weather ForecastForecast at the map centerToday free
Sun & MoonSunrise, sunset, twilight (BMNT/EENT) & moon phaseFREE
Coordinate ConverterConvert between MGRS, UTM and Lat/LonFREE
Unit ConverterConvert length, speed, angle and temperature unitsFREE
AR ViewPeaks and your own pins through the camera1 free run
The Tools sheet listing every tool with its one-line description
The tool kit
Any tool can be promoted to a quick-action chip above the tab bar, so the one you use constantly is a single tap away. See Settings.
Star a tool with the star on its row and it is pinned into a Favorites section at the top of the sheet — without leaving the full list — so your handful of regulars are always first.

the tool dock

Six tools are persistent — Viewshed, Range Rings, Line of Sight, Angle Between Points, Slope Angle and Contour Lines. They keep drawing until you close them, and several can run at once.

Active tool bar

The tool you touched last shows its full controls in a bar just above the tab bar.

Chip stack

Every other running tool collapses to a compact chip with a close button, stacked bottom-left. Tap a chip to promote that tool back to the bar. The stack scrolls when it grows tall.

Range rings plus a viewshed plus contours is a common combination: coverage, intervisibility and terrain shape on one screen without reopening anything.

range rings

Concentric distance rings around the map centre — engagement envelopes, sensor coverage, walking radii, a search pattern.

Number of Rings
1 to 12
Spacing
0.1 km to 10 km, in 0.1 km steps
Radial bearing lines
Adds spokes so you can read a bearing off the rings
Ring Color
Any colour
Position the map centre on the point you want the rings around before tapping Draw — the tool reads the crosshair, not your position.

measuring distance, area and circles

Three live measurement tools. Tap to lay points; the readout updates as you go.

Measure Distance

Live distance along a path. The summary breaks the path down leg by leg with the distance and azimuth of each segment.

Measure Area

Live area and perimeter of a polygon.

Measure Circle

Live radius and area from a centre and one edge point.

Keeping the result — each tool offers to save the measurement as a real item in the active layer: a path, an area or a circle. The measurement stops being a scratch overlay and becomes something you can name, style, navigate and export. Saving requires Pro; measuring itself is free.
A path saved from Measure Distance keeps the Measured line style, so it carries its per-segment distance and azimuth labels on the map afterwards. See Pins & Shapes.

measure cursor

A live readout from your position to the map centre that updates as you pan — nothing is drawn, nothing is saved. Scrub the map around and watch the numbers to the crosshair change, like a range-finder you sweep across the ground.

A gear on the tool opens its Fields, each a toggle:

Distance
Ground distance to the crosshair
Azimuth / Back Azimuth
Bearing there and back, in your north reference
Height Difference PRO
Elevation change to the crosshair
Slope PRO
The gradient between you and it
ETE
Estimated time to walk there, with an ETE Speed of your current GPS speed or a fixed pace
The tool is free; the two terrain-derived fields — Height Difference and Slope — are Pro, because they read the elevation model. Distance, azimuth and ETE are free.

angle between points

The angle between two directions from a single point — a sector of fire, an observation arc, the spread between two landmarks from where you stand.

Place a vertex and two leg endpoints. The tool reports:

Vertex
The corner coordinate, in your chosen format
Leg A Bearing
Direction to the first point, in your north reference
Leg A Length
Distance to the first point
Leg B Bearing
Direction to the second point
Leg B Length
Distance to the second point
Angle
The included angle, in degrees, mils or gradians
Reflex
Switches to the outside angle — the other way round the vertex
Free, offline and instant: it is pure geometry over coordinates you place, with no terrain data and no network. It works the same in airplane mode.
Set Angle Format to US/NATO Mils in Settings and the readout comes out in the unit a fire mission uses.

gps photo

A photo with the position burned into the image itself — for a report, a damage record, a range card or a sample site, where the coordinates have to survive being emailed as a picture.

  1. Open Tools → GPS Photo and grant camera access if asked.
  2. Frame the shot. The stamp shows the live position, altitude and heading.
  3. Take the photo, then Retake or Save.
The coordinates, altitude and heading are drawn onto the image and written into its EXIF metadata, so the file still carries a machine-readable position.
This tool saves to your photo library without creating a pin. To attach a geotagged photo to a pin, use the camera from the pin editor's Add Attachment instead.
Errors you may see: Camera access is needed to take geotagged photos. — grant it in iOS Settings. Camera is unavailable on this device. — there is no usable camera, which is normal in the Simulator.

position averaging PRO

A single GPS fix is a guess with an error attached. Averaging many fixes taken from the same spot shrinks that error — the app's own advice reads: stand still while averaging. Random GPS error shrinks with the square root of time — a few minutes usually beats any single fix; longer keeps helping.

  1. Stand on the point. Put the phone down or hold it still.
  2. Open Tools → Position Averaging and tap Start.
  3. Watch Samples and Time climb and the scatter tighten. Restart throws the run away and begins again.
  4. Tap Stop, then Save Pin.
The saved pin records its own provenance in its description — how many samples went into it and how tight they were — so a control point you set months ago can still be judged on its quality.
Averaging uses whichever source is live. With an external GNSS receiver connected it averages that receiver's fixes, which is how a survey-grade control point is set.
Until a fix arrives the screen reads Waiting for a fix….

print map PRO

Exports what is on screen as a PDF map sheet at a true scale, with a scale bar, a north arrow and the ground coverage printed in the footer. Print it, fold it, and it works with no battery.

FieldChoices
Sheet TitleOptional free text printed on the sheet
PaperA4 · A3 · Letter · Legal
OrientationPortrait · Landscape
Scale1:10 000 · 1:25 000 · 1:50 000 · 1:100 000 · 1:250 000, or View
Base mapPrint the map imagery, or leave it off for a clean overlay sheet
Grid overlayPrints the MGRS, UTM or lat/lon graticule
Pins, shapes & tracksPrints your saved items and recorded tracks
Ground coverageReadout of how much ground the sheet will cover
View reproduces the screen as it is — covers what the screen showed, printed at 1:<scale>. Pick it when the framing matters more than a round scale.
A fixed scale is what makes a sheet measurable: on a 1:25 000 sheet, a 1 km grid square measures 40 mm, so a ruler on the paper reads real distance.
Print Map is not available on Google base maps. Switch to Apple, OSM, OpenTopoMap, Carto topo or USGS before printing. Rendering shows Rendering map sheet and then hands the PDF to the share sheet.

converters

Coordinate Converter

Convert between MGRS, UTM and Lat/Lon. Type a coordinate in one system and read it in the others — the same conversion the Search screen's GRID tab performs, on its own screen. Free.

Unit Converter

Length, speed, angle and temperature. The angle conversion covers degrees, US/NATO mils (6400), Soviet mils (6000) and gradians (400) — the one you want when a bearing arrives in the wrong unit. Free.

Quadrant bearings are a notation rather than a unit, so they appear in the coordinate and bearing readouts but not in the Unit Converter's angle list.