Looking for help: user-friendly map notes – July 1, 2022 at 11:13AM

Hello r/gis ,

For research purposes, I am trying to identify or create a mapping tool to do geopolitical analyses. It will ideally consist of the following characteristics:

1) be some sort of detailed vector-based map sort of like this: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/infrastructure/transparency_platform/map-viewer/main.html

2) allow me to create/access a multi-page set of country-specific notes whenever I click on a country’s polygon

3) allow me to enter a variety of attribute data for each country

4) allow me to add custom points/lines/polygons

5) a key feature will be that it’s easy to access and see the notes section of each country. I don’t want inputing or looking at the notes to be clunky.

I realize QGIS or ArcGIS fit this exact description. However, I’m not sure how to find a comprehensive-note tool that fits the description of what I’m looking for. So if anyone has recommendations, they would be much appreciated. I’m wondering if this requires creating a (java?-based) program with embedded mapping software?? Or perhaps a program exists like this already that you could point me to?

Do you think i’ll need to create my own tool to do this, and if so, how difficult will it be? I have taken intro to ArcGIS Pro classes, have a lot of experience coding in R and VBA and moderate Python experience. As of now, I will most likely need to use QGIS instead of ArcGIS Pro, the former of with which I have zero experience.

I’ve included a sketch of roughly what i’d like this tool to look like.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Let me know if I can provide any further clarifying info or if you know of a similar post like this from the past.