As an alternative to the label layer, you can create a label for one or more individual features by placing a text symbol at a given point. To do this, use the geometry service to generate a point for placing a label inside a polygon.
To try this sample, draw a polygon on the map. When you submit the polygon, it's simplified so it won't throw errors if it overlaps itself. The GeometryService.labelPoints() method determines a point inside the polygon. The parameters are an array of polygon graphics to be labeled and a callback function specifying what to do with the label points. In most cases, you'll be associating each point with a TextSymbol, like this:
labelPoints[i].setSymbol(textSymbol);
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no"> <title>Geometry Service: Label Points</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://js.arcgis.com/3.46/dijit/themes/nihilo/nihilo.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://js.arcgis.com/3.46/esri/css/esri.css"> <style> html, body, #mapDiv { height: 100%; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } #info { bottom: 20px; color: #444; height: auto; font-family: arial; left: 20px; margin: 5px; padding: 10px; position: absolute; width: 200px; z-index: 40; } </style> <script src="https://js.arcgis.com/3.46/"></script> <script> require(["dojo/dom", "dojo/dom-attr", "dojo/_base/array", "esri/Color", "dojo/number", "dojo/parser", "dijit/registry", "esri/config", "esri/map", "esri/graphic", "esri/tasks/GeometryService", "esri/tasks/BufferParameters", "esri/toolbars/draw", "esri/symbols/SimpleMarkerSymbol", "esri/symbols/SimpleLineSymbol", "esri/symbols/SimpleFillSymbol", "esri/symbols/Font", "esri/symbols/TextSymbol", "dijit/layout/BorderContainer", "dijit/layout/ContentPane" ], function(dom, domAttr, array, Color, number, parser, registry, esriConfig, Map, Graphic, GeometryService, BufferParameters, Draw, SimpleMarkerSymbol, SimpleLineSymbol, SimpleFillSymbol, Font, TextSymbol) { var map, toolbar, geometryService; parser.parse(); // create the map control map = new Map("mapDiv", { basemap: "streets-vector", center: [-117.215, 34.05], zoom: 13, showAttribution: false }); // create a toolbar for the map toolbar = new Draw(map); toolbar.on("draw-end", addToMap); // activate a drawing tool when a button is clicked registry.byId("polygon").on("click", function() { toolbar.activate(Draw.POLYGON); map.hideZoomSlider(); }); registry.byId("freehand").on("click", function() { toolbar.activate(Draw.FREEHAND_POLYGON); map.hideZoomSlider(); }); registry.byId("clear").on("click", function() { map.graphics.clear(); }); geometryService = new GeometryService("https://utility.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Geometry/GeometryServer"); function addToMap(evtObj) { map.graphics.clear(); var geometry = evtObj.geometry; // add the drawn graphic to the map var symbol = new SimpleFillSymbol( SimpleFillSymbol.STYLE_SOLID, new SimpleLineSymbol(SimpleLineSymbol.STYLE_SOLID, new Color([0, 0, 0]), 2), new Color([0, 0, 255, 0.5])); var graphic = new Graphic(geometry, symbol); map.graphics.add(graphic); // simplify polygon so it can be used in the get label points request geometryService.simplify([geometry], getLabelPoints); } function getLabelPoints(geometries) { if (geometries[0].rings.length > 0) { geometryService.labelPoints(geometries, function(labelPoints) { // callback toolbar.deactivate(); map.showZoomSlider(); var font = new Font("20px", Font.STYLE_NORMAL, Font.VARIANT_NORMAL, Font.WEIGHT_BOLDER); array.forEach(labelPoints, function(labelPoint) { // create a text symbol var textSymbol = new TextSymbol( "X: " + number.format(labelPoint.x) + ", Y: " + number.format(labelPoint.y), font, new Color([0, 0, 0])); var labelPointGraphic = new Graphic(labelPoint, textSymbol); // add the label point graphic to the map map.graphics.add(labelPointGraphic); }); }); } else { alert("Invalid Polygon - must have at least 3 points"); } } }); </script> </head> <body class="nihilo"> <div id="mapDiv"></div> <div id="info" class="esriSimpleSlider"> <button id="polygon" data-dojo-type="dijit.form.Button">Polygon</button> <button id="freehand" data-dojo-type="dijit.form.Button">Freehand Polygon</button> <button id="clear" data-dojo-type="dijit.form.Button">Clear Graphics</button> </div> </body> </html>