Often vital context for transactions is stored in plans within PDF documents. Trying to understand them all together can be a massive pain of printing out documents and holding them all up to a lightbox. Using Orbital Witness' Overlay Plans feature, you can easily add these plans to your interactive map.
Watch our video below or read the full text article if you prefer.
How can I access overlay plans?
You can access the overlay plans feature by clicking it on the navigation bar on the top of your screen, as shown below.
What plans can I overlay?
You are free to overlay a plan from any PDF Document. This does not need to be an Official Copy purchased within Orbital Witness, you are free to upload any document to OW and use that for the purpose of overlaying plans.
Some common examples of documents often overlaid are:
Search results
Copies filed docs (Leases / Transfers etc)
Title Plans
Architect's plans
Planning plans
Unregistered leases
Note: You are free to overlay multiple plans from the same document. I.e. If one lease document has multiple plans you would like to overlay, you are able to do this using the overlay plans feature.
To pick your document for overlaying, simply click the 'New Overlay' button and choose your document from your document library. You can choose either a purchased or an uploaded doc by using the tabs on top of the doc library. If you'd like to upload a new one, simply drag & drop it into the box highlighted in red below.
Once you have selected your document, you then need to choose the page of the document that you would like to overlay. Once your select a page, it will be enlarged so you can find the scale value & enter this before overlaying the document.
🤔 Don't know the scale of the plan? You can simply leave this as the default (1:1250) and then manually resize the plan once it is overlaid in line with the map to find the correct size.
How can I edit my overlaid plan?
Once your plan is overlaid, you have the ability to make a number of edits to it including:
Move the position of the overlaid plan
Change the size of the overlaid plan
Make the plan more or less visible by adjusting transparency
(Coming soon) Rotate the plan to ensure it aligns the map orientation
(Coming soon) Crop the plan to only see the info relevant for you
You can see an example of points 1-3 in the GIF below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I overlay multiple plans at once?
Yes - there is no limit to the amount of plans you can have overlaid alongside each other. Once the crop tool is available, you may want to make use of this to ensure the map page doesn't look too clogged.
Will my overlaid plans be visible alongside titles and sketches?
Yes - all overlaid plans will be visible alongside titles and sketches. Just like titles and sketches you can also turn their visibility off by clicking the eye icon.
Will my overlaid plans appear on any interactive site plans or exports I generate from OW?
Yes - overlaid plans will appear in any ISPs you share with clients as well as any exports you generate from the Export Assistant. This is designed so you can use the overlay plans feature to explain any complex mapping issues to your client easier.
Does OW automatically scale and position the overlaid plan for me?
Currently OW does not automatically scale and position the plan for you, this must be done by yourself. We are exploring adding more automation to this feature, which would look to get the plan in the correct size and position for you, but this is still in progress.
Still have questions?
If you're struggling overlaying plans, please reach out to us using the chat icon in the bottom right of your screen, we will be happy to help.