Add a map overlay (image or KML)

An overlay puts your own map under the live map on every survey and grade screen. Use it for a drainage plan, a LiDAR map, a scanned plan or old tile maps. It can be a map ZIP, a picture with its world file, or a KML file of lines and shapes.

The overlay draws on top of the background imagery and under everything live: your position, survey breadcrumbs, design lines, coverage and the design boundary.

What you can add

• A map ZIP with a picture and its world file inside, for example North 40 - map.zip from the owner portal. Use Add Image Overlay. This has the fewest steps: one file, one tap. Don't unzip it. Needs app v1.5.4 or later.
• A picture (.jpg or .png) and its world file (.jgw, .pgw, .tfw, .bpw or .wld). The world file is a tiny text file with the same name that tells the app where the picture sits on the ground. Use Add Image Overlay and pick both files together. The world file must be in latitude/longitude (WGS84), not UTM or state plane.
• A KML file (.kml) of lines, shapes and points. Use Add KML. A KMZ is not accepted: unzip it to get the .kml first.

The same + menu also has Add WMS (an online map server), Drain-IQ, My LiDAR Fields and Drainage plan. See Map layers.

Before you start

Time: about 2 minutes.

• The file is on the tablet, in the Download folder. To put it there: Move files to and from the tablet.
• You copied it while the tablet had internet. On the control module Wi-Fi the tablet can't fetch a file from Drive or email.
• A screen with a map is open: Survey, or the grade screen of any workflow. To practise, open a workflow and tap Simulate.

Add a map ZIP or a picture

Tap the layers button

Look at the column of dark square buttons at the bottom right of the map. Tap the one with a blue icon of stacked sheets. A window called Map Layers opens.

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Tap +

The + is in the top-right corner of the Map Layers window. A short menu opens.

With no overlays yet, the window reads No overlay layers and Tap + to add a KML, WMS, or image layer.

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Tap Add Image Overlay

It's the third line of the menu. The Android file picker opens and fills the screen.

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Read the name at the top left of the picker

The picker opens on the last folder it used, or on Recent. If the name at the top left already says Downloads, go to step 7.

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Tap the three lines at the top left

They sit left of the folder name. A menu called Open from slides in from the left.

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Tap Downloads

The line called Downloads, with a down-arrow icon (the order of the lines can differ between tablets). You should see Downloads at the top left and your files below.

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A map ZIP: tap it once

The ZIP has a zip-fastener icon. One tap picks it, and the picker closes. Go to the last step.

Got a picture and a world file instead? Do the next three steps.

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A picture and world file: press and hold the picture

Keep your finger on the picture for about a second (Press and hold). A blue tick appears on it, and the top of the picker reads 1 selected.

Names are cut short here. The picture shows a small preview of the map and is large (MB). The world file has a plain page icon and is tiny (B).

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Tap the world file

One tap. It gets a blue tick too, and the top reads 2 selected.

Picking the picture alone usually fails with No world file found….

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Tap Select

Select is in the top-right corner of the picker. The picker closes.

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Check it lines up

The app places the picture and zooms the map to it. A message along the bottom starts Added image overlay:, followed by the file name, the picture size in pixels and the latitude range it covers.

Look where a road or field edge crosses the edge of the picture. It should carry straight on into the satellite imagery.

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Add a KML

1. Tap the layers button

   The dark square button with the blue stacked-sheets icon, bottom right of the map (step 1 above). The Map Layers window opens.

2. Tap +

   Top-right corner of the window.

3. Tap Add KML

   It's the first line of the menu. The file picker opens. If the name at the top left isn't Downloads, open Downloads as in steps 4 to 6 above.

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4. Tap the .kml file once

   Only .kml files can be tapped. Every other file shows greyed out.

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5. Tap Close

   The picker closes and you're back in Map Layers. It now has a row with a KML badge and the file name. Tap Close at the bottom right of the window.

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KML layers always draw in the app's own style: blue lines, blue shapes with a light fill, and points as amber dots. Colours and names from the file are not shown. A file with nothing the app can draw gives No features found in KML file.

Change or remove an overlay

Start with the layers button on the map. Each overlay has its own row in Map Layers.

1. To hide it for a while: tap its switch

   The switch is near the right end of the row. The overlay disappears from the map but stays in the list. Tap again to bring it back.

2. To see through a picture: tap the small arrow at the left end of its row

   An Opacity slider opens under the row. Pictures start at 100 %.

3. Drag the Opacity slider to the left

   It moves in 5 % steps. The imagery and your breadcrumbs show through the picture. KML rows have no slider.

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1. To remove one overlay: tap its trash icon

   The trash can at the right end of the row.

2. To remove them all: tap Clear All

   At the bottom of the window, left of Close.

Layers can't be renamed or put in a different order.

Use the overlay to plan a survey route

The app doesn't turn an overlay line into a survey or a design. Use it as a guide on the screen:

1. Add the overlay first

   Before you start the survey, so you can see the route you planned.

2. Drive the survey along the line

   Start at the outlet or the high end and follow the planned route on the picture. See Survey a route.

3. Design from your survey

   The app designs the grade from your RTK survey, not from the picture or the LiDAR behind it.

If the picture hides your breadcrumb trail, lower its opacity.

If it doesn't work