Using measurements in Propeller

Use this guide to find and use the right measurement tool for your task. Select from Points, Lines, and Polygons to record elevations, check distances, calculate volumes, and measure slope areas on any surface. All tools are in the measurement toolbar at the top of your site map.

Getting started using measurements

Measurements let you analyze your site directly on the map — whether you’re checking a point elevation, drawing a line for slope, or calculating stockpile volumes. All tools are accessible from the measurement toolbar at the top of the map.

Toolbar basics

Choose from three main measurement types:

Points → place single locations
Lines → draw paths or sections
Polygons → outline areas

Pick a template from the dropdown (e.g., Stockpile, Bench Volume), or start with a custom tool.

💡 Tip: Save your most-used tools by pinning them to the toolbar for quick access.

Clamp to terrain

Measurements land on whatever surface your cursor touches — terrain, or 2D and 3D designs, such as linework, surfaces, and IFC files. To force measurements onto the terrain (for example, when measuring on terrain while 2D or 3D designs are also visible), use terrain clamping:

Toolbar toggle: This toggle keeps whatever setting you last used, turn it off when your measurement target sits above the terrain, such as a design
Keyboard shortcut: Hold Alt (windows) / Opt (mac) while making a measurement to temporarily flip the mode, if clamping is on, Alt turns it off for that point; if clamping is off, Alt turns it on

ℹ️ Note: Fully clamped measurements update automatically with each new survey; unclamped points stay fixed. To clamp an existing shape, open Edit shape and check the Clamp to terrain checkbox. For clearances or distances that need to update with each new survey, use the Elevation Difference tool instead. It recalculates against the selected survey automatically.

Snap to

Snapping pulls your cursor to the geometric features of nearby designs and measurements so you can place points precisely.

Toolbar toggle: This toggle is turned on by default, toggle it off when necessary
Keyboard shortcut: Hold Ctrl while placing a point to temporarily flip snapping, if snapping is on, Ctrl turns it off for that point; if snapping is off, Ctrl turns it on

What you can snap to:

Designs: corners and edges of any design file
Measurements: edges, corners, and midpoints of your measurements
Guidelines: dotted lines that extend from the endpoints and midpoints of existing measurements, helping you align your next point or line along a consistent direction or axis

ℹ️ Note: While in edit mode, snapping is disabled.

Locking distances & angles

Distance lock: Type a number while placing a line to lock your next point to that exact distance from your last placed point. Move your cursor to choose the direction, then press Enter or click to confirm.

Angle lock: Hold Shift while placing a line to snap straight up/down or in 45° angle increments relative to your previous line. Combine with distance lock for precise placement.

ℹ️ Note: Angles are unable to be manually inputted.

💡 Tip: To measure straight down from a design point to the ground, snap to the point, turn on Clamp to terrain, then hold Shift while placing your next point — this is the same angle lock used on any line, but Clamp to terrain stops it at the ground instead of passing through.

What your mouse sees

When placing any measurement type, your mouse cursor displays three visual elements that show which surface you're hovering over — terrain, a design, or a measurement (see images below):

Cursor disk: a tilted circle that matches the slope of the surface you're hovering over
- Cyan (light blue) by default, and when snapping to guidelines
- Pink when snapping to a design or measurement
Perpendicular line: Red line that extends from the cursor disk, perpendicular to the surface the cursor disk is on
Drop line: Grey dotted line that appears when your cursor is offset from the terrain, showing the vertical distance between your cursor and the terrain

Pinning & saving measurement tools

You can personalize your measurement workflow so your most-used tools and visual styles are ready every time you log in.

Options available:

Pin tools: Click the thumbtack to add them to the toolbar

Create custom tools: Add fields and attributes, then save as a template
Hotkeys: Use P (Point), L (Line), O (Polygon). Custom tools are numbered 1–9 on your keyboard
Autosave: Toggle Autosave on to automatically save points, lines, and polygons as you draw

Styling measurement tools

Points

Color: Choose from predefined swatches or add custom colors
Icon: Pick from our icons library to identify areas on your site

Label: Show or hide point names next to markers

Lines

Color: Change line color from the swatch bar
Line style: Select from solid, dashed, dotted, or directional arrows to differentiate measurement types

Polygons

Color: Pick a fill color for your area
Fill: Choose transparent, semi-transparent, or solid fill
Border style: Customize the border’s pattern or thickness

💡 Tip: Consistent styling helps everyone distinguish different measurement types at a glance — for example, using yellow for design checks, red for hazards, and blue for QA points.

Use points

Use points to mark a location or record elevation data.

ℹ️ Note: Importing points with elevation values? See Using a CSV for Bulk Point Data Import.

Available point tools

Point: Mark a specific position on your site. Coordinates and elevation appear on the map.
Elevation: Track height changes of a point across multiple surveys
Hazard: Mark hazards and assign severity levels
Annotation: Add notes or labels with custom styling
Elevation Difference: Calculate the elevation difference between the point and surface
Radius: Add a horizontal radius around a point and adjust its fill transparency or border style.
+Custom Point: Create your own template

To place a point:

Select a point tool from the dropdown
Click anywhere on the map
The Properties panel opens on the right — showing location, elevation, and any attributes

💡 Tip: If an Alignment XML file is loaded on your site, the Properties panel also shows station and offset coordinates alongside the standard NEZ location. These are essential for stakeout workflows that reference alignment positions in your design files.

Viewing the elevation history at a point

When you place a point on the map, an Elevation History chart appears.

This chart shows how the surface elevation at that exact location has changed across your surveys taken over time
View the chart directly on the map, or open it in a new window for more workspace. Use the +ADD button to compare elevation points from your design or other files

💡 Tip: This is particularly useful for monitoring changes to a single location over time—such as ground movement, backfill, or stockpile height.

Use lines

Use lines to measure distances or assess linear features.

Available line tools

💡 Tip: As you place one point to the other, a live readout shows the current distance and how high above the terrain your cursor sits

Distance: Measure point-to-point or surface length.
- Three different distance measurements appear in the properties panel:
  - Slope distance: Measures the straight-line distance between two points in 3D space
  - Horizontal distance: Measures the horizontal component of the distance only
  - Terrain distance: Measures the distance along the terrain surface
Berm Check: Measure berm/windrow heights and widths
Cross-section: View a cross-section across surveys or designs
Vertex Difference: Draw a line between at least two points and see the elevation difference between them
Grade/Slope: Calculate slope as a degree, percentage, or ratio
Horizontal & vertical: This tool is locked at a 90° angle, allowing you to see the horizontal and vertical offset between points. Read a live readout for each line you add, showing its own breakdown.
+Custom Line: Create your own template

To draw a line:

Select a line tool from the dropdown.
Click to place vertices.
Double-click to finish.

Viewing Cross-sections for lines

When you draw a line measurement, a Cross-section chart automatically appears. It displays the elevation profile along that line, comparing all available surveys or designs. View the chart on the map, or open it in a new window. Hover over the chart to see elevation values and surface intersections along the line.

💡 Tip: If your site includes Point Cloud or VFI datasets, you'll be able to view these two layers in the cross-section tool.

Use draw for free-hand annotations

ℹ️ Note: The draw tool works on terrain only. It does not support measuring on vertical faces, designs, or off-ground structures. It is for visual annotations and does not provide survey data.

Use the Draw tool to create freehand lines for quick site communication, such as tracing truck routes or circling hazards.

Select Draw: Click the Draw icon in the measurement toolbar
Draw your path: Click and hold your mouse button to start drawing; press Esc to erase a mistake
Style your path: Change the line style, weight, or color, or add arrows, use points to include labels
Finish and save: Release the mouse button to complete the drawing. If Autosave is enabled, your annotation will save automatically

💡 Tip: To move the map without stopping your drawing, press and hold the spacebar to pan around while the tool is active.

Use polygons

Use polygons to calculate areas and volumes.

Available polygon tools

Terrain Area: Measure the terrain area within a polygon
Slope Area: Measure the area of the shape drawn between your points
Bench Volume: Calculate volumes for benches or blast walls
Cut/Fill: Measure change between surveys or designs
Area Progress: Compare progress since a previous survey
Stockpile: Measure stockpiles using reference levels or custom bases
+Custom Polygon: Create your own template

To draw a polygon:

Select a polygon tool
Click to outline the area (or use the Magic Polygon tool)
Double-click to close

ℹ️ Note: Ensure to save your measurement after outlining the area. If you accidentally discard it, a prompt will pop up and you can click undo.

Create custom measurement tools

There are two ways to do this:

Select any measurement tool (point/line/polygon), create your shape then click ADD/EDIT ITEMS

Select +Custom Point, +Custom Line, or +Custom Polygon from the dropdown menu

Drag the available custom measurement items to the left hand side

Customize Measurement Tools.png — Custom line measurement window

The below measurement items (on the right hand side) are available to add to your custom tool:

Point custom measurements.png — Point custom items

Line custom measurements.png — Point custom items

Managing measurements

The Properties panel shows details for any measurement:

Location and coordinates
Elevation or volumes
Editable attributes and styles

Move points with the Gizmo tool

When editing a point, use the Gizmo to adjust its position without creating a new measurement. Drag the X, Y, or Z axis handles to move the point along a specific direction. The Gizmo helps make precise adjustments when aligning points with terrain, designs, or other site features.

Filtering measurements

Filters make it easy to find the data you need by narrowing down the list of measurements in the left panel. Filters update instantly and don’t affect what’s shown on the map. You can search, sort, and filter at the same time.

By Tool: Show only certain measurement types (e.g., Point, Distance, Stockpiles)
By Attributes: Filter based on dropdowns or custom fields, such as material types or hazard levels
By Zone: Draw a zone on the map to isolate measurements within a specific area. Only items inside or intersecting the zone appear in a new grouped folder and are highlighted on the map
Reset Filter: Click RESET FILTER at the bottom of the panel to return to the default view

💡 Tip: Filters don’t refine one another—each applies independently, so you can layer and remove them freely.

Exporting measurements

You can export a measurement's underlying data — as an orthophoto, DEM, 3D model, outline, surface, point cloud, or contours — for use in other software, or generate a PDF or CSV report to share your results with people who don't have access to the platform.

ℹ️ Note: Measurements render from top-down only in PDF reports. Vertical or facade measurements will show the top of the structure rather than the measured face. Use screenshot mode as a workaround when sharing 3D measurement context from reports.

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