Getting Started

Learn the basics of SiteCAD in about 10 minutes. By the end of this guide, you'll have created your first site and understand the core workflow.

The best way to learn is by doing. Jump into the editor, create a site, and start clicking around. Come back here when you want to understand how things work.

Step 1: Create a Site

Every project begins with a site — your property, project area, or place of interest.

  • Click "Start New Site" on the welcome screen (or the + button in the site dropdown)
  • Enter a name for your site
  • The editor opens with the 3D globe ready for exploration

Tip: Site names should be descriptive — "Smith Farm" or "Oak Ridge Development Phase 1" helps you find projects later.

Step 2: Define Your Site Area

The site area roughly marks your property and helps the editor focus on your project area.

  • Navigate to your location using search or manual navigation
  • Click the "Draw" button next to "Site Area" in the site setup panel
  • Click to place vertices around your site area
  • Double-click to complete the polygon

Tip: You can refine the site area later, or you can leave it rough and use a Boundary entity to define a surveyed area. The site area determines the extent of terrain modification.

Step 3: Set Your Anchor Point

The anchor establishes a local coordinate system for precise engineering work. If you don't set this, then entities you place will be located based on your site area.

  • Click "Set Anchor" in the site panel
  • Click on the map to place your anchor (or enter coordinates from an RTK survey)
  • Once set, all infrastructure uses local coordinates relative to this (East/North/Up in meters)

Tip: If you have survey data, use the surveyed control point as your anchor for maximum accuracy.

Step 4: Add Your Own Terrain (Optional)

Your site already sits on worldwide terrain and satellite imagery, and you can start grading on it right away. This step is for when you have better data of your own.

  • Click "Terrain" in the status bar to open the terrain panel — every row is one layer
  • Use "Edit layer" to point that layer's Terrain and Imagery at data you have uploaded to the site
  • Or use "Import terrain override…" to read a GeoTIFF straight off your machine
  • Your data replaces the default world terrain within your site area
  • Toggle contours on to visualize elevation changes

Tip: "Add Layer" stacks an empty layer on top. Grading there keeps your proposed design separate from existing conditions — hide the layer to see the site as it stands today.

Step 5: Add Entities

Entities are the objects you place on your site — buildings, infrastructure, boundaries.

  • Right-click to open the context menu with creation options
  • Select an entity type (Solid, Component, Trace, etc.)
  • Use gizmos or the inspector panel to position and configure
  • Ops and the Agent can help you build up your site design entity by entity

Tip: Use the AI assistant to help place entities — try "Add a house foundation 30 meters East of the road".

Step 6: Save and Share

Your work is automatically saved locally. Share with others when ready.

  • Export: Download as CSV, GeoJSON, STEP, or other formats
  • Publish: Share a published link for interactive 3D exploration (sign-in required to publish, but anyone can view)
  • Sync: Enable cloud sync to access from other devices (requires sign-in)

Tip: Export to GeoJSON for GIS tools, STEP for CAD software, and CSV for spreadsheets.

Key Concepts

Before diving deeper, understand these fundamental terms you'll encounter throughout SiteCAD.

  • Site — A physical location with its terrain, boundaries, and reference points. Contains one or more scenarios.
  • Scenario — A design alternative or phase within a site. Each scenario has its own set of entities but shares site-level data.
  • Entity — Any object in your scene — solids, components, traces, control points, annotations, etc.
  • Anchor — The local origin point for your site, usually from a survey. All infrastructure coordinates are relative to the anchor.
  • Site Area — A polygon outlining your property or project area (also called the Area of Interest, or AOI, in older docs and the export schema). Stored in geodetic (lat/lon) coordinates independent of the anchor.
  • Terrain Layer — One level of the ground stack. A layer can supply elevations, imagery, and a 3D model, and it holds the terrain edits you make while it is the active layer. Layers stack, so proposed grading can sit over existing conditions without overwriting it.

What's Next?

  • Browse Tutorials — step-by-step guides for common workflows
  • Learn Terrain Tools — stack, grade, and visualize elevation
  • Explore Solids — create parametric 3D components
  • Meet the AI Assistant — get help with queries and design

Need Help?

Stuck on something? The AI assistant in the editor can answer most questions about SiteCAD. For anything else, check our FAQ or reach out to support.