Base Maps & Orthophoto Overlay

The SiteView mobile app offers multiple base map styles and the ability to overlay orthophoto imagery from your drone surveys. Choose the base map that suits your task, then layer processed survey data on top for a complete picture of your construction site.

[Screenshot: SiteView mobile map with a satellite base map and a semi-transparent orthophoto overlay showing a construction site] — A satellite base map with an orthophoto overlay from a processed drone survey, showing recent earthworks.

Base Map Options

Tap the layers button on the map to switch between three base map styles:

Base Map	Best For
Street	General navigation, road names, and landmarks. Uses OpenStreetMap tiles
Outdoor / Topo	Contour lines, terrain features, and elevation context. Useful for earthworks and grading sites
Satellite	Aerial imagery for visual comparison with drone surveys, identifying vegetation, and understanding site context

Your selected base map persists between sessions. The app remembers your preference and applies it each time you open the map.

💡 Tip

Use the Satellite base map when comparing your site to a drone orthophoto overlay — it provides a consistent aerial perspective. Switch to Street or Outdoor when you need road names, contour lines, or landmarks for navigation.

Switching Base Maps

Open the map (either the main sites map or a site detail map)
Tap the layers button in the top-right corner of the map
Select your preferred base map from the options

The map updates immediately. All pins, markers, and overlays remain in place — only the background tiles change.

Orthophoto Overlay

When a drone survey has been processed on the SiteView web app, the resulting orthophoto tiles are available on mobile. This lets you see high-resolution aerial imagery of your site overlaid on the map.

How It Works

A survey is created and processed on the SiteView web app — this generates orthophoto tiles
The tiles are stored on the server and made available via tile URLs
On the mobile app, navigate to the site detail map
If orthophoto tiles are available, an Orthophoto toggle appears in the layer controls
Enable the toggle to overlay the orthophoto on top of your base map

ℹ️ Did you know?

Orthophoto tiles are generated by the web app's survey processing pipeline. You cannot process drone imagery directly on the mobile app — the mobile app consumes the tiles that the web app produces. See Creating Surveys for details on processing.

Opacity Control

When the orthophoto overlay is active, an opacity slider appears. Drag the slider to adjust the transparency of the orthophoto layer:

100% opacity — the orthophoto fully covers the base map, showing only the drone imagery
50% opacity — a blend of the orthophoto and base map, useful for comparing aerial imagery against the street or satellite view beneath
0% opacity — the orthophoto is fully transparent, effectively hidden

Adjusting opacity is particularly useful when you want to see the orthophoto alongside contour lines from the topo base map, or when comparing the drone capture against the satellite base map to spot changes over time.

Tile Caching for Offline Use

Both base map tiles and orthophoto tiles can be cached locally for offline use. Once cached, the tiles are available even without an internet connection — essential for remote construction sites with no mobile coverage.

Caching Base Map Tiles

Navigate to the area you need while connected, and the tiles for your current view are cached automatically. For deliberate offline preparation, use the download for offline feature to select a region and zoom level range to cache.

Caching Orthophoto Tiles

Orthophoto tiles are cached as you view them. Pan and zoom across the orthophoto while connected, and the viewed tiles are stored locally. On your next visit — even offline — those tiles load from the cache.

⚠️ Watch out!

Cached tiles consume storage on your device. High-resolution orthophotos at deep zoom levels can be large. Monitor your cache size in Settings and clear it when no longer needed.

Practical Tips

Before heading to a remote site, open the site detail map on Wi-Fi and pan across the area at the zoom levels you will need. This pre-caches the tiles for offline use.
Use opacity at 50% when checking whether earthworks match the drone capture — the blended view makes discrepancies easier to spot.
Switch to Outdoor/Topo when working on sites with significant elevation changes. The contour lines give you spatial awareness that satellite imagery alone does not provide.

What's Next?

Point Capture — capture GPS coordinates on the map with labels and notes
Offline Mode — download maps and data for use without connectivity
Sites & Map — return to browsing your sites