From satellite image to professional design in five steps.
Fieldwalker takes the most time-consuming parts of site analysis — finding elevation data, tracing contour lines, identifying existing features — and does them for you. Here's the full workflow.
1. Set your location
Enter an address, suburb, or coordinates. Fieldwalker uses this to fetch high-resolution satellite imagery from Google Maps and stitch it into a single georeferenced site image.
You can also upload your own imagery — aerial photos, drone captures, or professional survey images.
- If you upload a GeoTIFF, Fieldwalker reads the embedded coordinates automatically.
- For standard image files, the built-in georeferencing tool lets you place control points to establish the real-world position of your site.
What you get → A high-resolution, georeferenced image of your property, ready for analysis.
2. Generate contour lines
With your site located, Fieldwalker automatically fetches the best available elevation data for your property.
On Pro, that's the best elevation data available for your property, such as 1-metre LiDAR across much of the US, England, the Netherlands, Germany and New Zealand, and 5 m LiDAR in some Australian cities where the free source has none. Otherwise Fieldwalker uses the free sources: Geoscience Australia 5-metre LiDAR where it exists, or global elevation data at about 30m. Contour lines are generated at your chosen interval and rendered directly onto your site image, and the Contours panel names the real dataset and its resolution.
You control the contour interval (tighter for garden-scale detail, wider for property overviews), line colour, opacity, and weight. The contours update in real time as you adjust settings.
You can also upload your own GeoTIFF elevation data from a surveyor or drone flight — this takes highest priority and gives you the best possible accuracy regardless of location. Some government agencies provide public access to high resolution LiDAR elevation data. Contact us for help sourcing this.
On the free plan, contours use the free sources, and if better data exists for your property the Contours panel tells you so, so you know what you'd get before subscribing. During your free trial, one map gets high-resolution contours where better data exists.
What you get → Real topographic contour lines from the best elevation data your plan includes, overlaid on your site image.
3. Detect existing features
Fieldwalker's AI detection pipeline scans your site image and identifies what's already there — buildings, tree canopy, water features, fences, and roads. Each detection appears as an overlay on your image with a classification label.
You review each detection and can accept it, reject it, or reclassify it. Detections you accept can be converted directly into design symbols later. Every correction you make feeds back into the system to improve future accuracy.
The detection works best on clear satellite imagery with distinct features. Dense vegetation and shadow can reduce accuracy — the system is honest about its confidence levels.
Improvements coming soon!
What you get → An automated inventory of existing site features, ready for review and refinement.
4. Design your site
Switch to Design mode and start placing permaculture symbols onto your site. The full symbol library includes swales, dams, garden beds, food forests, animal systems, access paths, structures, and more — all rendered in the hand-drawn style of traditional permaculture design manuals.
Draw zone boundaries, mark sectors, add text annotations. Your design sits on top of the satellite imagery with contour lines visible beneath, so every placement decision is informed by the actual topography.
What you get → A complete permaculture site design, drawn over real imagery with real contour data.
5. Export and share
When your design is ready, export it as a high-resolution PDF or PNG. The export composites everything — your satellite imagery, contour lines, design symbols, annotations, and zone boundaries — into a single professional document.
Exports include proper data attribution, with each elevation data source credited under its own licence, and are formatted for print at standard paper sizes. Use them for client presentations, council applications, or your own records.
What you get → A print-ready design document, complete with all layers and proper attribution.
Ready to start?
The free plan includes automatic contours from the free elevation sources, one AI detection run, and one project. See what Fieldwalker can do with your land.