Cam IncollFieldwalker pulls elevation data from multiple sources globally and generates contour lines automatically, with the ability to use high-resolution sourced data where available for design-level accuracy on earthworks and water management.
In a previous post I wrote about why accurate contours change everything in permaculture design. The short version: if your elevation data is coarse, your contour lines are an approximation, and design decisions based on those contours — swale placement, dam siting, access grades — might not hold up on the ground.
This post goes deeper into how Fieldwalker actually handles elevation data behind the scenes, and what the different sources mean for your design work.
Not all elevation data is the same
When you generate contour lines in Fieldwalker, the tool retrieves elevation data for your site automatically. But the data it retrieves depends on where your site is located, because elevation data coverage varies significantly around the world.
Some regions have excellent high-resolution coverage. Australia, for example, has extensive LiDAR surveys that provide elevation data at sub-metre accuracy. Parts of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe have similar programmes. In these regions, Fieldwalker can pull very detailed elevation data — down to 50-centimetre resolution — which produces contour lines accurate enough to design earthworks with confidence.
Other regions have sparser coverage. In many parts of the developing world, the best freely available elevation data has a resolution of 30 metres. That's useful for understanding the broad shape of the terrain — where the major ridges and valleys run — but it's not detailed enough for placing a swale on a 2-acre block.
Fieldwalker navigates this automatically. It checks what's available for your location and retrieves the best data it can find. You don't need to know which elevation dataset covers your region or how to access it. The tool handles that.
What the tool tells you
Transparency matters here. When you generate contours, Fieldwalker tells you what elevation source it's using and what resolution you're working with. This is important because it lets you calibrate your confidence in the contour lines.
If you're looking at contours generated from 50-centimetre elevation data, you can trust them for detailed earthworks design. The contours accurately reflect the shape of the ground at a scale that's meaningful for swale placement, drainage design, and access grading.
If you're looking at contours generated from 30-metre data, you know they're showing you the broad terrain shape but not the fine detail. They're useful for understanding the overall landscape — which direction the land falls, where the major water courses run — but you'd want to ground-truth on site before designing earthworks based on them.
The tool doesn't pretend all contours are equal. It shows you what it's working with so you can make informed decisions.
When automatic isn't enough
For some sites, the automatically available elevation data isn't high enough resolution for what the designer needs. Maybe you're planning earthworks on a relatively flat property where subtle grade changes matter. Maybe you need to design a dam and the spillway grade needs to be precise. Maybe the available data is from a coarser global dataset and you need something better.
Fieldwalker handles this with a sourced data workflow. You can request higher-resolution elevation data for your site. We'll source the best available data for your location — which might mean accessing national LiDAR programmes, state-level datasets, or other high-resolution sources that aren't in the automatic pipeline.
When sourced data is available, it appears as a separate elevation source in the editor. You can see the difference it makes — the contour lines update to reflect the higher-resolution data, and the level of detail visibly improves. The tool tracks which source is driving your current contours, so you always know what you're working with.
The drone option
For properties in Victoria, there's a third path: we can come to your site with a drone and capture elevation data directly.
Drone-captured elevation data is the gold standard for site-level design. The resolution is centimetric — far more detailed than any satellite-derived dataset. The data is current, reflecting the actual state of the ground today rather than whenever the last survey was flown. And it captures the specific property you're designing, not a tile from a regional dataset.
This is the option for designers who need the highest possible accuracy — detailed earthworks design, water infrastructure planning, or sites where the terrain is complex and every contour line needs to be precise.
Multiple sources, one workflow
The elevation data panel in Fieldwalker shows all available sources for your site side by side. The automatic data that was retrieved when you loaded the site. Any sourced high-resolution data. Any custom data you've uploaded (if you have your own survey data or drone capture from another provider).
You can see what each source offers and choose which one drives your contour lines. Switch between sources and the contours update in real time — so you can see exactly what difference the higher-resolution data makes for your design decisions.
The goal is to make elevation data accessible without making you become a GIS specialist. Whether you're working with the automatic baseline, sourced LiDAR, or a custom drone survey, the workflow is the same: generate contours, see the shape of the land, design from that understanding.
The data complexity stays behind the tool. The design conversation stays with you.