Surface drainage, tile drainage, and 3D landforming — the whole design suite, right in your browser

The sidebar follows the job in three stages: prepare the field and elevation in Project, build and validate drains in Design, then save, report and export in Deliver. Stage banners and shortcuts expose the most important next actions without changing or discarding project state.

Two workspace lenses hide panels that are irrelevant to the current job while keeping one shared project, map, elevation and output system. Switching is immediate, does not disable features or lose state, and the selected workspace is saved with the project.

Press Ctrl+K and search tools, settings and exports by name or related words. Choosing a result can switch to the correct stage, reveal its workspace and open the appropriate panel; category filters cover Project, Design, Landforming, Map and Deliver.

On supported desktop Chrome/Edge browsers, users can opt into a folder on their own computer. Each project becomes an ordinary subfolder with organized boundary, design, DEM, landforming, reference and export contents; moving or archiving those folders with normal file tools is supported.

Folder projects auto-save when the state changes, on an approximately 20-second cycle. “Save now” provides an explicit save, while the interface shows the open project name and last-save status.

The project picker scans the chosen root folder, opens existing projects, creates and renames projects, and can remove a project after a two-step destructive confirmation. A browser lock refuses to open the same managed project in a second tab at the same time.

A single backup ZIP captures the project for dated snapshots, transfer or sharing. Restore rebuilds the boundary, elevation, drains, saved grade profiles, hierarchy, sizing, annotations, reference layers, culverts, analysis layers, derived surfaces, view settings and other persisted project data.

Drainage edits have an approximately 20-step undo/redo history with Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y plus map controls. Boundary editing maintains a separate working history inside its editor so experimental boundary changes can be undone before Apply.

The app can display measurements and design information in US customary or metric units. Unit-aware tools include distances, areas, depths, elevations, flow displays, earthwork quantities and reports; the preference is persisted.

Information buttons explain settings in place, question-mark links open the manual at the relevant section, and hover titles identify controls. The in-app support assistant can answer questions and perform safe, reversible navigation to known tools; its conversation and optional screenshots remain in memory and are discarded on refresh.

Draw a polygon directly on the map to establish the project area. The boundary controls LiDAR requests, clipping, survey interpolation, field area and the extent used by downstream terrain and drainage tools.

Existing GIS field boundaries can be loaded instead of redrawn. KML/KMZ and zipped shapefiles are converted to the map projection and may contain polygon or multipolygon geometry.

The boundary editor works on a copy of the current geometry. Vertices can be moved and the result is not committed to the live project until Apply is selected.

Draw an addition and union it with the existing field to include missed headlands or adjacent pieces. Geometry repair is applied around boolean operations to keep polygon results usable.

Draw a cutting shape to remove unwanted portions of the current field. The edit remains reversible within the boundary editor until the user commits it.

Interior areas can be removed from the project polygon, supporting buildings, yards, wetlands or other places that should not be treated as part of the field surface.

The boundary workflow calculates the project area using ground-aware geometry and reports it in the selected unit system. That boundary area is also used to cap report estimates so designed acreage cannot exceed the field.

The edited boundary can be exported as a GIS shapefile package. This supports using the exact project perimeter in other mapping workflows.

Download elevation for the drawn or imported field boundary from supported public services: USGS 3DEP in the United States and NRCan HRDEM, with regional fallback behavior, in Canada. The fetch manager retries transient government-server failures and reports elapsed time and attempt status.

Before downloading, choose among resolutions available for that request. The picker shows raster dimensions and estimated size, marks a recommended option, and enforces practical browser upload/memory limits.

Bring a georeferenced elevation raster instead of public data. The importer reads the raster, extent and coordinate metadata, activates the DEM for design, and reports incompatible or missing projection information rather than silently placing it incorrectly.

Import point elevations from common survey text files, including files whose coordinate/elevation columns need to be identified. Processing and interpolation run locally in the browser, so the source survey file is not uploaded to a processing server.

A zipped point shapefile can provide survey elevations. The workflow reads its geometry and attributes, identifies the elevation field, transforms supported coordinates and interpolates the points within the current field boundary.

AGS point data can be brought into the elevation workflow and converted into a design-ready surface inside the project boundary. This supports reusing terrain observations already prepared for OptiSurface/AGPS workflows.

Survey points are interpolated to a regular elevation grid inside the field. The local engine handles gridding, gap filling and project clipping, producing the same surface contract used by LiDAR and GeoTIFF inputs.

Select which available terrain drives elevation lookups, contours, analysis, profiles and 3D: original ground, a drainage/culvert-corrected surface, or a landforming design. Switching is immediate, while computational analyses are deliberately rerun only when the user requests them.

Click empty ground on the map to inspect elevation at that location from the active surface. Drain selection suppresses the elevation popup so selecting a designed line does not produce competing map interactions.

The active terrain can be shown with a colorized elevation gradient and relief hillshade. Transparency is coordinated with the basemap so field imagery and terrain shape remain readable together.

Flow, wetness, depressions, ponding and basin analysis runs on the user’s computer in a Web Worker. A cancellable progress window identifies the current processing stage, shows elapsed time and retains an error with a retry action if processing does not finish.

D8 terrain routing produces vector flow paths from the active elevation surface. Line weight increases with contributing area, and a “show drains at least X acres” control filters minor paths so primary drainage routes stand out.

A ten-class dry-to-wet overlay combines contributing area and local slope to identify ground that is more likely to remain wet. It is a terrain indicator rather than a direct soil-moisture measurement.

Closed hollows are identified from the elevation grid and displayed with depth-related shading. The layer helps locate isolated low spots, potential inlet locations and areas where surface water has no natural escape.

The ponding layer ranks ground by how early it would fill based on modeled depressions and terrain. Its intensity slider moves from first-to-fill problem spots toward last-to-fill extents; it communicates relative ponding sequence, not an exact storm water depth.

The analysis divides the field into readable colored zones that share an outlet. Basin logic treats closed potholes and perimeter drainage as meaningful divides, providing areas useful for outlet planning, main sizing, project phasing and explanation.

Each generated layer can be shown or hidden from Layers. Relevant layers expose opacity, flow-area threshold or ponding intensity controls, while visually heavy layers such as depressions and basins can start hidden.

Designed open surface drains can be cut into a derived elevation surface using their plan geometry and grade. Tile drains are not burned because they are subsurface pipes; the resulting surface can be selected and analyzed as a modeled after-design condition.

Run the same water-analysis tools on original ground and on a surface corrected with drains and culverts. This allows direct comparison of modeled ponding, flow and drainage behavior before and after the proposed fixes.

Generate smooth contour lines at a user-selected interval from whichever surface is active. Contours are clipped to the field boundary and can therefore represent original terrain, drainage-corrected terrain or the landforming design.

Switch among supported satellite imagery, LiDAR terrain and regional coarse-terrain sources. Region-specific layers include high-resolution US imagery and Canadian fallbacks where applicable; the current basemap itself is not embedded in project backups.

Where the regional source supports it, high-resolution imagery and a false-color crop-health view provide visual field context beyond the standard world imagery layer.

Region scripts expose applicable parcel/quarter-section and regional hydrography or drainage reference layers. Availability varies by US/Canada region and source coverage.

Search for a place or address to move the map, and use browser geolocation to show and follow the device’s reported position. GPS accuracy remains dependent on the device and permission granted by the browser.

JPG, PNG and BMP reference images can be aligned by selecting four matching locations on the image and map. The resulting overlay supports rotation, scale and position, then becomes a visual reference layer rather than analysis input.

A GeoTIFF used as reference imagery is positioned from its embedded coordinates. Supported cases include WGS84 and NAD83 geographic coordinates, Web Mercator and WGS84/NAD83 UTM; unsupported projection metadata produces guidance instead of a guessed placement.

Vector reference files can be loaded directly as overlay geometry. KML/KMZ features and zipped shapefile data are transformed for display and kept separate from editable drainage-design objects.

Drop a DXF into the unified Reference Overlays uploader and identify its source coordinate system. Supported entities include LINE, classic and lightweight polylines, POINT, 3DFACE, TEXT and MTEXT; the result is a visual vector reference and should be checked against known imagery or survey control.

Reference layers can be toggled, faded with opacity controls and deleted individually. Multiple images can coexist, and their geometry, placement, image data and visibility travel in project storage and portable backups.

Draw Surface Main, Surface Tributary, Tile Main, Tile Sub-Main and Tile Lateral routes as map polylines. The first point is the outlet/connection end, which establishes the station and hierarchy direction used throughout design.

Record a route from browser geolocation while walking or driving it, then process it through the normal drainage-line workflow. This is a field-verification/layout aid whose positional quality is limited by the connected device’s GPS.

When drain drawing is armed, clicks on the 3D terrain place plan vertices with a live preview; double-click finishes. The completed geometry uses the same processing path as 2D, including naming, snapping, defaults, undo and profile generation.

Mains and secondaries receive structured identifiers such as S1, T1, T1-L1 and nested sub-main/tributary names. Bidirectional hierarchy records drive selection, connection calculations, sizing, reports and cascading operations.

Secondary drains must begin near a compatible parent: tile laterals connect to tile mains/sub-mains, tile sub-mains to tile mains, and surface tributaries to surface mains/tributaries. Cursor feedback blocks an invalid starting click and snaps a valid start to the chosen geometry.

When a main is already selected, a new compatible secondary prefers that parent in crowded layouts. This reduces unintended connections where several mains are within snapping range.

Constrain new segments to a compass bearing entered from 0–360 degrees or derived by clicking two reference points. Extend mode can begin with the final existing segment’s bearing so a run continues straight.

Create translated parallel copies using spacing, count and side/direction controls. Generated laterals inherit appropriate design parameters and are processed sequentially for connections and profiles.

An optional break line limits where translated offsets are kept, making it possible to fill an irregular field without producing unwanted full-length copies beyond a chosen edge.

Continue an existing run from its upstream end while preserving the same line identity and design record. Elevations, profile geometry and dependent visual state are recomputed for the changed path.

Draw a crossing cut and retain the outlet/downstream portion of the selected run. The tool recalculates the shortened geometry and its grade information.

Split a drain at a clicked point into downstream and upstream records. Type conversion and connected-child reassignment preserve a valid network—for example, an upstream piece of a main can become a sub-main.

Move an entire drain or edit its individual geometry. Vertex editing can reposition points, add a point on the path and remove eligible points; downstream recomputation refreshes profiles, connections and dependent metadata.

Change a compatible line between lateral and sub-main roles without redrawing it. Demotion is prevented when it would strand lines that currently depend on that line as a parent.

Delete the selected line, draw an area to remove multiple drains, or clear the design. Deleting a parent also removes dependent descendants where required, then counters and hierarchy indexes are reconciled; modern drainage-edit history supports immediate undo where the action is captured.

Hover a drain to see its name, type, pipe size or stepped range, length, average grade and depth range. Click a line on the map to make it the active profile and open its design context without searching the dropdown.

Configure separate defaults for surface mains, surface tributaries, tile mains, sub-mains and laterals. Offset/target depth, minimum and maximum depth, minimum grade, fixed outlet settings, spacing, drainage coefficient and tile specifications are copied onto new lines and can then be overridden per line.

The automatic solver creates a proposed grade from sampled terrain while applying the selected drainage type’s grade and depth rules. Surface and tile algorithms treat their design objectives differently, and the result can be rerun after parameter or geometry changes.

Draw a manual proposed grade on the elevation profile while retaining constraint guidance. The result is saved as authored work and is restored without being silently replaced by Auto Best Fit.

Place and move grade vertices directly for a custom vertical design. Real-time feedback still identifies constraint conflicts, but the user—not the automatic solver—controls the grade shape.

Remove the proposed grade from the currently selected line without deleting its plan geometry. Clearing also exits an active Guided or Freeform drawing session and returns those controls to their idle state.

After changing parameters, explicitly reprocess the active line so grade, depths, violations, statistics, sizing context and connection status reflect the new inputs. This avoids hidden recalculation while the user is still editing settings.

The chart layers existing ground, proposed grade, depth bounds, fill/cut context and warning markers by station. Hover tooltips report station, ground elevation, grade elevation and design depth, while a corresponding map marker follows the chart position.

Points that are shallower than minimum cover or deeper than maximum depth are flagged after fitting or refreshing. Red X markers appear on chart and map, and the active-profile list gains status coloring to make affected lines discoverable.

For a secondary drain, the designed grade at its outlet is compared with the receiving parent’s grade at the actual connection station. Status markers distinguish a geometric connection from one whose elevations do not provide a valid tie-in.

Design records support opting into a fixed outlet depth and into forced connection-depth conditions where needed. Those values are persisted and participate in recomputation rather than being temporary chart-only edits.

Drain geometry, grade profiles and stepped schedules are normalized to an outlet-first station reference. Migration logic repairs older reversed derived profiles and inverted stepped schedules while preserving genuinely user-authored grades.

Per-line statistics include relevant outlet/connection elevation and depth, starting or required starting depth, target/average/min/max depth, average grade and run length. Surface drains add excavation volume; tile drains add cover/overburden information.

Line labels, profile dropdown entries, map icons and chart markers communicate selection, depth warnings and connection issues. Pipe-size coloring can replace drainage-type colors while retaining segment-level size information.

Tile capacity is calculated from internal diameter, grade and wall-specific roughness rather than a static chart. The sizing system uses contributing area and drainage coefficient to determine required flow, then selects from the supported nominal pipe ladder.

The wizard evaluates eligible mains and sub-mains, accumulates connected drainage and presents pipe options. Users choose among supported single-wall non-perforated, single-wall perforated and dual-wall alternatives before applying a size.

A main can change diameter at contribution points instead of using its maximum outlet size everywhere. Segment calculations run outlet-first, enforce non-increasing upstream diameters, merge compatible runs and remain available for review or manual override.

Main sizing incorporates connected laterals, sub-mains and surface inlet contributions. A perforated main may also include the area it directly drains along its own length using the configured lateral spacing.

Assign nominal diameter, single-wall or dual-wall construction, and perforation type. Wall selection changes the Manning roughness used by capacity calculations; specifications persist per line and appear in the map, lists, reports and exports where supported.

Switch the design map from drainage-type colors to pipe-size colors. Stepped mains display their individual segment sizes, dual-wall lines use a patterned distinction, and legend swatches can be customized and retained.

Place a surface inlet on a tile main, sub-main or lateral and enter the required flow in supported units. Manning-based options recommend pipe sizes; a lateral can receive a selected size directly, while main inlet flow becomes an additional contribution in uniform or stepped sizing.

Flow-rate estimates can be shown for three configured drainage coefficients—commonly representing ½, ¾ and 1 inch per day. Hover and design tools convert the same underlying values into the selected display units.

The soil suite queries the appropriate available source for the field, including US SSURGO and fallback/global or Canadian sources. Results are cached with the project so recommendations do not need to be rediscovered every time it opens.

Soil texture, hydraulic conductivity and drainage class are converted into ranges for lateral spacing, depth, drainage coefficient and envelope/sock guidance. Recommendations are explicitly starting points and cite sources including NRCS EFH Chapter 14, ASAE EP260.5, Iowa PM 1048, OMAFRA Publication 29 and Stuyt et al.

After reviewing the source and recommendation range, users can apply suitable suggested values to tile drainage defaults. The action changes future/default design inputs rather than silently rewriting every existing line.

Place a two-point culvert centerline across a road or embankment. Optional inventory properties include tag, diameter, material, condition, notes and source.

Import line or point culverts from GeoJSON or zipped shapefile, inspect available attributes and map source columns to tag, diameter and material. Supported geographic, Web Mercator and Transverse Mercator/UTM definitions are transformed; point records remain inventory-only because they do not define a burn direction.

The burner samples endpoint elevations, interpolates a bed through raster pixels and lowers a narrow buffered path without raising terrain. The corrected surface prevents LiDAR road embankments from acting as false dams in downstream water analysis.

Surface composition rebuilds derived ground in a stable order: original terrain, graded surface drains, then culverts. Clearing a component can restore/recompose the surface instead of repeatedly mutating an already burned raster.

Crossing/flow tools calculate Q2, Q10, Q25 and Q100 peak-flow estimates using real project rainfall. Methods include Kirpich time of concentration, Rational flow within its stated area range, and NRCS curve-number/TR-55 behavior with cited assumptions.

Rainfall intensity-duration-frequency data resolves from a manual project table, project/session cache, or the nearest bundled ECCC station in Canada. US projects support manual data because NOAA Atlas 14 does not permit direct browser fetches without a configured proxy.

Required culvert size is screened using FHWA HDS-5 inlet-control calculations and the configured headwater ratio, inlet type and barrel slope. This is a planning/screening calculation, not a replacement for a site survey, detailed hydraulic model or stamped engineering design.

Recorded diameter is compared with required standard size: adequate at or above requirement, marginal one standard size below, undersized two or more sizes below, and unknown when no actual diameter is recorded. Map styling and hover details use the same cached status.

Export the inventory and screening results as a CSV worklist. Unknown sizes are prioritized for field verification, followed by undersized, marginal and adequate records.

Run a fast probe solve with unlimited cut, no smoothing and no haul optimization to learn what the field’s terrain requires. It reports expected earthwork and derives a practical maximum-cut recommendation from the 99th-percentile cut depth, which can be applied with one click.

Select boundary edges where water is allowed to leave the field and exclude edges that must not act as outlets. The solver uses those choices as its drain-to-edge targets.

Set maximum cut, minimum drainage grade, shrink/swell behavior and the available model-specific controls before solving. Inline information explains parameter interactions and numeric examples.

The browser solver creates a finished raster intended to give interior cells a downhill path toward allowed boundary outlets while respecting the chosen design constraints. A separate validation reports drainage success and infeasibility instead of presenting an invalid result as solved.

The panel offers whole-field/blade-pass and nearby-borrow approaches with least-disturbance or balanced objectives, plus shallow planing and topsoil strip-and-return workflows where available. Each method changes how material movement and disturbance are constrained.

Existing designed surface drains can participate in the finished terrain so the landformed surface feeds or preserves intended drainage channels rather than treating them as unrelated map lines.

The result reports cut, fill, net material, affected area and values in cubic yards and cubic metres, accounting for the configured shrink/swell ratio. If maximum cut or other constraints make the requested outcome infeasible, the result explains that condition.

Fill demand is associated with nearby available cut, producing numbered borrow/supply areas that communicate where material comes from and where it goes. This supports planning a design in which much of the field can remain undisturbed.

Haul optimization and maps group moved volume into distance bands and summarize the travel required to satisfy fill. These outputs support operational comparison and cost estimation rather than merely reporting total dirt.

Landforming results register dedicated layers for the proposed surface, cut/fill difference, haul distance and borrow/supply planning. The design surface can become the active terrain for elevation inspection, contours, 3D viewing and additional analysis.

Place and manage on-map control benchmarks used to tie the design to real ground in the field. Benchmark records are included where the Ditch Assist AGD export requires calibration control.

Open a detailed terrain mesh for the active field with colorized elevation, hillshade and a compass. Orbit, pan and zoom with standard controls, then adjust vertical exaggeration and terrain opacity.

Tile mains and laterals render as tubes at their designed grade below terrain; surface drains render as graded ribbons or excavated trench geometry. Multi-part boundaries and available design overlays are handled in the scene.

Toggle the surface-drain burn to see reshaped terrain, or switch to a landforming design. A before/after slider can blend existing and finished ground for direct visual comparison.

Available contour geometry can be shown over the terrain scene, providing elevation structure alongside the shaded surface and drainage objects.

Draw temporary measurements on the map in the selected unit system. Distance displays update live as vertices are placed, and area uses geographic calculations suitable for the mapped field.

Measure the angle formed by three clicked points. The tool provides angle feedback, color interpretation and summary values described in the manual.

Add dimension lines, measured lines, polylines, text labels, text boxes, arrows, rectangles, filled polygons, crosshatched exclusion areas, callouts and revision clouds. Annotation geometry and styling are stored in a single toggleable project layer.

Explicit edit mode selects an annotation without interfering with drain drawing. Depending on type, users can change text, label, color and fill opacity or delete the selected item.

Presentation annotations include an automatically populated or manually controlled legend, configurable north arrow and map scale bar. They are designed to appear in map captures and saved projects.

Overlay a ground-distance-corrected dashed grid with configurable spacing, angle and opacity. Pick an existing drain segment to align and anchor the grid to its bearing; the grid appears only at useful field-scale zooms.

Generate a detailed multi-page report, a one-page landscape summary, or a custom report whose sections can be selected and reordered. Reports can include cover/map pages, design assumptions, system and material summaries, main analysis, flow capacity, lateral statistics, earthwork, overburden, profiles and line-by-line appendices.

Add project/company information, a PNG/JPG logo and a custom disclaimer to drainage reports. The standard disclaimer can be supplemented or replaced while a brief liability acknowledgment remains.

Reports aggregate pipe/material quantities and support material, installation, earthwork and miscellaneous cost inputs. Cost sections are budgeting tools whose accuracy depends on the rates and site assumptions entered by the user.

The dedicated report can include cover/status, cut/fill map, earthworks, optional time/cost estimate, drainage validation, parameters/method, before/after terrain and hydrology, haul bands, borrow plan, notes and disclaimer. It is rendered client-side from the solve result and rasters.

Capture the composed map as a high-resolution image while temporarily removing transient selection highlighting and controls that should not appear in the deliverable.

Export the current map composition as a PDF map independent of the full drainage report. This preserves the visible planning context as a quick printable/shareable deliverable.

Export map imagery for Google Earth as KMZ and design routes as KML. KML is a geographic line/reference handoff and does not carry the full project’s editable grade/profile state.

Create a zipped WGS84 shapefile of drainage centerlines with design attributes for GIS use. It is a 2D line handoff, not a complete terrain or machine-control surface.

Export existing-ground and proposed-grade 3D polylines in real-world metre coordinates for CAD review and preliminary handoff, with supported design metadata. The product documentation treats this as reference/CAD exchange and requires field survey and validation before construction or grade control.

Export modeled flow paths to KML with available contributing-area and design-flow properties for review outside Geo-Surface.

Download the acquired elevation raster for use in GIS or archival workflows. This is the elevation dataset, distinct from drainage centerlines and from a landforming finished-surface export.

Produce a field-design image with its world file for use as a positioned visual reference. It contains map pixels and georeferencing rather than a machine grade surface.

Export tab-delimited point files per drainage run: XYZ for raw elevations and XYZP for original plus proposed design elevations. These preliminary drainage outputs carry explicit cautions and require RTK verification rather than authorizing installation directly from public LiDAR.

From the active profile, export one selected run as Ditch Assist XYZP design points, Ditch Assist XYZ raw points, and/or a CSV with headers. Design-bearing formats require a completed grade line; raw XYZ can be created from sampled existing elevations alone.

Export a bitmap map and companion georeferencing file for systems that accept a world-positioned raster reference.

Import AGS point elevation as a terrain source and export supported AGS point data for OptiSurface/AGPS workflows. The specific export reflects the source/design context named in its dialog; it is not a LandXML/TIN interchange.

Export a landforming design package for Ditch Assist containing design points, boundary and calibration benchmarks. This is the machine-design path for the solved landforming surface, after field control is used to tie the design to actual ground.

Export the solved grid as generic CSV with geographic/UTM and existing/design/cut-fill values, Ditch Assist tab-separated TXT in metres, or AGS design points for supported OptiSurface/AGPS exchange. The UI only offers formats whose browser exporters are implemented and tested.

Capture the current 3D scene to PDF or export terrain geometry as an STL model for CAD/3D-printing workflows. STL is a geometric model and does not preserve the full editable Geo-Surface project.

Send a portable project backup to a client or crew member, who can open it in the free Geo-Surface Viewer without a paid account. The Viewer can inspect the saved map, analyses and 3D terrain while Pro editing controls remain restricted.