What is a contour map?

A contour map takes an aerial view (plan view) of a site and shows the slope of the terrain through lines. Each contour line follows a specific elevation. See the below diagram for a visualization of this concept.

Why are contour maps useful?

Contour maps show how water moves across a site. In permaculture, they indicate where berms and swales should go. Swales should always follow the natural contour of a site to allow water to slow, spread, and sink into the soil. They also help with planning paths and optimal building sites.

Tutorial Summary

As a previous architecture student and designer, I have tried MANY different ways of getting site contours. This method is by far the easiest and requires that you download no software. It will probably take you 15 minutes tops.

Step 1: Go to Contour Map Creator

https://contourmapcreator.urgr8.ch/ Bless the creator of this open source application. Throw him a donation if you end up loving it as much as I do.

Step 2: Search Your Address

If you forgot your address, call your doctor. Now DON'T click anywhere on the map yet. You may click and drag to orient yourself. But if a red location pin pops up, ⌘ shift R (mac) Ctrl shift R (windows). This is how you hard refresh and start over.

Step 3: Orient Yourself on the Map

First, go to the column below the map titled "other options">"change resolution">"fullscreen". Zoom in using ⌘ scroll until you see your property and some of the surrounding context in the frame. If the view gets angled, click this button to get back to a straight overhead aerial view:

Ah, that's better. Ok, onward.

Step 4: Set Parameters

Below the map you will see a bunch of input fields. You don't need to worry about any of them except the column titled "plot options"… go to the "units" row and change this to your preferred units (for me thats ft). Then go to the "level interval" row and change that to your preferred interval. The interval is the space between each contour line in the imaginary Y axis. For residential properties, I choose an interval of 1 ft because they are generally pretty flat.

Step 5: Get a Screenshot of the Site

Click once in the top left corner of the map. A little red pin should appear. If you don't like where you placed it, you can click and drag it to another location. Click again in the bottom right corner of your map. You should now have a shaded box appear over that area. Pro tip: get your site and half of all the neighboring properties (in a dense residential context). Take a screenshot of the area outlined by the box. Like so…

Step 6: Get Contours!

Ok here's where it gets cool. Scroll down to the parameters section below the map and click "get data" in the top left corner of the box. Watch the magic unfold.

Step 7: Take Another Screenshot

Do the same thing as step 5, but with the contours.

Step 8: Export Contour Lines

Scroll to the very bottom of the page and click the "Download SVG File" link. Save the file to your computer.

Step 9: Create Figma Account

Okay, you already have your contour map, so if this is all you wanted, you're done. But if you want to have the contour lines be vectors and be able to turn them on and off in a document, proceed. The next step is to create a FREE Figma account.

Step 10: Create Figma Account

Once that's all squared away, click "New Design File"

Step 11: Create Figma Account

Now that you're in the new design file, click F on your keyboard. Select "Paper">"Tabloid" in the right column. Then rotate your art board (by hovering near the outside of a corner) so that it is landscape (wider than it is tall).

Step 12: Import all Files

Find your 2 screenshots and you contour SVG file and drag them into the artboard.

Step 13: Layer the Screenshots

Put both aerial image photographs on the artboard with their corners aligned. Select both screenshots, hold down shift (to keep the scale) and drag the corner till it fills the artboard. Don't release shift until after you release the corner. Move the images around till your site is centered.

Step 14: Layer the Screenshots

Click and drag a box around the contour lines only (not the key). Group the objects by clicking ⌘ G.

Click and drag the group over the screen shots and align the contours until it matches with the image below. Everything should be all aligned like so…

Then you can turn off the layer that has the screenshot of the contour lines and keep the satelite image layer, and the vector contour lines layer. Voilà.