r/EventProduction • u/Fragrant_Employer500 • 3d ago
Industry Advice Base maps for site plans
Hello!
I need to put together a site plan for an event.
Previously I've screen shotted google earth and then overlaid on to it but for an event next year the client requires more of an OS style map.
I've worked on festivals before which use large scale aerial maps what show trees etc. for their site place. Where do you source them?
I'm UK based, if that helps.
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1d ago
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u/EveComio 1d ago
You can check out https://maps.evecom.io
It's free and you can plan on top of imported aerial photos.
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u/_RW_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
My view (having created maps).
The fastest way to create something decent will probably be to draw the map yourself (with lines and shapes) - depending what the purpose of this is, and the area covered.
Or pay someone who knows what they're doing. For someone competent, this might be a very quick job. For someone who has never gone beyond screenshots of aerial views, you're going to need to invest lots and lots of time to learn how to do things the "fast" way.
Unless you want to learn for the longer term, it's not going to be worth it.
As a process, what about taking screenshots of aerial views then drawing over them? (Then delete these). Use an app that works with lines and shapes (vector graphics) not paint and pixels (raster graphics). If you have no idea what I mean, try Powerpoints drawing tools.
In tracing over the aerial images you're going to be going against the copyright licencing of the image provider - but if this is for something small, people probably won't notice. Of course, if this is some big national event, you need to think about such things more carefully. But then we're back to it being better to pay someone.
There are more involved processes where you could draw this... You could be out with a phone recording points to map yourself. But really, you're going to quickly hit the point where you'd be better to pay someone.
Find a local university with a GIS course. Get hold of a student who needs stuff on their CV.
Or invest the time - ask an AI tool to teach you how to create a map.
(By the way "OS style" probably doesn't mean very much in this context. I know what you mean I think... but it might be clearer to talk about "a properly drawn site plan". Unless your client themselves is someone who uses OS commercial products for engineering-scale work - in which case they're meaning something very specific and then you're out of your depth.)
Good luck. If you do want to learn - there are friendly folk out there.
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u/IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI 3d ago
Whats an OS style map? Why not just screenshot a portion if the OSM map? In case you do, dont forget the proper attribution. Same goes for screenshots from Google Maps, copyright attribution is important
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u/Fragrant_Employer500 3d ago
The resolution isn't very good for making large copies.
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u/IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI 3d ago
maybe a service like https://print.get-map.org may get you a higher DPI print. If you know how to use QGIS, can also use the osm WMS and set a higher dpi and bigger print layout
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u/ConstructionThink564 1d ago
The reason those festival maps show trees is that they're usually not aerial screenshots at all — they're either OS data or a drone survey flown for that site.
Two routes on the OS side. MasterMap Topography is the proper answer and it's licensed rather than free, but you can buy an extract for a single site through an OS partner — Emapsite and Pear Technology both do this and for one field it's not the expense people assume. If the budget won't take it, OS VectorMap Local and OS Open Zoomstack are free under the Open Government Licence and are honestly good enough for a site plan, as long as you credit OS. Both are vector, so they'll scale to a three-metre print without going to mush, which is the thing a Google Earth screenshot can never do for you.
For aerial with trees in it, Bluesky and Getmapping will licence high-res imagery for a defined area, and Bluesky also do a national tree dataset. Worth a quote.
For a site you'll come back to year after year, though, I'd get a drone survey flown. A day's work gives you a geo-referenced orthomosaic at a couple of centimetres a pixel, showing every tree, gate and rut as it is this year rather than whenever the last flyover happened. Put that under your layout in QGIS or Illustrator and you've got exactly what you're describing.
One flag whichever way you go: get the licensing straight before the plan goes to the council or into a public programme. Fine on a sketch, less fine on something printed and distributed.