How to design buildings and infrastructure on your site

1. Prepare the site

The site data wizard has six steps. Only the boundary is required, but the more data you give, the more accurate the result.

• Boundaries. Upload a GeoJSON or Google Earth file (KML, KMZ) or draw the outline on the map. If the file has several outlines, pick yours. The check shows the area and perimeter.
• What is already on the site. Answer the question about existing buildings: none, take them from OpenStreetMap, mark them on the map, upload a file or take them from the same Google Earth file. Choose an action for each building:
  • "Keep" - the building stays and nothing is built next to it;
  • "Demolish" - the land is freed for new development;
  • "Keep and connect to utilities" - the building stays and is connected to the new networks.

  Existing roads can be kept: the engine builds them into the new street network.

• Surroundings. Streets, buildings and facilities around the site load from OpenStreetMap automatically. They let the site's streets continue the city's and count nearby schools and clinics when shortfalls are calculated.
• Restricted zones and terrain. Mark restricted zones: power line, water protection, REN, RAN and others. Mark allowed development zones too if you may build only on part of the site. Buildings will not enter restricted zones or leave allowed ones.
• Utility connection points. Road access and utility points: water, sewerage, electricity, heat, gas, storm water. Road accesses are found automatically from the surroundings, and you can also place them by hand. Without access the engine cannot link the site to the city.
• Terrain. Turn on the "Terrain" option at launch: heights come from Copernicus or from your file (CSV, GeoTIFF).

2. Set the development rules

On the launch screen choose three things:

• Parameter set. The development rules: density (FSI), number of storeys, housing share, housing classes, street widths, block sizes. Take a ready set from the library or make your own on the "Parameter sets" screen. The key parameters are at the top, the rest can be left as they are.
• Norm profile. Provision norms: places in nurseries and schools, clinic visits, parking spaces per resident. For Portugal the profile is chosen by the site location.
• Options. What to build:
  • Include surroundings - take the city around into account;
  • Planning structure - street network and blocks;
  • Housing with integrated services - housing, including housing with services on the ground floor;
  • Social infrastructure - nurseries, schools, clinics, sports, leisure;
  • Transport - street categories, stops, parking;
  • Public spaces and Landscaping areas - courtyards, small parks, parks, playgrounds;
  • Terrain and Sunlight exposure.

Run one to five scenarios: they share the rules but differ in layout. One generation is one scenario.

3. Check the result

Open a scenario. The map has layers: roads, plots, buildings, networks, zones. In the legend you can show storeys, housing classes, integrated facilities, fire access routes, catchment areas and sanitary zones.

• KPIs. Red rows are shortfalls: not enough nursery or school places, parking or play areas by the norms.
• "How to fix". A red row has advice, for example build nurseries into ground floors, add a clinic or a multi-storey car park, reduce the number of storeys. "Apply and recalculate" queues a regeneration with this advice. Your manual edits are kept, and one generation is deducted.
• "Find parameters for a goal". This button is on the project card. The engine tries 6-12 parameter variants for a goal: more sellable area without shortfalls, shorter payback or higher NPV. Scenarios are created from the best variants.
• Comparison. Select 2-4 scenarios and compare KPIs and economics side by side.

4. Refine in the editor

The "Edit" button on the scenario page opens the editor, which works on a computer only. There are four layers on the left, and you edit one layer at a time:

• Roads - street type (main, district, local, access road), carriageway width, lanes, profile.
• Plots - use: housing, nursery, school, clinic, sports, leisure, police, commercial, car park, small park, park. You can add extra facilities: integrated nursery, community centre, ground-floor commercial space, underground car park, public transport stop.
• Buildings - type, housing class, ground-floor services, number of storeys (1-100), storey height. The "Lock during regeneration" box keeps the building as it is.
• Utility networks - water, sewerage, heat, electricity.

The tools at the bottom:

• select (V);
• move (M);
• rotate (R);
• scale (S);
• vertex (A) - add a vertex on an edge;
• add (N) - draw a new object: clicks place vertices, double-click or Enter finishes.

Copy with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, delete with Delete, undo with Ctrl+Z, redo with Ctrl+Shift+Z.

Population, gross floor area, FSI, shortfalls, investment and NPV are recalculated at once, and the change shows at the top. When you are happy with the result:

• "Save version" - your edits become the current version and the export files are rebuilt. You can add a note to the version.
• "Regenerate using changes" - the engine keeps your roads, plots and locked buildings and rebuilds everything else. One generation is deducted.

All versions are kept on the "Versions" tab, and you can return to any of them.

5. Techniques

• Not enough school places. In the editor set a plot to "School" and place a school building on it. Or apply the advice to allow smaller school plots.
• Too dense, many shortfalls. Lower the number of storeys in the parameter set or apply the advice "reduce the maximum number of storeys".
• Ruins or an old house must stay. In the wizard, on the "What is already on the site" step, choose "Keep". For a house that will remain lived in, choose "Keep and connect to utilities".
• The main street must follow your route. Draw it in the "Roads" layer, then "Regenerate using changes": blocks and buildings will be rebuilt around it.
• Development on part of the site only. Mark the allowed zone on the "Restricted zones and terrain" step.

6. If a generation fails

The error text says what to fix:

• "no boundary" - set the boundary;
• "site too small" - enlarge the boundary or choose a set for small sites;
• "no buildable area" - restricted zones cover the whole site or the allowed zone lies outside the boundary;
• "no road connection" - place a road access point or turn on the surroundings.

A failed generation is not deducted.

7. Export

On the scenario's "Files" tab:

• KPIs in XLSX and a report in DOCX in three languages;
• an IFC model with roads and networks;
• a DXF drawing;
• a PNG map snapshot;
• KMZ for Google Earth.

You can show the scenario to a client with an observer link that needs no sign-in, or send it to All Portugal Project.