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Design conformance: see where your site matches the plan
Bring survey and design surfaces together in Propeller. Compare elevations, calculate cut/fill within selected areas, inspect cross-sections, and share maps, measurements, and reports for review and handover.
Bring your survey and design into the same reference
Import DXF, LandXML, TTM, IFC, PDF, and KML files for supported design and overlay workflows. Confirm the design revision and coordinate alignment with your survey, then use reference overlays for context and suitable design surfaces for elevation and volume comparisons.
File contents determine the available tools: a reference drawing provides context; a suitable surface supports quantitative comparison.
Need to explore a preliminary earthworks concept? Explore Propeller CAD →
Compare the work. Plan the next step. Document the result.
See what is off grade
Use cut/fill heat maps to see where your site is high, low, or on grade.
Plan the remaining work
Measure remaining cut and fill to help your team plan the next stage of work.
Share proof of the work
Share maps, cross-sections, and exports to help your team review and document the work.
Measure survey-to-design differences
Select your survey and design surfaces, then define the area to compare. Propeller calculates vertical elevation differences and cut/fill quantities, with a heat map showing where the surfaces differ.
Features
- Surface selection: Choose the survey and design surfaces to compare.
- Area-based comparison: Draw a polygon around the work you want to measure.
- Heat maps and deadband: Visualize differences and optionally exclude small changes from volume calculations.
Compare design revisions
Select two overlapping design surfaces and compare them within your chosen area. Review calculated volume differences to understand how a revised design changes the planned earthwork.
Features
- Design-to-design comparison: Compare two designs without uploading them as surveys.
- Selected comparison area: Isolate the part of the design you need to review.
Quantify the work left to complete
Use the survey-to-design comparison to quantify remaining earthwork. Add remaining-to-design, surface-area, and material calculations to your measurement, with shrink/swell factors based on your project’s material assumptions.
Features
- Remaining to design: Quantify the gap between the selected surfaces.
- Cut/fill quantities: Review the material to remove or place.
- Surface area: Measure the 3D area within your boundary.
- Material properties and shrink/swell: Apply supplied material values and factors to your calculations.
Review design differences on site
Open the survey and active design on your phone. Review surveyed elevations and cut/fill at a selected point, compare areas, and inspect cross-sections without switching to a separate field dataset.
Features
- Point comparisons: See survey elevation and cut/fill relative to the active design.
- Area comparisons: Compare a selected area against a design file.
Inspect cross-sections and profiles
Draw a section through the site and add surveys or designs to the same profile. Compare elevations along the line, inspect differences, and export the section for review in other software.
Features
- Survey/design profiles: Compare selected surfaces in one section view.
- Multiple comparison surfaces: Add designs or surveys to inspect their relationship.
- DXF section exports: Export individual sections in supported 2D or 3D orientations.
Track progress and share the evidence
Review successive survey dates against the design to understand what changed. Share measurements and reports, and export the relevant survey surface or cross-section for downstream review and handover.
Features
- Timeline: Review site conditions across survey dates.
- Workspaces and permissions: Organize collaboration and access.
- Reports and PDF maps: Share results for review and documentation.
- Surface exports: Export survey surfaces as DXF or TTM.
“We find Propeller to be really effective in helping us keep to the project timeline through looking at the aerial photography. It’s all captured in the software and we import the design model to see how the design is interfacing with the current site progress.”
– Glynn Thomas, Engineering Manager at McConnell Dowell
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See what is built. Know what is left. Share the proof.
Bring your design and survey data together to check conformance, quantify remaining work, and prepare clear outputs for review and handover.
Frequently asked questions
Design conformance is the process of comparing surveyed site conditions against the design to check whether the work is being built as intended. In Propeller, you bring design and survey data together to identify differences, quantify remaining work, and prepare outputs for review.
Propeller CAD helps you create and refine preliminary earthworks concepts on real survey terrain. Design conformance tools compare surveyed conditions with a selected design surface to show elevation and volume differences. A CAD-generated concept is not an approved construction design simply because it can be viewed or compared in the platform.
Import DXF, LandXML, TTM, IFC, PDF, and KML files for the relevant design and overlay workflows. Not every format contains a comparable surface: available tools depend on the file and the data it contains.
Select survey and design surfaces within a defined area. Propeller calculates vertical elevation differences and cut/fill quantities; heat maps and cross-sections help you inspect the results.
Survey-based comparisons reflect the survey dataset you select. Add new survey data to review updated site conditions against the design; a comparison does not continuously update the physical site between surveys.
Yes. Select two overlapping design surfaces within a comparison area to calculate volume differences without uploading the designs as surveys.
Work-to-complete analysis quantifies the difference between the surveyed surface and the design so you can understand remaining cut and fill. Use quantity maps and related measurement tools to support planning and reporting.
Yes. Activate a design in the mobile app to review surveyed elevations and cut/fill at selected points, compare areas, and inspect cross-sections. These tools use your survey and design data.
Use the timeline to review site conditions across survey dates and compare progress against the design. This helps your team understand how conformance changes as work progresses.
Share measurements, reports, and PDF maps to help teams review the results. Export survey surfaces as DXF or TTM files and cross-sections as DXF for downstream workflows. These outputs support as-built documentation and handover review; project requirements and professional review determine what is needed for acceptance.