Free program to sketch scaled drawings on aerials

[paulsharvey]

No idea where to drop this question, so, I guess Rural Living... What free program to you guys like to do scale sketches on aerial photo/google/property appraiser PDFs.

Back story, looking for property, and found something that checks me and wife's boxes, more or less, we check it out, and wife says "uh, I just don't see it, where you you put the house" ect. So, I'm thinking if I can prep a scale drawing, laying out driveway, house, shed/barn, chicken coops, ect; either A: I'll see she's right and the property, although almost 7 acres, it's odd shaped, and really isn't a good fit; of B: she can kinda see an idea, and we Both have a better idea of the potential.

I tried very briefly with sketchup layout, but it didn't let me import the PDF.

I have used a couple really basic cad programs, but it was no joke 20 years ago, and was primarily for home plans.

I am willing, but don't really want to, hand scale and draw it on 11×17, but that not as visual as an aerial, where you can show, "save these trees, clear this area, ect"

I'm not looking to spend 20 hours, and 3d model to figure cut/fill...

 

[paulsharvey]

I did find this ScribbleMaps thing, not sure it's exactly what I was looking for, but in general; I threw 5 sides with a 30 ft wooded buffer, a 3500 sq ft block out for general area of a home (would Not be nearly that big), a 200 yard shooting lane off the east property line (behind the 30 ft buffer), driveway/parking area, 2500 sq ft shop/barn area, and an approx 1 acre 'lawn'.

This scribble map seems to be locked into all measurements in x.xx kilometers....

 

[newbury]

I'm not looking to spend 20 hours, and 3d model to figure cut/fill...

There lies the problem.
40 years ago up to about 15 years ago I used raster (think imagery) and vector (think lines) GIS software extensively. (Erdas Imagine and ArcInfo but the software with all the bells and whistles). After I retired I went to sharpie on acetate over a printed image.

Unless you require complicated precise math, like how much area in a long varying width polygon (think mapping stream bed) a good wide bed printer and clear plastic will get you a LONG ways.

LibreCAD is a halfways decent program, but 20 hours would just be a start if you don't know Autocad.

 

[David in KY]

Google Earth Pro is not bad for general layouts and measurements. Further, it will let you do overlays with images and other maps.

However, as you are asking for, I haven't figured out how to
1) create scaled objects (like a size defined house/ shop), and
2) to then move and rotate those objects about the map.

Nonetheless, Google Earth Pro is an excellent FREE program for planning and developing a site.

One feature I really like is the ability to roll back time to see past satellite imagery for a particular place. For my property, I can go back to 1986 to see images. That's really cool.
I have overlayed topography maps from other sites.
Also, don't forget that Google Earth does a fairly good job of rendering the 3D aspects of your land. This lets you travel above and rotate you position to analyze the ground features of your property.

 

[oosik]

I use software - PhotoPad. It's not free but allows multiple styles of rendering. I combine this software with Google Earth Pro.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, figure I'd drop an update, we got denied for the loan, and dropped it. Go riding around a week or two ago, and drive past, and the buyers put the homesite right up at the road, maybe 75 ft in. That's certainly the cheaper option, less clearing/grading/shorter power service/short driveway; but kinda didn't take full advantage of the property IMO

 

[5030]

My Autel drone (which I use to check my fields with) cam with a plot program as part of the package that I never use anyway. The Autel was not a cheap date by a long shot, cost me almost 2 grand when I bought t but Autel, unlike 99% of other drones don't use geofencing and never have, at least in their professional model drones and of course I have to have an FAA license to operate it as well.

There is no 'celing' on mine (most 'hobby' drones have a 500 foot ceiling) and strictly line of sight as well. None of that applies to mine, in fact I have flown mine over 3 miles from takeoff point using an signal enhancer and my tablet attached to the transmitter. Far as ceiling height is concerned, I'm sure I can fly it above the clouds if I wanted to. I don't. Seen video's of Autel's being vertically flown in the excess of 10K feet vertically. Not my thing, I want to stay within the FAA parameters of my license.

 

[newbury]

Gee, thanks for the update. Did you ever find software that would work well for you?

 

[5030]

So, figure I'd drop an update, we got denied for the loan, and dropped it.

You have marginal credit or what? I could buy the Brooklyn Bridge with a cumulative credit score of 829. In fact, I get offers constantly, of which I delete them all. Only have 2 credit cards and both have huge credit limits on them I might add but they get paid off every month. The outfit that carries the mortgage on my one not paid off rental is always bugging me.. That gets deleted as well. Farm is paid off, 2 rentals are paid off, no car payments, only thing not paid off is the farm equipment and that is a write off anyway.

 

[paulsharvey]

Gee, thanks for the update. Did you ever find software that would work well for you?

I was able to use Scribblemaps to do 80% of what I wanted. It was pretty annoying, and had trouble saving data, and all; it was enough to kinda show land use, place a block for the home, ect. I had to basically draw more or less parallel lines, and angles based on 'feel' and the property lines I was able to fit in based on length and approx land features (ie, bend towards pond at the 3rd pine, and head to 10ft off the live oak).

In all honesty, I dont know that I wouldn't have rather printed a scale 11x17, with property lines, and then old school drawn the features in; but I don't have that capability at home (the printing).

 

[paulsharvey]

You have marginal credit or what? I could buy the Brooklyn Bridge with a cumulative credit score of 829. In fact, I get offers constantly, of which I delete them all. Only have 2 credit cards and both have huge credit limits on them I might add but they get paid off every month. The outfit that carries the mortgage on my one not paid off rental is always bugging me.. That gets deleted as well. Farm is paid off, 2 rentals are paid off, no car payments, only thing not paid off is the farm equipment and that is a write off anyway.

Well... mine isn't 'good', but wife's is Bad. Not for non payment, it's more based on percentage of usage. We share a credit card, which has a significant balance we are working on, but it isn't crazy. We are both on both vehicles. I'm solo on tractor, and she's solo on Honda SxS. What kills hers, is she had a couple smaller cards/store accounts, furniture store, lowes, ect, that don't have high limits, but so have 90% of the max as a balance.

Also, the land lender has pretty stringent credit requirements.

This property was cheap enough, 6.7 acres for acres for like $65k. We rode it once, and we (wife decided No. Then I looked again, and they dropped price to like $59k. It was in same neighborhood, which has recently disbanded the HOA (legally it was abolished due to illegal actions, by state court), so same schools, ect. I had actually considered cashing out some retirement accounts and paying cash; Or they offered owner fianceing, but it was weird. They wanted a reasonable down payment, but then monthly payments based on price plus 20% total purchase price; ie, $70.8k if you pay off in 1 year or 10...

 

[paulsharvey]

We didn't really realize her credit was as bad as it was; and I'll admit some of the stuff I had 'assumed' was paid off a long time ago; stuff like a coach, bed, ect that was 6 months same as cash, Lowes card with a couple appliances. Mildly annoying part of that, was we had the cash, but we said, might as well float it out 6 months, and then she just paid the $40/month or whatever.

Not the original thread topic, but with all the auto online bill pay, I feel it takes more concented efforts to pay down a balance, as they automatically just draft the min payment. When we mailed checks, we would always round up; as in $318 truck payment, we would send check for $350.

Tractor payment is though a small ag credit union, and you have to log in and make an online payment every month, no auto draft, and I round that up every month.

Not saying I miss paper bills, and checks and all; but...

 

[5030]

One thing I learned long ago and that is, it's detrimental to your credit rating to have numerous credit cards which is why my wife and I share just one card and that card has the best rewards of any of them today. The keep increasing the credit limit but we don't 'bite' anyway. I much prefer doing business with my farm suppliers and my shop suppliers on a pay in 30 days deal or 90 days, same as cash and no credit cards used.

Credit card issuers make money hand over fist but we don't contribute to that. That 25% of the unpaid balance gives me the Heeby-Geebies.

 

[newbury]

This property was cheap enough, 6.7 acres for acres for like $65k.

Well, when I was looking for RETIREMENT property I didn't consider future sale value. Just low taxes, close to relatives, a few hills, plenty of water etc.
For me in Mississippi I'd have had to move a decimal point on either the number of acres (to 67) or the price (to 6.5K).

Since this thread seems to be winding up I'm going to do a slight hijack.
There are several FREE GIS (Geographic Information System) programs.
GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System)
QGIS
SAGA GIS

But they all take quite a bit of learning.
In the beginning there was ADDWAMS and MOSS running on DEC PDP-11. I forget what ADDWAMS was, but MOSS is Map Overlay Statistical System.
For reference:

The PDP11/70 does 0.7 Dhrystone MIPS. The Pi4 is 5365 Dhrystone MIPS per core.

I briefly used them back in 1978 to 1980.
GRASS grew out of ADDWAMS and MOSS and is still being used. But unless you are a resource manager you wouldn't use them.
ARC/INFO (vector based) and ERDAS (raster based) came along and for a mere $20 or $30 thousand dollars you can get fully functional top of the line GIS software system. Plus probably spend about the same on training.
That's why I stick with acetate and sharpies.

 

[paulsharvey]

Well, when I was looking for RETIREMENT property I didn't consider future sale value. Just low taxes, close to relatives, a few hills, plenty of water etc.
For me in Mississippi I'd have had to move a decimal point on either the number of acres (to 67) or the price (to 6.5K).

That's why I stick with acetate and sharpies.

I do like north Florida, but long term... it's getting full and expensive. When I look at NE Alabama, and see what the same money buys...

 

[CliffordK]

I've loaded images into programs like Gimp or LibreOffice Draw, and doodled on them.
GIMP has a measuring tape you can estimate scale with, but overall it isn't really good for scale drawings.

I keep meaning to teach myself either FreeCAD or LibreCAD.

 

[paulsharvey]

I've loaded images into programs like Gimp or LibreOffice Draw, and doodled on them.
GIMP has a measuring tape you can estimate scale with, but overall it isn't really good for scale drawings.

I keep meaning to teach myself either FreeCAD or LibreCAD.

ScribbleMap does have a distance measuring feature, and it May have an angle indicator If you knew what you were doing, but I couldn't find one. I didn't see anything where you could measure 24 ft and then go 90 degrees or anything like that. I also didn't see any layers, like landscaping, paving and drainage, ect. Ideally, you would be able to import the aerial or topo, or both, with property lines, and then follow those lines. For instance, your west property line, shade a 20 ft landscape buffer, then an 8 ft grassed area, 12 ft drive, and have that follow the property line.

I'm asking a lot from an easy, free to use, online based software or app, aren't I.

 

[dodge man]

I’m a retired land surveyor and have had Autocad available to me all these years. That said I’d get an engineers scale and just print out several copies and draw on the map to scale.

 

[5030]

We didn't really realize her credit was as bad as it was; and I'll admit some of the stuff I had 'assumed' was paid off a long time ago; stuff like a coach, bed, ect that was 6 months same as cash, Lowes card with a couple appliances. Mildly annoying part of that, was we had the cash, but we said, might as well float it out 6 months, and then she just paid the $40/month or whatever.

Not the original thread topic, but with all the auto online bill pay, I feel it takes more concented efforts to pay down a balance, as they automatically just draft the min payment. When we mailed checks, we would always round up; as in $318 truck payment, we would send check for $350.

Tractor payment is though a small ag credit union, and you have to log in and make an online payment every month, no auto draft, and I round that up every month.

Not saying I miss paper bills, and checks and all; but...

One cardinal rule we abide by always is, we never use auto pay or online bill paying. We always insist on a paper invoice mailed to us, monthly and you can opt out of online paying with any CC provider or mortgage holder and even in our case Kubota, Kubota bill the farm quarterly, paper bill with stub attached and I like quarterly payments on the farm equipment anyway, easier to track and the accountant prefers that as well.

I'll always have a checking account and if for some reason I don't, I'll pay with a money order or a bank draft drawn on our accounts.

 

[masscity]

One thing I learned long ago and that is, it's detrimental to your credit rating to have numerous credit cards which is why my wife and I share just one card and that card has the best rewards of any of them today. The keep increasing the credit limit but we don't 'bite' anyway. I much prefer doing business with my farm suppliers and my shop suppliers on a pay in 30 days deal or 90 days, same as cash and no credit cards used.

Credit card issuers make money hand over fist but we don't contribute to that. That 25% of the unpaid balance gives me the Heeby-Geebies.

That was true years ago. When I went to buy my 2018 Silverado, they said if I got a loan I would save $1000. While getting the loan he told me my credit rating was 834. My last loan was in 1999 and I didn't owe any money. I had 5 credit cards with open credit of $50k. I paid the truck off on the 2nd payment.