You can start site planning with one of the many built-in site plan templates and drag and drop symbols. Adjust dimensions and angles easily and precisely by simply typing. Import satellite photos and any existing PDF plans to enhance your designs.
You get thousands of ready-made symbols and shapes for professional site plans and landscapes. You can drag-and-drop buildings, shrubs, grasses, sprinkler systems, groundcover and apply brick patterns and even photo-realistic textures!
SmartDraw's site plan creator works hand in glove with your existing AI workflow whether you prefer ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or something else. Use your AI to explore themes based on zoning requirements and client needs, generate suggestions for building placement, and create a visual mood board for landscaping and structures. You can easily add any generated images to SmartDraw to enhance your project.
SmartDraw is easy to work with no matter what other apps you use. You can add site plans to:
SmartDraw works hand in glove with most file storage systems. You can save your site plans directly to:
There is no need to create a parallel set of common folders and permissions, SmartDraw can just save files directly into your existing set up.
Share your site plan with anyone, even if they don't own a copy of SmartDraw, with a link. You can also easily export any diagram as a PDF or common image formats like PNG or SVG.
Have a question? Chat or email us. SmartDraw support is in-house and free!
SmartDraw makes it easy to collaborate on site plans with your team and clients.
You can work on the same design by inviting others with a link. Share feedback and make sure everyone is on the same page about the plans.
SmartDraw also works where you already communicate with your team. You can collaborate on site plans in Microsoft Teams®, Slack or Confluence.
Our site plan creator makes it easy to design and draw site plans to scale. SmartDraw combines ease of use with powerful tools and an incredible depth of site plan templates and symbols.
Choose from common standard architectural scales, metric scales, or set a custom scale that fits your project. You can even change the scale on the fly, after you've started drawing.
Add layers to manage complexity like keeping man-made structures separate from landscape elements and utility lines. You can even add a scale independent annotation layer to keep track of your project details like author and scale used.
SmartDraw comes with templates to jumpstart your site plan drawing.
You'll start any site plan by gathering some information first. Get survey and legal information about the property's boundaries, consider the topography of the site such as slopes and drainage that might affect your plans, and make a list of existing features like buildings, trees, roads, and easements.
Make note of all zoning requirements like setbacks and height limits, research local environmental restrictions and potential protected habitats, and get any HOA rules or guidelines for the neighborhood.
Open SmartDraw's site plan creator and choose a template that best fits your project. SmartDraw's blank site plan template is located under the "Floor Plans - Commercial" category. Here, you'll also find some example site plans you can draw inspiration from.
SmartDraw lets you import a PDF and then draw to scale on top of it. You can import an existing survey file or a satellite photo of your site. Learn more about how to match a PDF to your scaled drawing here.
Once you define your property's boundaries, you can drag-and-drop building structures and landscaping elements to show both existing elements and proposed changes. Add parking areas and walkways if applicable. You can also create buildings by drawing the walls yourself using SmartDraw's intuitive wall building tool.
Add detailed landscaping features, structures, and utilities. You can drag-and-drop symbols for trees, picnic areas, benches, bushes, and more from SmartDraw's extensive collection of site planning symbols. Show the location of utilities like water, sewer, gas, and electric lines.
Label structures and key elements you want to highlight. Mark setbacks as needed. Add dimension lines to show scale and spacing.
Invite clients or team members to give you feedback and work on your site plan in real-time. Make notes or even make changes on the fly as a group. SmartDraw is so easy to use, you can make changes in real-time.
Once your site plan is complete you can insert it directly to any Microsoft Office app like Microsoft Word® or PowerPoint®, or add it to Google Docs™ or Google Slides™.
You can also easily export your floor plan as a PDF or print it.
A site plan is a scaled drawing of a property that includes all buildings and other structures, landscaping elements, parking areas, utilities, and paths. It's a critical part of urban planning and construction. Site plans are used not just to visualize a property, but they're needed to get proper permits and approvals from local authorities.
You can use site plans for
Site plans show buildings, driveways, walkways, sidewalks, parking areas, utility lines, walls, fences, and landscaping features like parks and trees. Site plans need to comply with zoning and other regulatory requirements.
You can create a plan in site plan software like SmartDraw and then easily import that plan into Word. SmartDraw works hand in glove with the entire suite of Microsoft apps including Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more.
SmartDraw lets your import a PDF and make it a background image you can match in scale to your plan. Learn more.
With SmartDraw, you can change the scale of any drawing at any time. You can flip between standard and metric scales at will. You can also define your own scale if it is not among the standard scales offered.
AI tools and LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude are great for generating designs in the early stages of planning for inspiration. They're also great for researching zoning and regulatory requirements. However, the images they produce are not editable and not to scale. We recommend using LLMs alongside a tool like SmartDraw's site plan creator. This gives you the best of both worlds. You can translate a text prompt into an inspirational image and use SmartDraw to create a precise scaled drawing you can hand off to a contractor or submit to obtain proper permits.
Typically, site plans are drawn by civil engineers and landscape architects, but anyone can create a site plan with the right tool like SmartDraw's site plan creator.
Discover why SmartDraw is the best site plan creator.