Getting started
- Bring in the existing ground (Ground tab, or drop files on the window). Several files add together.
- Draw the design (Design tab): click round a platform and press Enter, then type its level in Properties.
- Read the volumes in the bottom panel: by zone, the balance, depth bands and checks.
- Check it with a section (press S and click across the plan) and the 3D view.
- Save (Ctrl+S) a .m2earth project file. Your work is also kept in this browser as you go.
Or start from a sample on the start screen: Hollins Farm Phase 2 (housing), Unit 4 Lowfields (a warehouse pad) or a sports pitch.
Existing ground
- Points: CSV, TXT or XYZ with easting, northing and level (and a code); headers are recognised, or the columns are guessed.
- DXF: choose what each layer is: survey points, spot level text, contours, breaklines, TIN faces, the boundary, or ignore.
- LandXML: a TIN surface from survey or design software.
- LIDAR: ESRI ASC or GeoTIFF grids, such as the Environment Agency 1 m DTM; tiles merge, and very big grids are resampled.
- Point clouds: LAS 1.0 to 1.4. Ground-classed points (class 2) are used when the file has them; the cloud is thinned to the lowest point in each 0.5 m cell. Save LAZ as LAS first.
Points are triangulated by Delaunay; contours and breaklines from a DXF are kept as triangle edges (constrained Delaunay), so a kerb or a ditch bottom isn't cut across. A site boundary trims the ground to the site. Big British National Grid coordinates are held from a site origin, so levels stay exact; exports add the origin back.
Tracing a PDF
Ground > Drawing opens a PDF or image under the plan. Give the scale it was drawn at, then Scale by two points a known distance apart and Locate by a point of known coordinates. A vector PDF's line work becomes snap points, and Read levels turns its level labels into spot levels, each placed on the survey mark next to it. With a scanned drawing, click spot levels in yourself (Ground > Spot level).
Design elements
| Element | What it is |
|---|---|
| Platform, slope area | A plane at a level with falls in X and Y, or a level at each corner. Slope areas are landscaping (topsoil is respread on them). |
| Building pad (Pro) | Finished floor level, floor build-up and working space: formation is FFL less the build-up, widened by the working space. |
| Car park (Pro) | Falls, pavement build-up and gullies (low points the surface falls to). |
| Road (Pro) | A centre line, carriageway width, verges, crossfall or camber, a vertical profile of VIPs with parabolic curves, and pavement build-up. |
| Ramp (Pro) | A centre line, width and the levels at each end. |
| Pond or basin (Pro) | Top of bank, base level or depth, the inside side slope; storage by the prismoidal rule. |
| Trench (Pro) | A line, base width, depth or invert at each end, vertical or battered sides. Dug and backfilled, so reported on its own. |
| Bund (Pro) | A line, crest width and height above the ground (or a crest level), fill slopes. |
| Retaining wall (Pro) | Drawn along an edge of a platform, pad or car park: that edge becomes vertical. The retained height is reported. |
| Stockpile (Pro) | A footprint, height and angle of repose; capacity, and measured volume from a survey. |
| Soft spot (Pro) | Dug out to a depth below the ground and replaced with imported fill. |
From every edge a batter runs out at the cut slope (going up into higher ground) or the fill slope (going down) until it meets the ground; the dashed line is where it meets. Outside corners fan round; inside corners meet on the bisector. Slopes are written 1 in 2 (one up, two across): type 1:2, 1 in 2 or 2.
How volumes are worked out
Volumes are exact for the two surfaces: every design triangle is overlaid on every ground triangle under it, and the depth between them, linear on each overlap, is integrated exactly, split where it changes sign and at each depth band. There's no grid or sampling, so small elements are as accurate as big ones. The grid and end-area methods are in the report as a check.
Cut is measured below the stripped level (the ground less the topsoil), as the bulk dig starts there; fill from the stripped level up to formation (the finished level less the build-up). Where elements overlap, an element's own area wins over a neighbour's batter, and between batters the higher in fill and the lower in cut; what each element counted under another is taken off, on a fine grid in the overlap only.
Topsoil, strata and materials
Click Strata in the model tree. Topsoil is stripped over the whole works and respread on batters and slope areas at the respread depth. Below it, layers are listed top down with a thickness (or from boreholes), bulking (loose ÷ bank), shrinkage (compacted ÷ bank), density (t/m³ bank) and a use: reuse as fill, respread or dispose. Boreholes and trial pits give the depth to the base of each layer, interpolated by inverse distance between them.
The balance and the optimiser
The Balance tab gives the cut by material in bank, loose, compacted and tonnes, the fill needed, and the surplus to export or the shortfall to import, with lorry loads at 20 t. Balance the site raises or lowers the chosen elements together until the cut makes the fill, or leaves a set surplus, within the largest change you allow.
Haul
The Mass haul view draws the Brückner curve along a road: balance points, each loop's volume, average haul distance and overhaul beyond the free haul. The Haul tab works out the cheapest way to move every element's spare cut to the fill that needs it (a least-cost transport problem), with the tip and an import source off site; Haul plan draws it on the plan. Set the free haul, distances and rates in Rates, plant and haul.
Progress surveys and valuations
Volumes > Survey brings in a dated survey in any ground format. The Progress tab measures each one against the original ground: dug (below the stripped level) and filled (above the original ground) to date, as a share of the design, this period's quantities and their value at your rates, and the volume of each stockpile you've drawn. Left to do colours the plan by the design against the latest survey.
Outputs
- Summary PDF (free): one page with the totals, the cut and fill plan, the zones and the balance.
- Volumes report: the summary, every element, depth bands, the three-method check, materials and balance, haul, sections, the bill and the method and assumptions.
- Drawings: the cut and fill plan on A3 or A1 at a standard scale, with isopachs every 0.5 m, north arrow, scale bar, notes, revision box and title block.
- Excel: elements, depth bands, balance, the bill with live formulas, haul, valuations and a 5 m setting-out grid.
- LandXML for machine control (Trimble, Leica, Topcon): the composite finished or formation surface merged with the ground, each element, or the ground. DXF (3D faces, toes, outlines) and IFC terrain for BIM. Setting-out CSV: E, N, finished, formation, ground and cut/fill on a grid.
Checks
The Checks tab lists what may make the numbers or the design wrong, with how to fix each: overlapping elements, batters that run off the surveyed ground, parts of an element off the survey, ramps steeper than 1 in 12, car parks flatter than 1 in 80, steep road grades, retaining walls over 1.5 m, and deep fill. Click a row to go to it.
Free and Pro
| Free | Pro (£19.99 a month or £179 a year) | |
|---|---|---|
| Existing ground: points, DXF, LandXML, LIDAR (ASC, GeoTIFF), LAS | ✓ | ✓ |
| PDF tracing: snaps to line work, reads spot levels | ✓ | ✓ |
| Platforms and slope areas | Up to 5 | Unlimited |
| Pads, car parks, roads, ramps, ponds, trenches, bunds, walls, stockpiles, soft spots | - | ✓ |
| Cut and fill, heat map, 3D, sections | ✓ | ✓ |
| Topsoil strip | One depth | Plus layers from boreholes |
| Bulking, shrinkage, density and reuse by material | - | ✓ |
| Balance optimiser | - | ✓ |
| Mass haul and site-wide haul plan | - | ✓ |
| Progress surveys, valuations, stockpiles | - | ✓ |
| Bill in NRM2 shape, priced, with landfill tax | - | ✓ |
| Summary PDF | No watermark | No watermark |
| Full report PDF, A3/A1 drawings | - | ✓ |
| Excel, LandXML, DXF, IFC, setting-out CSV | - | ✓ |
Pro starts with a 7-day free trial.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Open or import | Ctrl+O |
| Save the project (.m2earth) | Ctrl+S |
| Undo / redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y |
| Find a command or element | Ctrl+K |
| Select / pan / measure / section | V / H / M / S |
| Finish drawing | Enter or double-click |
| Remove the last point / cancel | Backspace / Esc |
| Nudge the selection | Arrows (0.1 m; Shift 1 m) |
| Duplicate / delete | Ctrl+D / Delete |
| Fit the site | Ctrl+0 |
| Plan / 3D / Sections / Long section / Mass haul | Alt+1 to Alt+5 |
| Dark mode | Alt+D |
| Help | F1 |
What's new in 1.0
November 2026 - the first release: ground from points, DXF, LandXML, LIDAR and LAS; PDF tracing with level reading; platforms, slope areas, building pads, car parks, roads with vertical profiles, ramps, ponds, trenches, bunds, retaining walls, stockpiles and soft spots, with batters and the composite where they overlap; topsoil, strata from boreholes and materials; the balance and optimiser; mass haul and the site-wide haul plan; progress surveys and valuations; the summary and full report, drawings, the bill, Excel, LandXML, DXF, IFC and setting-out.
Next: phases with their own balance and programme, and the Store edition for Windows.