Finishing the SVG

File structure, scale and output settings when the plates are downloaded as SVG, PNG or DXF and finished in Illustrator, Inkscape or CAD.

Updated 15 October 2026This page was written by AI.

Overview

The basic output of sitedia is SVG. Figures for reports usually go through finishing in Illustrator (highlighting buildings, arrows and notes, colours to the office template), and that needs a vector format.

Format	Use
SVG per plate	Vector editing of one plate
PNG	Presentations, screen and documents
DXF	Base drawing for CAD
GLB · 3DM · SKP	3D model of the building masses

PNG downloads are free (sign-in required). SVG, DXF, the 3D files and changing colours and shown categories are part of the Pro pass (Pricing).

How to use

Search for an address or click the map, choose the radius and frame shape, and press «Generate diagrams»
Adjust the colours and shown categories of each plate to the office template
Download with «Download all SVG (ZIP)». For a CAD base, also «Download DXF (CAD base)»
In Illustrator, add what an assessment needs: highlights, notes, arrows
Place the finished plates in the report

Structure of a plate SVG

When a plate SVG is opened in Illustrator or Inkscape, the layer names appear (attribute inkscape:label). Each plate has two layers.

Layer	Content
Plate layer (named after the plate)	The drawing: background disc and shapes. The circular clipping mask applies to this layer
Site layer	Only the site marker (red). It lies outside the clipping mask and can be enlarged or replaced without being cut off at the edge

Building age plate of Charlottenburg, Berlin, radius 500 m: older blocks dark, newer blocks light, no data light grey — «Building age (estimated)» plate (Charlottenburg, Berlin, radius 500 m). Each class has its own `fill` value and can be selected at once

Categories such as use or building age are not separate layers. Shapes of the same category share the same fill value, so [Select ▸ Same ▸ Fill Color] in Illustrator selects a whole category at once.

A plate SVG contains no text (title, legend, scale bar). Nothing shifts on a computer without the fonts. Caption and legend are added in the report.

Colours and shown or hidden categories go into the SVG as they are set on the screen.

Scale

One viewBox unit in a plate SVG equals one metre. With a radius of 300 m the circle is 600 units wide. If 1 mm is taken as 1 m in Illustrator, the scale is 1:1,000.

For a chosen scale, the circle diameter is radius × 2 ÷ scale:

Plate	Scale	Circle diameter	Note
Radius 300 m (600 m diameter)	1:2,000	300 mm	Fits A3 landscape (420 × 297 mm) with a margin
Radius 300 m (600 m diameter)	1:1,000	600 mm	Does not fit A3
Radius 800 m	1:5,000	320 mm

Illustrator sometimes opens the SVG with a document in pixels. Under [File ▸ Document Setup], set the unit to millimetres and check that the artboard equals radius × 2.

PNG

Setting	Value or range	Description
«PNG resolution»	1,000–4,000 px (default 2,000 px)	Set with the slider. The file is saved at this size regardless of the screen
«Save plate only»	Without title, colour bar and caption	Site marker, north arrow and wind arrows remain. The caption is then added by hand

A 2,000 px plate printed across the width of A3 (420 mm) gives about 120 ppi; thin parcel lines fill in. For print, use the SVG or set «PNG resolution» to 4,000 px (about 240 ppi across A3).

DXF

«Download DXF (CAD base)» downloads a DXF that the server generates from the geometry; it is not a conversion of the SVG. The boundary circle is a single CIRCLE entity, not an approximated polyline. One coordinate unit is 1 m. Layers (ASCII names; a DXF downloaded from the English screen has English layer names):

Layer	Content
`Bldg-…`	Building outlines, one layer per use. Unknown use on a layer of its own
`Road-Centreline` · `Road-Edge`	Street centre lines and an edge offset by the street width, merged at junctions
`Green` · `Water`	Areas; holes are kept
`Boundary`	Circle or rectangle. All shapes are clipped to it
`Site`	The selected parcels or the centre marker
`Parcels`	Only with «Include parcel lines» ticked. Parcel boundaries inside the analysis boundary, clipped to it
`_Credits`	Text with data sources and licences. The name starts with «_», so it sits at the top of the layer list. Hide the layer rather than delete it

3D files

The 3D section extrudes the buildings within the same radius to the heights from the LoD2 3D building models and saves GLB, 3DM (Rhino, closed solids) or SKP (SketchUp, each building a group). The files follow the colour scheme on the screen. See 3D export.

Notes on editing

Item	Behaviour	Approach
Clipping mask	Shapes outside the circle are hidden, not cut off. If the mask is released, streets and buildings outside the circle appear	Do not release the mask; to enlarge, edit the mask path
Stroke weight	Stroke weights of parcels and streets are also set in metres and get thinner when scaled down	[Preferences ▸ General ▸ Scale Strokes & Effects] sets whether the weights scale
File size	An 800 m radius in a city centre contains thousands of buildings	Generate again with the radius the report needs
Black	Black in the SVG is RGB(0,0,0); converted to CMYK it becomes a rich black	For print, set black to K100 after the conversion

Data sources and attribution

Data	Source	Licence and attribution
Buildings, parcels (Berlin)	Geoportal Berlin – ALKIS	dl-de/zero-2.0 · Geoportal Berlin
Buildings, heights, parcels (Cologne)	Geobasis NRW – ALKIS, LoD2 3D building model	dl-de/zero-2.0 · Geobasis NRW
Buildings, heights, parcels (Stuttgart, Karlsruhe)	LGL Baden-Württemberg – ALKIS, LoD2 3D building models	dl-de/by-2-0 · Datenquelle: LGL, www.lgl-bw.de
Paths (Cologne, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe) and railway lines	OpenStreetMap	ODbL 1.0 · © OpenStreetMap contributors

Data under the ODbL may be passed on if they are offered under the same licence. This is stated in the _Credits layer of the DXF. When the drawing is passed on, this text stays in it. The full list is under Data sources.

Related guides

Make diagrams

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Example plates: Geoportal Berlin (dl-de/zero-2.0) · Geobasis NRW (dl-de/zero-2.0) · Datenquelle: LGL, www.lgl-bw.de (dl-de/by-2-0) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)