Frequently asked questions
Questions about the UK edition of sitedia: coverage and search, plates and data, computation, saving and files, passes, and terms.
Coverage and search
Where can I use the UK edition?
In Greater London: the 32 London boroughs and the City of London (the boundary is the ONS local authority boundaries, December 2024). Sites outside it are not accepted.
What can I search for?
A postcode, an address or a place name in Greater London. Postcodes are looked up with postcodes.io (ONS Postcode Directory); addresses and places with Nominatim (OpenStreetMap). To set an exact position, search for a point nearby and click the map.
Is LAND REGISTRY PLOTS a legal boundary map?
No. It draws HM Land Registry INSPIRE Index Polygons, which show the indicative extent of registered freehold titles. Registered titles in England and Wales have general boundaries, and the polygons are not legal boundaries. Details in Land Registry plots.
Plates and data
Why is a building missing or at the wrong height?
Footprints come from Overture Maps (in the UK, almost entirely OpenStreetMap). A building that is not mapped there is not on any plate. Heights come from Environment Agency LiDAR flown between November 2016 and May 2022. Where LiDAR gives less than 2 m (for example on buildings completed after the survey), the height falls back to the OpenStreetMap height, then OpenStreetMap storeys × 3 m, then 3 m. A building replaced after the survey can carry the old height. Spires and masts are under-read.
Why are some buildings grey (Unknown)?
On BUILDING USE, grey means no evidence of use was found (no OpenStreetMap tag, point of interest, non-domestic EPC or site polygon). On BUILDING AGE, grey means the building has no domestic EPC and no Colouring Britain date. Most non-residential buildings are in this group. See Building age from EPC.
Why is there no zoning in London?
The UK has no zoning: development is decided by planning permission against the Local Plan. The ZONING plate shows London Plan strategic designations (Central Activities Zone, Opportunity Areas, industrial land, Metropolitan Open Land) instead. See Planning designations in London.
Why are trees missing on TREES?
The plate draws the GLA London Public Realm Trees list (November 2025), which holds trees managed by the boroughs: streets, parks and council housing. Trees in private gardens and in squares that the borough does not manage are not in it. Trees are not detected from aerial imagery in the UK edition. See Trees.
Why is the aerial photo not in my download?
The AERIAL plate is a live Esri World Imagery map. Its terms allow display only, so it is left out of PNG, SVG and ZIP downloads and of the 3D and DXF files.
Where do I report a data error?
Use «Feedback» at the bottom right of the screen, or email from the Contact page. Give the site (postcode or coordinates), the plate and what does not match. Errors in the source data cannot be corrected by sitedia; errors in the processing are corrected.
Can I make the radius larger?
The maximum radius is 1.5 km for the plates and 1 km for the wind simulation. For a larger area, move the centre and make several sets.
Can the plate be square?
Yes. Under «Shape», choose Circle, Square or Rectangle. The default is Circle.
Can I change the colours?
Yes, each plate has an «Accent colour». Only the hue changes; the lightness steps of the ramp stay, so the bands remain distinguishable. Changing colours is a Pro feature.
Computation
How long do wind, thermal comfort and sun hours take?
About 30 s for a wind simulation at 300 m radius and about 3 min at 800 m; thermal comfort a few seconds once the wind has been computed; sun hours about 4 s at 300 m and about 28 s at 800 m. A plate in the set takes 0.2–2 s (SUN HOURS up to 25 s). The same site with the same settings is served from the cache. When several people compute at once, requests queue and the screen shows «Queued».
Which time are sun and shadow shown in?
Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0), without British Summer Time. In summer the time shown is one hour behind the clock: 12:00 GMT is 13:00 BST.
Saving and files
Can I save the plate without title and text?
Use «Save plate only». The title, colour bar and caption are removed; the site marker, north and wind arrows stay. «Save PNG» keeps the text so that an analysis image does not end up in a report without a label. If you save the plate only, add the caption yourself.
Which screens cannot be saved as SVG?
The wind simulation plan and 3D, and the thermal comfort and sun hours maps. They are raster results, so only PNG is offered. The wind rose and the 24 plates can be saved as SVG (except AERIAL); on SUN HOURS and SKY VIEW the result is embedded in the SVG as an image. SVG is a Pro feature.
The file does not open in SketchUp.
The SKP file is saved in SketchUp 2017 format and opens in SketchUp 2017 and later, including SketchUp Free (web). If it does not open, write to us from the Contact page. See 3D export.
Passes and payment
What is free?
Generating and viewing the set (up to 24 plates per site) and downloading PNG (one by one or as a ZIP, 1,000 to 4,000 px). Pro features are SVG; colours, visible categories and background colour; the «Details» window; the «Sheet»; the 3D massing (3D view and GLB, 3DM and SKP files); DXF; the «Section»; and the sun and shadow, wind and thermal comfort simulations. Prices and terms are on Passes.
Does a UK pass work in the other editions?
No. A pass is for the edition it was bought in. The Korean, US, Japanese and Spanish editions have their own passes.
How do I get a refund?
The conditions and how to ask are on Refunds.
Terms and contact
Can I use the results in commercial reports and competitions?
Yes. Plates, SVG, DXF and 3D files made with sitedia can be used in reports, presentations, planning documents and competition entries, including commercial work. Keep the source line and follow the data licences. The conditions are in the Terms.
Do I have to credit the sources?
Do not remove the source line under each plate. Open Government Licence data, HM Land Registry INSPIRE polygons and OpenStreetMap data all require attribution, for example «Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0», «© Crown copyright and database rights 2026 Ordnance Survey AC0000851063» (Land Registry polygons) and «© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)». Crediting sitedia is not required.
Can I use it for a planning application or a daylight and sunlight assessment?
No. The data are updated at different times, heights date from 2016–2022, buildings can be missing, and SUN HOURS measures sun on the ground, not on windows. The plates are for early site studies. A daylight and sunlight assessment (for example to the BRE guidance) needs a survey and validated software.
How do I contact you?
Email [email protected], use the Contact page or «Feedback» at the bottom right of the screen.