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Measure Your Property

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How to use LotSite

The operating manual: every control, what the totals mean, and the limits of measuring from a photograph.

Enter a U.S. address and the map centers on it in Google satellite imagery, with a measuring grid laid over the view. You paint the cells that cover each surface and LotSite adds them up into square feet, one total per category. A separate measure tool places points for the area of a shape or the length of a line. That is the whole method: the tool is a viewer and a tracing surface, and every number it shows comes from what you traced.

It does not retrieve parcel data, does not display recorded property lines, and does not look up lot dimensions from public records. For those, consult your county's GIS portal or assessor site, or hire a licensed surveyor. LotSite is for the planning questions that come before that: how much fertilizer or seed to buy, how many pallets of sod, how long a fence run to quote.

Step by step

  1. Enter an address. Type a U.S. street address and choose the suggestion that matches. The map opens on that address at a close zoom in hybrid view, which is satellite imagery with road labels. On desktop the address sits in the middle of the toolbar; click it to type a different one, and press Escape to keep the current one. On a phone, tap the address in the top bar. A new address starts a fresh trace, so anything painted on the old one is gone.
  2. Pick a grid size. The grid comes in 10, 5 and 2 foot cells. On desktop the three buttons sit at the right of the toolbar. On a phone the pill at the top right of the map switches between 10 and 5 feet. Choose before you paint: painted cells cannot be carried over to a different size, so if anything is painted the tool asks first, and changing the size clears it. Ten feet is quick for a big lawn, 2 feet follows a curved bed or a narrow side strip. If you zoom out far enough the grid hides and the map says "Zoom in to paint"; zoom back in and it returns. Painted cells stay in place when you pan or zoom.
  3. Choose a category and paint. The seven categories are Grass / Lawn, Driveway, Patio / Deck, Garden Beds, Pool, Natural Water and House / Structure. On desktop, pick one in the sidebar or press 1 to 7, then click or drag across the map. On a phone, tap a chip under the map, then paint with one finger; two fingers pan and zoom. Each category paints in its own color and keeps a running total in square feet next to its name. Painting over a cell that already has a category replaces it.
  4. Erase. Switch to Erase with the Erase button, or E on desktop, and paint over cells to clear them. On desktop, a click near a fence segment in Erase removes that segment. To start over on desktop, Clear in the toolbar wipes the painted cells and any fence lines; Undo brings the cells back, not the fence. On a phone, the trash button at the bottom left of the map asks first, then clears every painted cell and the current measurement.
  5. Measure distances and areas. Switch to Measure with the Measure button, or T on desktop. Each click or tap places a point, and the length so far appears once there are two. To measure an area, place at least three points, then click inside the ring that appears around the first point; the shape closes and the readout shows its area and perimeter. To measure a distance only, place two or more points and press Done, or Enter on desktop; the line stays open and the readout shows its length. A click right on top of the last point is ignored. On desktop the readout floats at the bottom center of the map while you draw, and Escape cancels the shape in progress. On a phone the readout is a strip above the category chips, with Done and Exit buttons; Exit returns to Paint and discards the measurement. Measuring works at any zoom, including when the grid is hidden.
  6. Undo. There is one Undo on each screen: the toolbar button or Cmd+Z and Ctrl+Z on desktop, the arrow button at the bottom left of the map on a phone. In Measure it steps the measurement back one action at a time: a point, a close, a Done, a cancel, a deleted zone or a Clear. In every other mode it removes the last paint or erase stroke. On a phone, a second finger landing in the middle of a stroke cancels that stroke.
  7. Measure several zones and name them (desktop). After a shape closes or a line is finished, the next click starts another zone, up to ten. Finished zones stay on the map with a number badge, and a Zones panel at the top left of the map lists each one with its area or length and a delete control, a total area with acres, and a total distance kept on its own line so square feet and feet are never added together. Click a zone's name to rename it, up to 24 characters; Enter or clicking away saves, Escape reverts. Switching to Move, Paint or Erase keeps the finished zones on the map, dimmed, and drops any shape still being drawn; Undo restores it once you return to Measure. A phone measures one zone at a time, and leaving Measure clears it.
  8. Lay out a fence (desktop). The Fence row in the sidebar, or F, switches to fence mode. Click grid corners to lay out a run and press Enter to finish it; the sidebar shows the total in linear feet, and the project plan picks it up for fencing quantities.
  9. Move the map. On desktop the scroll wheel or a trackpad pinch over the map zooms in every mode, so you can zoom in to place a point or paint an edge without switching. Move mode, or M, drags to pan; the zoom buttons and the map type control (map, satellite, hybrid, terrain) sit in the bottom corners. On a phone, two fingers pan and zoom in any mode, and the button at the top left of the map switches between satellite and map view.
  10. Read the totals. On desktop they are in the sidebar; on a phone, tap "Tap for details" under the map. Each category row shows its own square feet. The Area Breakdown shows Mapped Area, which is every painted cell; Treatable Lawn, the grass cells, which is what fertilizer and seed rates apply to; Hardscape, driveway plus patio; and Structures, the house cells. A Fence row appears on desktop once a fence is drawn. The bar above the rows shows each category's share of the mapped area. Below that come Product Recommendations sized from the lawn and garden totals, and once something is painted, an optional Seasonal Reminders signup and a Project Plan with a "View full plan" button. Measure zones are an overlay and do not feed any of these totals.

What the numbers mean

A painted area is a count of cells times the area of one cell. The cell size is real-world feet at every zoom level, and the arithmetic on the count is exact, so the total is only as good as the cells you chose to paint. At a wide view the tool enlarges the cells slightly to keep the grid manageable, and the footer of the desktop tool prints the size in use. Areas are shown as whole square feet; the underlying values are not rounded before they reach the product recommendations, the project plan and the calculators.

A measured zone uses the points you placed, not the grid. Area, perimeter and length come from spherical geometry on the earth's surface, which is why a measured shape is a good cross-check on a painted total.

Grid size is resolution. Every cell is either painted or not, so a 10 foot cell at a lawn edge is counted in full or not at all, and a 2 foot cell follows the edge about five times more closely. Two feet is the finest grid, so a feature narrower than that is approximated by whichever cells you choose.

Every figure describes the cells you painted or the points you placed over a photograph. It is a planning estimate of what you traced, not a survey, not a recorded lot size, and not a measurement of anything you did not trace.

Limits of measuring from overhead imagery

Tree cover. Canopy hides the ground beneath it. A lawn under a maple is painted by judgement, and a bed at the drip line can be invisible. Walk the yard for anything the image does not show.

Shadows and angle. Long shadows can pass for pavement, and a shadow across a lawn can hide its edge. Imagery is photographed at a slight angle, so a roof overhang makes a house look larger than its foundation and a tall wall can lean across the ground next to it.

Image age. The imagery can be a year or more old. A new fence, a removed tree, a widened driveway or a fresh pool may not be there yet, and a structure that is gone may still appear.

Slopes. An overhead image shows the footprint of a slope, not its surface. The difference is small for most yards: a 15 percent grade adds about 1 percent to the surface area, a 30 percent grade about 4 percent. On a steep bank that receives seed or sod, add that much to the painted figure.

Why no property lines appear. The photograph contains no lines, and LotSite does not hold parcel records to draw them from. A lot's edges are recorded in deeds and plats and located on the ground by a licensed surveyor, and a fence or hedge is not always on them. The tool measures what you trace; where your lot ends is a question for the county recorder's records or a surveyor.

Questions

Does the tool show recorded lines or a recorded lot size?

No. LotSite does not look up parcel records, recorded lot sizes or property lines, and it draws no legal lines on the map. It shows satellite imagery and measures the areas you paint or the points you place. For recorded lot data, use your county GIS portal or assessor site; to locate a line on the ground, hire a licensed surveyor.

How close to the real area is the measurement?

The arithmetic is exact for the cells you painted: each cell has a known size in feet and the total is the count of painted cells times that size. How closely the painted cells match your yard depends on your tracing and on the imagery. Tree cover, shadows, an old image or a rough trace all move the painted cells away from what is on the ground. Treat every figure as a planning estimate, not a survey.

Which grid size should I use?

Pick the size before you paint. Painted cells cannot be carried over to a different cell size, so once anything is painted the tool asks before switching, and switching clears the paint. Ten-foot cells block in a big lawn quickly, 5 ft is the usual middle ground, and 2 ft follows curved beds and narrow strips at the cost of more clicks. The finer the grid, the longer the tracing takes. At a wide zoom the tool enlarges cells slightly to keep the grid manageable and prints the cell size in use in the footer of the desktop tool.

What is the difference between painting and the measure tool?

Painting fills grid cells by category and adds them up into the area breakdown, which feeds the product quantities and the project plan. The measure tool places points: close a shape to read its area and perimeter, or finish an open line to read its length. It uses spherical geometry on the points themselves rather than grid cells, so it is a good cross-check on a painted area.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. On a phone, one finger paints and two fingers move the map. The category chips and the mode buttons sit under the map, the grid size pill, undo and clear float on the map, and the measure tool reads out in a strip above the chips. Fence mode, zone names and multiple measure zones are desktop only.

Is it really free, and do I need an account?

Yes, and no. There is no signup, no account and no charge. The site is supported by advertising and by affiliate links on the product recommendations, which are disclosed on the affiliate disclosure page. An email signup is offered for seasonal reminders and is optional.

Does it work outside the United States?

The address search is limited to U.S. addresses and every result is in feet, square feet and acres. If you have imagery of another location the tracing works the same way, but there is no metric option yet.

When you have measured, feed the numbers into our free lawn and landscaping calculators, read the guide to reading satellite imagery, or learn what the property measurement tool can do.