Welcome to AltaLens

📧 Registering

• 1 Go to altalens.ca and click Sign Up.
• 2 Enter your name, email address, and a password.
• 3 Click Create Account. You will be logged in immediately.

🔑 Logging in with an invitation

If a teammate invited you, click the link in your invitation email. It will take you directly to the registration page with your email pre-filled. Once registered, you will automatically join their workspace.

🔍 Finding a location

Use the address search bar in the top-left to fly the map to any address, city, or place name. The map will zoom and pan automatically.

🗺️ Switching basemaps

Click the layers icon in the map controls to switch between:

• •Street map — OpenStreetMap road and label layer.
• •Satellite imagery — ESRI World Imagery aerial photos.

🧭 Navigation controls

Use your mouse scroll wheel or trackpad to zoom. Click and drag to pan. The scale bar and north arrow are shown in the bottom-right for spatial reference.

➕ Creating a property

• 1 Click + New Property in the sidebar panel.
• 2 Enter a name and (optionally) a description.
• 3 Click the map to drop a pin at the property's location, or search by address.
• 4 Click Save.

🎨 Customizing pins

Right-click any property pin to change its colour, icon symbol, or label. This is useful for colour-coding sites by status (e.g. in-progress, complete, flagged).

📋 Table view

Click the Table tab above the map to see all your properties in a sortable list — useful for large portfolios with dozens of sites.

⬆️ How to upload

• 1 Open a property by clicking its pin on the map.
• 2 Click Upload Media in the property panel.
• 3 Select one or more files from your computer, or drag and drop them.
• 4 AltaLens reads the GPS EXIF data and places each file on the map automatically.

📌 Manual pin placement

If a file has no GPS data (e.g. a ground-level photo taken on a phone with location turned off), AltaLens will prompt you to drop its pin manually on the map. Click the location where the photo was taken, then confirm.

📁 Supported file types

• •Photos: JPG, JPEG, PNG, DNG (raw)
• •Video: MP4, MOV
• •Panoramas: JPG with equirectangular metadata (e.g. DJI 360°)

✏️ Pen tool

Select the pen icon in the annotation toolbar to draw freehand. Choose your stroke colour and line weight from the tool options. Use it to circle concerns, highlight vegetation, or mark boundaries.

🔤 Label tool

Select the T icon to place a text label anywhere on the image. Click a location, type your label, and press Enter. Labels can be repositioned by switching to the Select tool and dragging them.

↖️ Select & erase

Use the arrow icon to select, move, resize, or delete individual annotations. Click an annotation to select it, then press Delete or use the eraser icon to remove it.

💾 Saving annotations

Annotations are saved automatically to the server as you work. They persist between sessions and are visible to all team members with access to the property.

🔭 Viewing a panorama

Click any panorama pin on the map to open it. Click and drag inside the viewer to look around in 360°. Use the scroll wheel or pinch gesture to zoom in and out.

📤 Uploading panoramas

Panoramas are uploaded the same way as regular photos. AltaLens identifies them automatically by the equirectangular metadata embedded by your drone or camera. DJI Sphere and Ricoh Theta panoramas work out of the box.

📷 Submitting a processing job

• 1 Open a property and go to the Orthophoto tab.
• 2 Click Process New Ortho and select up to 200 nadir images.
• 3 Click Submit. The job will be queued for processing (this can take 10–60 minutes depending on image count).
• 4 Once complete, the orthophoto appears as a layer on the map automatically.

👁️ Toggling the ortho overlay

Use the Ortho toggle in the map toolbar to show or hide the orthophoto layer. When multiple orthos exist for a property, use the date dropdown to choose which one is displayed.

⬇️ Downloading the GeoTIFF

Click the Download GeoTIFF button on the orthophoto card to save the processed file to your computer. The file is a full-resolution, georeferenced TIFF compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, and other GIS tools.

📅 Switching capture dates

Use the date dropdown in the property panel to filter the map and media grid to a specific capture session. Only the pins and media from that date will be shown.

⬛⬜ Split-screen ortho comparison

When two or more orthophotos exist for a property, click Compare Orthos to open the split-screen view. Drag the centre divider left and right to reveal the before and after images. This is particularly effective for visualising vegetation change or construction progress.

📏 Distance measurement

Click the ruler icon in the map toolbar to activate the distance tool. Click two or more points on the map to trace a path. The total distance is displayed in the measurement panel. Double-click to finish the measurement.

⬡ Area measurement

Activate the area tool (polygon icon) and click at least three points to define the boundary of an area. Close the polygon by clicking the first point again. The enclosed area is shown in square metres or hectares.

🧹 Clearing measurements

Click Clear in the measurement panel to remove all active measurements from the map. Measurements are not saved between sessions.

📂 Importing a KML

• 1 Click Import KML in the map toolbar or the property panel.
• 2 Select a .kml file from your computer.
• 3 The layer will appear on the map immediately and is visible to all team members.

🗑️ Removing a KML layer

Open the Layers panel, find the KML layer, and click the trash icon next to it. The layer is removed from all views for all team members.

🔗 Creating a share link

• 1 Open a property and select a capture date.
• 2 Click the Share button in the property panel.
• 3 Copy the generated link and send it to your client.

The recipient can view all media, pins, and annotations for that capture in their browser — no sign-in required.

📄 Concerns report

The Concerns Report compiles flagged media and annotations into a structured PDF. It is designed for wildfire risk assessments and FireSmart audits, but works for any inspection or compliance workflow.

• 1 Open a property and click Generate Report.
• 2 Select the capture date(s) to include.
• 3 Click Download PDF.

🖼️ Exporting annotated images

Inside the lightbox, click Export PDF to download the current image with all its annotations burned in as a single PDF page. This works for any annotated photo.

🗺️ Exporting the map as PDF

Click Export Map in the map toolbar to download a PDF of the current map view, including visible pins, KML layers, and the orthophoto overlay. The scale bar and north arrow are included automatically.

🛰️ Downloading orthophotos

From the Orthophoto tab, click Download GeoTIFF on any processed orthophoto to save the full-resolution, georeferenced image to your computer.

📧 Inviting a team member

• 1 Click your account icon in the top-right corner of the app.
• 2 Go to Team and click Invite Member.
• 3 Enter their email address and click Send Invite.

They will receive an email with a link to create their account and join your workspace.

⚙️ Account settings

Click your account icon in the top-right corner to access your profile, team information, and billing settings.

💬 Get in touch

Email us at info@altalens.ca with a description of your question or issue. Include a screenshot if relevant — it helps us help you faster.