Welcome to AltaLens

📧 Registering

• 1 Go to altalens.ca and click Register.
• 2 Enter your email address and a password.
• 3 Click Register. 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 Save.
• 4 Click the property name to begin adding media.

⬆️ How to upload

• 1 Open a property by clicking its name on the left sidebar.
• 2 Choose Media tab in the media upload menu.
• 3 Select the capture date and the type of media, choose the photos from a local drive, and press Upload.
• 4 AltaLens places each file on the map automatically.

📌 Manual pin placement

If a file has no GPS data, AltaLens will prompt the user to drop its pin manually on the map. Click the location where the photo was taken to drop a pin, then confirm.

📁 Supported file types

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

✏️ Pin Clustering Radius

Click a property name to open its menu and find the Cluster radius option. This controls how nearby media will group into pins on the map. A smaller radius breaks media items out into their precise locations. Larger cluster setting will aggregate media into fewer approximate locations. Choose from recommended cluster settings or add a custom setting.

🎨 Customizing pins

When media appear at pins on the map, click a pin to pull up its capture popup. This is where pins can be named, coloured, and where different pin icons can be chosen. After a pin is named, it will appear as such in map and report outputs. Use pin customization to track concerns or areas of interest at a property. Colour codes may represent site status (e.g. in-progress, complete, caution).

✏️ 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 Click a Property name to access the image upload menu.
• 2 Choose a selection of nadir images.
• 3 ClickProcess Orthophoto. The job will be queued for processing.
• 4 Once complete, the orthophoto appears as a layer on the map automatically.

👁️ Toggling the ortho overlay

Use the toggle in the ortho toolbar at top right 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 tool bar to save the processed file locally.

📅 Switching capture dates

Click a media pin 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 Feature in the Property menu in the left sidebar 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.

📁 Apply KML Features ID to Pins

If a KML is uploaded to the map view where media are in approximately the same position, an option to rename the media's representative pins will be presented in a box at lower right. Apply the names featured in KML attribute data to the media pins for a rapid, project-wide renaming.

🗑️ 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 to accompany any compliance and inspection workflow; this includes risk assessments/JSA documents and other audits and checklists that can make use of image collections in their workflow.

• 1 Open a property and click Generate Report.
• 2 SelectConcerns Report.
• 3 In the report previewer, select which flags colours to include, and whether to include an image gallery of media. Eliminate unwanted columns in the summary table if desired.
• 4 Click Export 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 Generate Report in the Property menu toolbar and select the PDF Map option to download the current map view, including visible pins, KML layers, and the orthophoto overlay. The standard map elements can be removed as desired.

🛰️ 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 a Property in the lefhand panel of the app.
• 2 In the Invite Viewer dialogue box, enter an email to send the read-only map to.

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-left corner to see your login email, subscription type, and days left in your trial if you are not yet a paid subscriber.

💬 Get in touch

You can also use the contact form at altalens.ca to send us a message directly.