Score the alignments on your desk.
Send us the study area and your candidate alignments. We will tell you what the imagery can show.
Score every candidate alignment before you send a crew.
Route Selection Map overlays land cover, slope and built-up land on each candidate corridor and gives you one constraint score per alignment, so the overlay you now do by hand is done when the study starts.
By hand in GIS
- Land cover
- Slope class
- Built-up mask
With Route Selection Map
- Candidate C
- Candidate B
- Candidate A
- GSD
- High / 0.5–2 m
- Cadence
- Project start
- Platform
- High-res satellite
- Spectral
- Multispectral
Where the hand overlay runs out
You have a study area, two end points and a handful of candidate alignments. Each one gets the same treatment: pull in the land cover, band the slope, trace the built-up land, then tally what the centerline crosses and put the numbers in the comparison matrix. That is a lot of GIS work per candidate before anyone has looked at a site.
Then a link moves after a public meeting, or someone adds a candidate, and the tallies get rebuilt. Survey budget hangs on that matrix, and the matrix is only as current as the last time somebody re-ran the overlay.
The overlay, step by step
01Assembling the layers
By hand in GIS
You collect land cover, elevation and building data from whatever sources the project has, and get them into the same projection and extent.
With Route Selection Map
You send the study area and the candidate alignments. The multispectral capture over the study area is the basis for the land cover and the built-up mask.
Still yours
The constraint categories the study already uses, and any layer we do not produce, such as wetlands or parcels.
02Classing land cover along each alignment
By hand in GIS
You clip land cover to each corridor and tally the classes.
With Route Selection Map
Land cover is mapped from the capture and scored along every alignment in the same pass.
03Reading the slope
By hand in GIS
You band the terrain into slope classes and measure how much of each candidate crosses each band.
With Route Selection Map
Slope class is scored per alignment with the other two layers, so every candidate is read the same way.
04Counting what is built up
By hand in GIS
You trace or pull building footprints near the centerline and count what sits inside the corridor.
With Route Selection Map
The built-up mask comes from the same imagery and is scored along each alignment.
05Ranking the candidates
By hand in GIS
You weight the criteria in a spreadsheet, fill in the comparison matrix and argue over the ranking.
With Route Selection Map
You get a constraint score per alignment and a ranked comparison to start the argument from.
Still yours
The weighting you defend in the report, and the call on which alignments go forward.
06Field survey and environmental review
By hand in GIS
The ranking decides which alignments get a crew and an environmental screen.
With Route Selection Map
Same. The score narrows the list, and the review and the survey still happen on the ones you pick.
Still yours
The field survey, environmental and permitting review, land acquisition and the design.
What you get for each study
CSV
Constraint score per alignment
One score per candidate alignment, combining land cover, slope class and built-up land. It lands in your comparison matrix next to the length and crossing counts you already carry.
Ledger row Ranking the candidates
GIS layers
Constraint layers
The land cover, slope class and built-up mask the score was built from, so you can see why one alignment scored worse than another. They open in your GIS alongside your own constraints.
Ledger row Land cover, slope, built-up rows
Ranked table
Ranked comparison
Candidates in order of constraint score. Delivered once, at project start, for the alignments you supplied.
Ledger row Ranking the candidates
Map
Map export
A map of the study area with the scored alignments on it, for the siting study report and the review meeting.
Ledger row Field survey and environmental review
How it works
01
Alignments in
You send the study area and each candidate alignment as a centerline, plus the corridor width you want scored.
02
Multispectral capture
We use high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery over the study area at 0.5–2 m.
03
Layers and scoring
Land cover, slope class and the built-up mask are produced and scored along each alignment.
04
Comparison out
You get the ranked comparison, the scores, the layers and the map, at the start of the project.
Where it fits in your workflow
At the front of the siting study
The score sits ahead of field survey and environmental screening. It narrows the candidates you take there, and it sits in the comparison matrix beside the criteria you already track.
Limits
- Physical constraints only
- The score covers land cover, slope and built-up land. It has nothing on land cost, ownership, easements, wetlands or protected areas unless you bring those layers yourself.
- Resolution floor
- At 0.5 m a pixel is about 20 inches across, and at 2 m about 6.5 feet. Buildings and land cover patches register. Fences, ditches, narrow tracks, single trees and buried utilities do not, and the score does not see them.
- Cloud and clear-sky windows
- Optical capture needs a clear pass over the study area. A cloudy season can delay the delivery.
- Alignments supplied are the alignments scored
- We score the candidates you send. We do not draw a new route, and we do not say which one to build.
- A screening step
- The ranking is not a final route recommendation. It goes ahead of engineering, not in place of it.
Who it's for
Switch if
- You are a design engineer or routing analyst scoring candidate alignments for a transmission, pipeline or transport project
- You redo the same overlay for every candidate and every moved link
- You need a ranking before survey budget is committed
Stay with the hand overlay if
- You need a score on land cost, ownership or acquisition price
- You are after a final design or a route recommendation
- You want the environmental or permitting review done for you
- Your study area is small enough that one person can overlay it in an afternoon
Questions before your first study
Does this replace the environmental or permitting review?
No. It is a constraint score to narrow the candidates before those reviews begin.
How many alignments can I compare?
It is scoped per project. Several candidates can be scored in the same pass.
Does the score include land cost or ownership?
No. It scores physical constraints only: land cover, slope and built-up land.
How do we check it against our own overlay?
Take a study you have already worked, send the same alignments and study area, and compare our ranking with your matrix.
What do we send and what comes back?
The study area and the candidate alignments. You get the scores, the ranked comparison, the constraint layers and a map.
Will it open in our GIS?
The layers come as GIS files and the scores as a CSV. We do not write into your project database.
Can you rescore when a link moves?
Tell us what changed and we will scope the rescore. It is not automatic.
Who owns the imagery and the results?
Ownership and licence terms are agreed in writing when you get started. If your legal team needs them earlier, ask.
How is it bought and priced?
Price depends on the size of the study area and the number of alignments. Tell us about the project and we will scope it.