A Guide to the Left-Hand Menu on the Landchecker Map

Use this article to work out which icon in the left-hand menu opens what, so you can find the tool you need without clicking through every panel. The left-hand menu is the column of round icons down the left side of the map. Each one opens a panel, and this article explains what each panel does and where to read more about it. The left-hand menu appears on every plan. Which icons you see, and what is inside each panel, depends on your plan.

If you are looking for the Planning Layers panel or the Common Layers panel, neither exists as its own icon any more. Both are now categories inside Map Layers. See "What Changed in the Left-Hand Menu" below.

The left-hand menu has two parts that work together:

Only one panel is open at a time. Clicking a second icon closes the panel you had open and opens the new one. Anything you switched on in the first panel, such as a map layer, stays on the map.

Hovering over an icon shows its name, so you can check what an icon does before you click it.

The map stays live while a panel is open, so you can pan and zoom and watch the map respond to what you change in the panel.

The icons appear in this order from the top of the toolbar down.

Comparable Sales finds recent sales near the property you are looking at, so you can see what similar properties in the area have sold for. Use it when you are appraising a property, supporting a valuation or sense-checking a price.

Map Layers is the single panel where you switch map layers on and off. Every layer sits under one of five parent categories. Click a parent category to expand it and see the layers underneath, then tick the layer you want.

Some layers have an arrow beside them, which means there are more layers underneath. Click the arrow to expand them.

There is a search box at the top of the panel, so if you know the name of the layer you want you can type it in and go straight to it without working out which category it sits in.

This is where the layers that used to be in the Planning Layers panel and the Common Layers panel now live. For the full detail on each category and where each layer moved to, see [How to Find and Turn On Map Layers].

Planning Permits shows planning permit and development application activity on the map, so you can see what has been applied for, approved or refused around a site. Use it to understand what councils in an area are approving before you lodge or advise on an application.

Site Finder searches for properties that match a set of criteria rather than searching for one address. You set filters across these sections, then save the search to come back to it:

Points of Interest puts nearby amenities on the map. Each category has its own toggle, and there is a "Show all Places of Interest" toggle at the top of the panel to turn them all on at once. The categories are:

Points of Interest is its own panel, not a category inside Map Layers.

Projects is where the shapes, measurements and markups you draw on the map are saved, grouped into a project you can name and come back to. Projects can be shared with your team, so more than one member can work on the same set of markups.

Demographics shows Census data for the area around a property, such as age ranges, household composition and dwelling tenure. Demographic data is collected and published for statistical areas rather than for individual properties, so what you see describes the area a property sits in, not the property itself.

Tools is the drawing and measurement set. Use it to:

Shapes and measurements you create here can be saved into a project.

If you have used Landchecker before, four things have moved.

Nothing has been removed from Landchecker in this change. Every layer that was available before is still available, grouped differently.

Most Landchecker sessions use two or three panels together rather than one. Here is how the left-hand menu supports common ways different professionals use Landchecker.

Open Comparable Sales to see what similar properties nearby have sold for, then Points of Interest to show a vendor or a buyer what is around the property. Demographics gives you the profile of the area when you are preparing an appraisal or a listing presentation.

Start in Site Finder to shortlist sites that match your criteria, then use Map Layers to stack planning zones and overlays with hazard layers on a site you like. Planning Permits shows you what the council has been approving nearby, and Tools lets you sketch a yield test over the site.

Comparable Sales and Demographics give you the evidence and the area context for an assessment. Map Layers adds the planning and boundary layers you need on the same view, and Tools measures the areas you need to record.

Use Map Layers to find easements under Planning and proposed cadastre under Boundaries for early visual context on a title. Use the layers alongside the title and plan of subdivision, not in place of them.

Combine Map Layers, for planning overlays and topography, with Planning Permits to see what has been approved nearby. Tools lets you measure setbacks and sketch massing over the site, and Projects keeps that work saved and shareable with the team.

They are the left-hand menu. From the top down they are Comparable Sales, Map Layers, Planning Permits, Site Finder, Points of Interest, Projects, Demographics and Tools. Hover over any icon to see its name.

Planning Layers is no longer its own icon. Planning zones, overlays, activity centres, easements and the other statutory planning layers are now the Planning category inside the Map Layers panel.

Common Layers is no longer its own panel. Roads, Footpaths, Places, Parcel Labels and Properties are now the Base Map category at the bottom of the Map Layers panel.

Planning, Hazards, Heritage & Environment, Boundaries and Base Map. Click a category to expand it and see the layers underneath.

Open Map Layers from the left-hand toolbar, click Base Map at the bottom of the panel, then tick Properties.

No. Opening one panel closes the one you had open. Anything you switched on stays on the map, so closing a panel does not turn your layers off.

The icons you see depend on your plan. Site Finder, for example, is available on the Advanced and Enterprise plans. If a tool you need is missing, check what is included on your plan or speak with your account admin.

Not in the left-hand menu. The map type is set in the map controls in the bottom left corner of the map. See [How to Change the Map Type and Save a Default].

Save them as your default. See [How to Set Which Base Map Layers Display by Default].

If you have questions or need help, use the live chat in the platform, and our team will be happy to assist.