Landchecker has five map types: High Resolution Aerial Imagery, Street Map, Satellite, Standard Aerial Imagery and Coloured-Infrared (CIR). They are not five versions of the same picture. Each is drawn from a different source, captured in a different way and answers a different question about a site.

The map types available to you depend on your plan. All map types are available on the Standard, Advanced and Enterprise plans. Free plan members have the default street map only.

For the steps to switch between map types and save one as your default, see [How to Change the Map Type and Save a Default].

A map type is the imagery or cartography the Landchecker map itself is drawn in. It is different to a map layer, which is data drawn over the top of the map, such as planning zones or flood extents. Changing the map type changes what the ground looks like. It does not turn any of your map layers on or off.

You open the map types from the map controls in the bottom left corner of the map.

This table summarises what each of the five Landchecker map types shows, where its imagery comes from and the job it is best suited to. Each map type is explained in full in its own section below.

High Resolution Aerial Imagery is photography flown from aircraft at low altitude, then orthorectified, which means tilt and terrain distortion are removed so the image lines up accurately with the map and with property boundaries drawn over it.

Where it comes from: Landchecker's high-resolution aerial imagery is supplied by Aerometrex through its MetroMap service.

How detailed it is: roughly six times higher resolution than the best available satellite imagery.

How current it is: metro areas are recaptured three to four times a year and regional areas one to two times a year. The imagery timeline along the bottom of the map lets you step back through earlier captures of the same location and compare them.

Use it when you need to:

Its limits: high-resolution aerial imagery covers metro and key regional areas of Australia, so it has not been flown everywhere. If you select it in an area or at a zoom level it does not cover, the map falls back to satellite imagery and shows a message at the bottom of the screen telling you what you are viewing, for example "Zoom in to see High-Res Coverage. You are viewing Satellite Imagery."

You can adjust the brightness and contrast of this map type where shadow or glare makes a site hard to read. See How to Adjust the Brightness and Contrast of High-Resolution Aerial Imagery.

Street Map is the cartographic base map. Instead of photography it draws roads, street names, suburb and place names, parks, water and land use in flat colour. It was previously called Base Map.

Where it comes from: Street Map is served by Mapbox and built on OpenStreetMap data, as shown in the attribution along the bottom edge of the map.

Use it when you need to:

Its limits: Street Map shows the mapped world, not the photographed one. It will not tell you whether a shed has been built, where a driveway runs or how much canopy is on a site. Buildings are generalised or absent rather than drawn from a current capture.

Satellite is imagery captured from orbiting satellites rather than from aircraft. Its advantage is completeness: it covers all states and territories, including the regional and rural areas that aerial capture programs do not reach.

Where it comes from: satellite imagery is served through Mapbox, which sources its high-resolution satellite coverage from Maxar among other providers, as shown in the map attribution.

Use it when you need to:

Its limits: satellite imagery cannot provide the detail of aerial imagery, it is refreshed less often and is assembled from captures taken at different times, so colour, season and shadow can change from one part of the view to the next. It is suited to context rather than to close inspection of a single property, and it does not carry the historical capture timeline that high-resolution aerial imagery does.

Standard Aerial Imagery is also aerial photography, but it is the standard-resolution capture rather than the high-resolution one. It gives you a second aerial view of the same site, flown at a different time by a different program.

Where it comes from: state and territory government capture programs. The attribution along the bottom of the Landchecker map credits the Victorian, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmanian and South Australian government mapping agencies, including theLIST in Tasmania and Spatial Services in NSW.

Use it when you need to:

Its limits: because Standard Aerial Imagery comes from separate state and territory programs rather than one national capture, resolution, capture date and refresh cycle vary between states and between regions within a state. Treat it as a comparison view rather than as your primary detail view where high-resolution imagery is available.

Coloured-Infrared (CIR) is a false-colour map type. Rather than showing the scene as the eye would see it, it uses the near-infrared band of the aerial capture in place of visible red. It was previously called Lidar.

Healthy, actively growing vegetation reflects near-infrared light strongly, so it appears bright red or magenta. Stressed, dormant or dead vegetation appears dull red, brown or grey. Hard surfaces such as roofs, roads and concrete appear grey, blue or white, and water appears dark, because water absorbs near-infrared light rather than reflecting it.

Where it comes from: the near-infrared band of the aerial capture. MetroMap aerial captures include four-band imagery, being red, green, blue plus a near-infrared band, which is what makes this view possible. In the imagery timeline along the bottom of the map, capture dates shown in red are near-infrared captures.

Use it when you need to:

Its limits: CIR is an indicator, not an assessment. It shows relative vegetation response on the day of capture and does not identify species, measure height or replace an arborist report, a canopy dataset or a site inspection. Its colours are not natural, so it is not a map type to put in front of a client without explaining what they are looking at. It is available where four-band aerial capture exists, which is narrower than satellite coverage.

Different map types answer different questions about a site. This list matches a common question to the map type that answers it best.

If you find yourself switching to the same map type every time you open Landchecker, save it as your default so the map opens on it at the start of every session. You do this from the map controls in the bottom left corner: hover over the map type you want, then click the star icon that appears on it. You can save one default map type at a time.

For the full steps, including what a default map type does and does not change, read [How to Change the Map Type and Save a Default].

High Resolution Aerial Imagery shows the roof, driveway, pool and yard of a listing clearly enough to describe without driving out, and the imagery timeline shows what has been added or removed since the last capture. Street Map is the view to share with a buyer when the point is location: schools, shops, transport and the shape of the street.

Use High Resolution Aerial Imagery to read existing structures, hardstand and vegetation across a site and its neighbours, then Coloured-Infrared (CIR) to see how much of that vegetation is healthy canopy before it becomes a constraint on your yield. Switch to Satellite where a regional site sits outside high-resolution coverage.

High Resolution Aerial Imagery supports the physical description of the property and its improvements, and earlier captures on the timeline help you evidence the condition of a site at a past date. Standard Aerial Imagery gives you an independent aerial view to cross-check against, and Satellite keeps your view consistent across comparables that sit outside aerial coverage.

Street Map gives a clean, uncluttered view for getting your bearings on a parcel and the streets around it. Use High Resolution Aerial Imagery when you need to see fences, structures and access relative to a boundary, alongside the title and plan of subdivision rather than in place of them.

High Resolution Aerial Imagery shows built form, setbacks, overshadowing context and site coverage on neighbouring lots. Coloured-Infrared (CIR) shows canopy you may need to design around or retain. Street Map is the view for reading the block and street pattern you are designing into.

Aerial imagery is photographed from an aircraft flying at low altitude, so it is much sharper and is recaptured on a set program over the areas it covers. Satellite imagery is captured from orbit, so it is coarser and refreshed less often, but it covers the whole country including areas no aerial program reaches. On Landchecker, use aerial imagery to inspect a site and satellite imagery for context or where aerial imagery has not been flown.

It is supplied by Aerometrex through its MetroMap service. It is roughly six times higher resolution than the best available satellite imagery, covers metro and key regional areas of Australia, and is recaptured three to four times a year in metro areas and one to two times a year in regional areas.

Both are photographed from aircraft. High Resolution Aerial Imagery is the Aerometrex MetroMap capture, which is sharper and recaptured more often but covers metro and key regional areas only. Standard Aerial Imagery comes from state and territory government capture programs, so its resolution and capture date vary by state. Use the high-resolution capture as your main view and the standard capture as a cross-check or where the high-resolution capture is unavailable.

Coloured-Infrared (CIR) is a false-colour map type that uses the near-infrared band instead of visible red. Healthy, actively growing vegetation reflects near-infrared light strongly, so it renders as bright red or magenta. Stressed or dead vegetation appears dull, hard surfaces appear grey or blue and water appears dark.

The map type previously called Lidar is now called Coloured-Infrared (CIR). It shows near-infrared imagery, which renders healthy vegetation in red and is used to assess vegetation vigour and cover.

The map type previously called Base Map is now called Street Map. Base Map is now the name of the category in the Map Layers panel that holds Roads, Footpaths, Places, Parcel Labels and Properties.

High-resolution aerial imagery covers metro and key regional areas of Australia, so it has not been flown everywhere. Where it is not available at your location or zoom level, the map falls back to satellite imagery and shows a message at the bottom of the screen telling you what you are viewing.

High Resolution Aerial Imagery. It is orthorectified, meaning tilt and terrain distortion are removed so the image is map accurate and lines up with property boundaries and the drawing tools. Measurements should still be treated as indicative rather than as a substitute for a survey.

The map types available to you depend on your plan. All five are available on the Advanced and Enterprise plans, and Free plan members have the default base map only. If a map type you need is missing, check what is included on your plan or speak with your account admin.

Open the map controls in the bottom left corner of the map, hover over the map type you want, then click the star icon that appears on it. That map type is saved as your default and the map opens on it the next time you log in. You can save one default map type at a time. For the full steps, read [How to Change the Map Type and Save a Default].

Yes. Changing the map type changes what the ground is drawn in. It does not turn your map layers off, and your saved default Base Map layers are re-applied on every map type.

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