CCTV Camera Planner & Designer

How to use the planner

1. Choose your planner mode.

   Start by deciding whether you are planning from an internal drawing or from an external site view. Use Floorplan Mode for houses, offices, shops, warehouses, and any layout where you want to work from a building plan. Use Satellite Mode for driveways, front yards, carparks, perimeter fences, sheds, loading areas, and outdoor camera positioning on live Google satellite imagery.

   The workflow is slightly different in each mode. Floorplan mode relies on your uploaded drawing and a manual scale step. Satellite mode uses Google Maps, so distances are already based on real-world map measurements and there is no separate scale tool there.

2. Load a sample, your own floorplan, or a street address.

   If you are new to the tool, begin with one of the included sample floorplans so the planner is not blank. In Floorplan Mode, you can load a sample first to explore the controls, then upload your own image file when ready. In Satellite Mode, enter a street address, choose satellite or hybrid view, and load the map before placing any cameras.

   If you upload a new floorplan later, treat it as a new drawing and re-check the scale before trusting the distance-based overlays. If you switch to a different property in satellite mode, simply load the new address and continue working there.

3. Set the scale in floorplan mode.

   This step exists in Floorplan Mode only. It is one of the most important parts of the workflow because it tells the planner how many pixels on your drawing represent one real-world metre. Without a correct scale, the coverage overlays may still look fine visually, but the range, DORI, cable, and storage planning numbers will be far less reliable.

   To set it, click Step 3: Set Scale, then click two points on the floorplan that represent a known real distance, such as the width of a garage door, a hallway length, a room dimension, or any measurement shown on the plan. Enter the real distance when prompted. For best results, use a longer measurement rather than a very short one, because longer references usually produce a more accurate scale.

   If the result feels wrong later, simply run the scale step again. You do not need to rebuild the whole plan from scratch just because the first measurement was off.

4. Choose a camera brand, model, and lens.

   Select the brand first so the model list stays relevant, then choose the exact camera preset you want to test. The planner will automatically load the matching lens, field of view, coverage range, DORI values, and product information for supported presets.

   This makes it easy to compare different product families without entering every value manually. If you want to fine-tune a layout after picking a preset, you can still adjust FoV, range, opacity, labels, and other settings to suit the project.

5. Add cameras to the plan.

   Click Add Camera to place the selected model onto the active view. You can drag the camera to a better position, rotate it to face the right direction, duplicate it for repeated areas, and build up your layout one camera at a time. In satellite mode, cameras are placed directly onto the live map.

   A good workflow is to first place cameras roughly where they belong, then go back and refine each one. This is often faster than trying to perfect every camera before the rest of the layout exists.

6. Refine the camera coverage.

   Adjust the lens preset, field of view, coverage range, marker size, and coverage opacity until the layout is easy to read. Turn Identification, Recognition, and Detection visibility on or off depending on how much detail you want to show. If the drawing feels busy, lower the visible overlays and use labels to keep the plan tidy.

   In darker satellite scenes, increasing coverage opacity can make the overlays stand out much more clearly. In busy indoor plans, hiding Detection while keeping Identification and Recognition visible often creates a cleaner result.

7. Add site equipment such as NVRs, switches, routers, and UPS units.

   Use the site equipment section to drop supporting hardware onto the same plan. When you choose a camera brand, the matching NVR options are available for that brand, making it easier to keep recorder choices aligned with the rest of the design.

   This is useful when you want the drawing to serve as both a coverage plan and an early equipment layout. It helps you show not just where cameras go, but also where recorders, switches, and other infrastructure might sit on the job.

8. Link cameras to infrastructure and review capacity.

   Assign cameras to cable targets and recorders where needed, then review the infrastructure panel. This helps you estimate total cable, longest cable run, port usage, NVR channel usage, and storage requirements based on bitrate and retention days.

   The cable and storage numbers are planning guides rather than final installer measurements, but they are very helpful for comparing layouts, checking whether an NVR is large enough, and spotting when extra switching or storage may be needed.

9. Use the plan tools to tidy the layout.

   Zoom in and out, fit the plan to screen, centre the view, show or hide the grid, and enable snap to grid for more structured layouts. Use Lock Plan when you want to stop accidental panning or zooming and focus only on moving cameras and equipment.

   On floorplans, grid and snap can help keep indoor layouts neat and consistent. On either mode, duplicate, undo, redo, and focus item are useful when you are testing several similar positions quickly.

10. Save, reload, or export the project.

    Save the project in your browser while you work, or export the full project as JSON for reuse later. Export a BOM CSV to build a product list, export PNG from floorplan mode for sharing, or capture a screenshot in satellite mode when you want to show map-based layouts.

    A simple workflow is to save to browser while you iterate, export JSON when you want a portable backup, export BOM when you are ready to build a materials list, and export an image when you want to show the layout to a customer, builder, or installer.