Learn how to use plex-earth to load in and analyze terrain data or imagery for your Pv-projects.
What is Plex-Earth?
Plex-Earth is a powerful software tool that integrates with CAD programs (such as AutoCAD and BricsCAD) to bring real-world geographic data, satellite/historical imagery, and terrain models directly into design workflows. For more than 15 years, we've been helping some of the most notable engineering firms worldwide design in a way that's swifter, smarter, and more cost-effective.
Which providers can you reach through Plex-Earth?
We are proud to collaborate with the best base map and premium providers worldwide, covering the whole extent of the globe, namely: Google Maps, Google Earth, Azure Maps, OpenStreetMap, Airbus, Maxar, Nearmap & Hexagon (and many more to come). Plus, with our Custom Maps tools, you can connect our server with whichever provider you like through WMS/WMTS/Tile Server.
Why is Plex-Earth useful in PV design?
- High-Resolution Imagery for visual inspection of the site without traveling to your project area
Helps identify obstacles, shadows, vegetation, and surrounding infrastructure that may impact solar performance or construction.
- Generates 3D terrain models from real elevation data (e.g., from Google Elevations, Geotiff files, or custom sources).
Helps in analyzing elevation, slope, direction, and allows cut-and-fill calculations for grading and layout optimization.
- Real-Life Visualization of PV Systems in Google Earth
Present your solar panel design to clients, investors, or permitting bodies in an intuitive and visually compelling way by seeing how the solar installation fits within the actual terrain, surrounding infrastructure, and landscape.
First time in Plex-Earth: How can I start?
A Quick Overview of Plex-Earth 2025
1. Georeferencing
Relating a drawing to a Coordinate System is the first thing you should do before applying any command in Plex-Earth. This way, all the imported or exported data will be placed in the correct coordinates.
In Plex-Earth, there are various ways to georeference your drawing:
- Choose from our extensive list of thousands of coordinate systems, each categorized by country—command: By Coordinate System.
- Corresponding a Google Earth placemark with a point in CAD—command: By Geographic Location (Custom Georeference).
- Georeferencing your drawing with AutoCAD's GEO command—We will recognize any Coordinate System you have chosen.
However, if you want to try out Plex-Earth for the first time and play with it in a blank drawing, we recommend you to copy a placemark of your project area in Google Earth and then go to Quick Site View. This will bring a quick base map of your project area and georeference your drawing at the same time; no further georeference actions are needed. See how this is done here.
2. Contextual Data
All-at-once contextual data with the Site Area tool of Plex-Earth
After georeferencing, you can proceed to the Contextual Data. This is where the software imports satellite and aerial imagery and terrain data for your project site directly into your AutoCAD drawings without having to actually go there.
We recommend you always start with Quick Site View, whether you want to import imagery or terrain, so you can specify the exact area in which you want to import data.
Then you can Create Imagery, Timeline, or Terrain. Just go to Contextual Data and hover over the relevant commands on the ribbon to visualize all the available options.
Moreover, Plex-Earth has found a way to help you gather all the data you need for your project all at once. Imagery, Terrain, and Historical views of your project area, all under the umbrella of Site Area.
Just go to the Contextual Data section in the Plex-Earth ribbon, hover on Quick Site View, and select Create Site Area.
You can access more detailed tutorials for each one of them here.
Some of the capabilities you can find generally in Plex-Earth regarding Imagery and Terrain are the following:
Imagery
High-resolution Aerial Imagery from Nearmap for Rooftop PV installations
- Insert mosaic imagery as a CAD raster image object(s)
- Adjust image properties, such as brightness, contrast, saturation, and transparency
- Apply clippings/cutouts
- Create a Timeline of images (Airbus, Maxar)
- Import Historical Imagery from Google Earth
- Create a Point of Interest (POI)
Before and After Satellite Images from Maxar (Historical Imagery feature of Plex-Earth)
Terrain
Slope Analysis with Plex-Earth
Create Labels for the Terrain Contours
Create Elevation, Slope, or Direction Analysis
Create Terrain from objects or mesh
Create Terrain from a CSV file
Create volumes between surfaces
3. Google Earth Tools
Plex-Earth does not stop in two dimensions! It allows you to export whole 2D or 3D solar designs into Google Earth. This way, everyone can see how your photovoltaic systems interact with the real world, helping them to better understand your solar layouts and proposals!
Plex-Earth supports all AutoCAD and BricsCAD objects and preserves their look and feel inside Google Earth, such as panel arrays, racking structures, electrical paths, annotations, external references, and more.
You can also import Google’s KML files into AutoCAD or BricsCAD using Plex-Earth! So paths, polygons, and placemarks—like site outlines, shading obstacles, or access routes—you create in Google Earth can be literally copied and pasted into your drawing, perfectly aligned for you.
You can get fully accustomed to all things Google/KML, both importing and exporting, by checking out these tutorials.
4. Raster Tools
Our guidance through the ribbon ends with the Raster Tools section. You can import Camera photos from GPS-enabled devices, Import/Export World Files, Merge, Trim, Replace, Create Clippings, or Drape images on mesh with just a few clicks.