How to Make a Vicinity Map for a Building Permit, Online
Most building permit applications want to know where the lot is before they ask what you will build on it. That is the job of a vicinity map, also called a location map or a locator map: a small map that shows your lot in its neighborhood, with the streets around it. This guide explains what it is for, what a department usually expects, and how to prepare the sheet in Plan², for free in your browser, while being straight about what Plan² can do at map scale and what is better taken from a county or city map.
On this page
What a vicinity map is, and why it is asked for
A vicinity map answers a simple question for the person reviewing your application: where is this lot? It shows the lot, marked in some way, together with the nearby streets, the nearest intersection and often a north arrow and a scale. The site plan that comes with it then answers the second question: what is on the lot, and how far is it from the lot lines.
The two are different drawings for different readers. The vicinity map is wide and shows few details, since the reader only needs to find the place. The site plan is close and shows many, since the reader checks distances. A single sheet cannot do both well, which is why departments that want both usually ask for two.
The name varies from one city and county to the next. You will see vicinity map, location map, locator map or key map, and some departments fold it into the site plan as a small inset. Check your department’s checklist for the name it uses and for what it wants on the sheet.
What the department usually expects
The requirements are the department’s own, and they differ, so this guide cannot give you a list that applies everywhere. Ask your building department or read its permit checklist for the exact points. The items below are the ones that come up most often.
- The location of the lot, clearly marked, so a reviewer who has never been there can find it.
- The streets around it, named, and the nearest cross street or intersection.
- A north arrow, so the map reads the right way up.
- A scale, either written or as a scale bar, as the department requires: check which one and whether a particular scale is named.
- The address, and often the parcel number the county assigns to the lot, which appears on your property tax bill.
- The source of the map, when the department asks for it.
If the checklist is unclear, ask your building department in writing which drawings it wants, at what scale, and in what format. The answer saves a rejected application.
What Plan² can and cannot do for this sheet
Plan² draws the lot, the house and the surroundings, and its Site plan export can put a map under the sheet. It is not a map-scale tool. The scales it exports are 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 and 1:500, which suit a lot and its buildings, not a neighborhood. A vicinity map that shows several blocks needs a much smaller scale, which Plan² does not offer.
The practical split is this. For the wide map, take a screenshot or an extract from your county’s parcel viewer or GIS map, or from the city’s map, at the scale your department asks for, and keep the source. For the lot, the house and the distances, use Plan². When the properties of a project are far apart, the overview sheet of the Site plan export shows them together, and with the map backdrop it works well as a complement to the wide map. It does not replace it.
Outside France, Plan² has no parcel import and no building outlines: the map is built on OpenStreetMap, and you draw the lot boundary by hand from your deed, plat or survey. The map is opt-in. A consent card asks first, and nothing is sent to a map server until you accept.
Making the sheet in Plan², step by step
Switch to Terrain mode
Open Layers and choose Terrain mode. The guided flow has four steps, Address, Parcel, House and Around, and you can skip any of them, or go back at any time with Back.
Search for the address
In the Address step, type the street address of the lot. Accept the consent card to show the map: it is built on OpenStreetMap, with a search by OpenStreetMap, and nothing is sent before you agree.
Draw the lot lines
On a phone, place each corner with the crosshair and tap Finish. On a computer, click each corner, then finish the shape. Take the lengths from your plat or survey, since the map is only a guide. Add the parcel reference in the details of the property, along with its name and address.
Place the house and what is around it
Draw the house or place the one you already drew, then add the street, the access and the neighbors that help a reader find their way. Turn the view with the north rose if you want the lot to sit straight on the sheet.
Open the export and choose the Site plan
Choose File, then Export…, and pick Site plan. The overview sheet shows every property of the project, and becomes a location sheet when they are far apart. Choose PNG or PDF, the paper size and orientation, and watch the live preview.
Add the map backdrop and pick the scale
Switch on the option for a map backdrop under the sheet: its source is printed on it. Choose the scale, from 1:50 to 1:500, or Fit. Look at the preview to see whether the lot and its neighbors read at that scale.
Check the print, then complete it
Print the PDF at 100 % and measure a known dimension with a ruler. Then attach the wide map extract from your county or city, with the source, and anything else the department lists. Save the JSON file so you can reopen the plan later.
Common mistakes with a vicinity map
- Sending a map with no north arrow or no scale, when the checklist asks for them.
- Using a screenshot with no source, no street names or no clear mark on the lot.
- A map so close that the nearest cross street is out of the frame, or so far that the lot is a dot among a hundred others.
- Mixing up the vicinity map and the site plan: the first shows where the lot is, the second shows what is on it.
- Tracing the lot lines from the map instead of from the plat, deed or survey.
- Printing a PDF “fit to page” and then reading its scale as if it were exact. Print at 100 % and measure.
What Plan² does not do
Plan² does not produce an official form and does not know what your department requires. It does not draw sections, elevations, heights or altitudes: those are coming. It is not a map of a neighborhood at a small scale, and its map outside France does not carry parcel boundaries. Take the parcel and the street map from the county or the city, and use Plan² for the lot, the house and the sheets that depend on them.
Frequently asked questions
What is a vicinity map?
A small map that shows where your lot is in its neighborhood, with the nearby streets and often a north arrow and a scale. It goes with the site plan in many building permit applications. The name changes from one city or county to the next: location map and locator map are common ones.
Can Plan² make a vicinity map at the right scale?
Only partly. Plan² exports at 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 or 1:500, which suits a lot and its buildings but not several blocks of a neighborhood. Use it for the lot, the house and the overview sheet with its map backdrop, and take the wide map from your county’s or city’s map, at the scale your department names.
Where do I find the parcel number of my lot?
In the United States it is usually printed on your property tax bill, and your county assessor’s parcel viewer shows it on a map. Your deed names the lot as well, usually by a lot number and a subdivision or by a legal description. Plan² has a field for the parcel reference in the details of a property.
Does the map in Plan² send my data anywhere?
Only after you accept. The map is opt-in: a consent card asks first, and nothing is sent to a map server before. Without it the plan works the same, on a white page.
Is the map good enough to trace the lot lines?
No. The map is built on OpenStreetMap, and the lot boundary is drawn by hand, so draw it from your deed, plat or survey and use the map only to place it. A map is a guide, not a survey. Only a licensed land surveyor can fix the lines on the ground.