How to make a situational plan yourself

When building any object, from a large factory to a tiny garden house, we will necessarily need a situational plan. What is it and where to take it when planning, for example, a holiday plot? And can you make yourself?

A situational plan is a topographic plan in the form of a drawing of the land plot where construction is planned, performed on a scale of 1: 1000, 1: 1500 or 1: 2000. All existing objects (buildings, roads, cable and pipeline routes, gullies, rivers and streams, contours of neighboring areas) should be applied to this drawing. When an object is erected by a construction and installation organization, the situational plan includes a link to its production base located near populated areas and communications (electric and gas networks, water supply and sewerage facilities and networks). In addition, the drawing necessarily contains the main natural features of the construction site.
It is based on district planning projects, but if the general project is not available - based on the data of individual projects for the construction of the nearest sites, as well as on engineering survey materials.

Engineering survey in the normative literature refers to a set of measures for geodetic surveying of the site (field measurements) and cameral work (processing of the data obtained and registration of the results). Geodetic surveying is required when compiling not only situational, but also topographic, and cadastral plans. To develop a situational plan, geodetic survey of the relief is not performed, only buildings, structures, roads and other landmarks are noted.

You can not do without this document and the owner of the land or garden plot, which conceived of its arrangement, and even more so - building a house. Thinking about how to arrange a plot, start with a situational plan. If such a document is not present among others when buying a site, it is not difficult to compile it yourself. Take a sheet of paper in A4 format (landscape sheet) or A3 (twice as large) - if the site is large. The drawing is most conveniently done in a scale of 1: 200. This means that every centimeter on paper corresponds to two meters on the ground. A typical plot of 10 to 20 hectare in size is well placed on a landscape sheet. With a very small size of the plot, you can take a scale of 1: 100 (one centimeter on paper - one meter on the ground). For a large plot, you need an A3 or even A2 sheet.

The situational plan of the land plot should contain an image of all significant objects - existing (including unfinished) buildings, borders of neighboring plots, wells, roads, landscape elements. The distance between them can be determined using a large 20-meter roulette. To begin with, it's best to sketch out the terrain on a small sheet of paper, indicating the measured distances between objects, then to make an accurate scaled plan. It is convenient to use millimeter paper.

The situation plan implies vertical elevation marks (perhaps they are on the existing plot of the site), as well as an indication of the sides of the light and the wind rose. In the absence of a compass, the side of the light itself is not at all difficult to determine - the side where the sun stands from noon to 2 pm and will be south. The opposite, respectively, is northern. The sides of the world are always put on the plan in the form of arrows, with the north looking up. Knowledge of the sides of the world and the prevailing wind directions will help to choose the right place for planting shadow or light-loving plants, place a lawn for sunbathing or a shady rest corner, a "green wall" of climbing plants to protect from cold wind. Examine the surrounding area, select the most advantageous landscape views and think about how to make an exit from the site to a neighboring picturesque meadow or to a shady forest. If your plot is surrounded only by neighbor's houses, yes the road, the more important it is to consider the type and height of the enclosing structures to ensure cosiness and privacy and at the same time avoid the effect of the "stone bag".

If you are developing a landscape project of an existing site with existing structures and plantations, it is important to first identify all the problems and weaknesses of your garden. It is advisable to conduct negotiations with friends and family members, take into account and write down all the wishes for the proposed changes in the layout. The plan will necessarily need to apply distance from the boundaries of the territory (adjacent sides of the fence) to the walls of the house (that is, "plant the house on a plan"), as well as all "hard coverings" - track lines, foundations, indicating the width. If there are large plantations (for example, large trees), they are marked on the plan with the drawing of the projection of the tree crown. This is necessary to determine the shaded areas and the choice of a place for planting (as is known, the roots of a tree are usually located in the outlines of the projection of its crown).

Large plant massifs are better depicted on separate sheets of paper in more detail for subsequent detailed planning.