I’ve been experimenting with simplified site plans for portfolio layouts and presentation boards.
Usually I end up spending hours cleaning GIS exports or tracing maps in Illustrator, so I started testing a faster workflow for creating minimal diagrams like this. Curious how other architecture students / architects approach it?
Would love to hear how you integrate site context into portfolios.
I’m an architecture student, and I’ve always found it surprisingly frustrating how long it takes to make a clean map for a project.
Every time I needed one, I’d end up going through the same process:
exporting data in QGIS, cleaning it up, moving it into Illustrator, fixing line weights, simplifying geometry, adjusting colors… and somehow it still never felt quite right. What should be a simple diagram often turns into a 2–4 hour task.
After doing this over and over again, I started wondering why this workflow is still so manual.
So I began building a small tool for myself to generate vector-based architectural maps much faster. The idea was simple: take the parts of the workflow I repeat every time, and automate them. so instead of spending hours, it takes a few minutes to get something presentation-ready.
I’m still refining it, but it’s already changed how I work quite a bit.
I’m curious how others here approach this: Are you still using a QGIS or Illustrator workflow? or do you have any shortcuts or tools that speed things up? test it: https://archshaper.com/sitemap
I’ve been thinking about how much time goes into creating site plans and context maps, especially in early stages or competitions.
In my experience, a lot of it ends up being repetitive work — tracing, cleaning up data, adjusting graphics.
Curious how you guys approach it:
• Do you redraw everything manually?
• Use GIS / existing data?
• Or have some kind of workflow to speed it up?
Would be interesting to hear how this differs between offices / students.
I’ve been working on a way to generate clean site plans and context maps for architecture projects.
The goal is to create something that’s actually usable in portfolios and presentations — not just rough maps.
Curious how you guys usually handle site plans / context diagrams in your projects?
I’ve been working on a way to quickly generate site analysis maps from real locations.
The idea is to speed up early-stage work — getting a clear overview of context, green areas, roads, and structure without spending hours redrawing everything.
Curious if something like this would be useful in landscape workflows?