Importing a floor plan: start with your unit list
Importing a floor plan is more than uploading a drawing. The goal is an interactive floor plan of your storage facility, in which every shape belongs to a unit in your records. What you then do with that live map is covered on the live floor plan page. This article covers the step before it.
In TheStorageControl, your unit list leads. A code on the drawing is only matched if it is in the facility's unit list. The code pattern (in the fictional demo facility a row letter and four digits, such as D0111) is taken from that list, and the scale is derived from the areas in it.
So get the unit list right first: the same codes as on the drawing and the correct areas. Add missing units in unit management before you start, because drawing a shape does not create a new unit. It links a shape to a unit that already exists.
Which file should you use: vector PDF, SVG or scan?
You import one file at a time and one drawing per floor, up to 40 MB. A vector PDF or SVG floor plan is the best source: lines and text are read straight from the file, so unit codes come out exactly as written. With a scan or photo, your browser recognises walls and codes with text recognition (OCR). That is a detour through pixels, so the quality of the capture matters.
A scanned PDF and DWG or DXF files are not read. The table sets out the options.
| File type | Best for | Tips and pitfalls |
|---|---|---|
| Vector PDF | Drawings from the architect or a CAD program | One floor per page; for several pages you enter the page number. Unit codes as real text, not converted to outlines. |
| SVG | Your own drawings and exports from drawing or CAD software | Rectangles, polygons, lines, paths and text are read. Keep codes as text. |
| Scan or photo (PNG, JPG, WebP) | When all you have is a paper drawing | Straight, sharp and evenly lit, with light lines. Large scans are scaled down to 3,200 px on the long side. |
| Scanned PDF | Not suitable | No vector lines or real text. Ask for a vector PDF or upload the scan as an image. |
| DWG or DXF | Not suitable | Not read. Export a vector PDF or SVG from your CAD program. |
How to prepare a drawing for import
Good preparation saves review work, whether you have a PDF floor plan from the architect or want to digitise a paper floor plan:
- Check the unit list: every unit on the drawing is in it, with the same code and the correct area.
- Choose one drawing per floor. If everything is in one PDF, note which page belongs to which floor.
- Ask the architect for a vector PDF or SVG. If they work in DWG or DXF, have them export from the CAD program.
- Check that the unit codes are real text, written exactly as in your unit list.
- Switch off layers you do not need, such as hatching, furniture and dimension lines. The scale comes from your unit list anyway.
- Paper only? Scan it straight and sharp, without shadows or folds, and crop to the floor itself, so the codes stay legible after scaling down.
- Keep each file under 40 MB.
Tip: how to tell whether a PDF is really vector
Open the PDF, zoom right in on a wall and press Ctrl+F to search for a unit code. If the lines stay sharp and the code is found, it is a vector PDF with real text. If not, it is a scan inside a PDF: ask for a vector export or upload the scan as a PNG or JPG.
What happens automatically during the import?
After the upload, TheStorageControl reads the drawing: a vector PDF on the server, a scan in your browser. For a scan, text recognition reads the page in tiles, then close-ups of the rooms, and retries codes that were cut off. The import can carry on in the background, and the help panel has a video walkthrough.
The system then matches only codes that are in the unit list. The code pattern is derived automatically; you can set a custom one under advanced options. A unit's shape is the smallest closed room around its label, or otherwise a rectangle between the nearest walls. The scale follows from the unit list, so no calibration is needed.
A combined unit in your unit list, such as B0104+B0105 after merging two units, is recognised when both parts were read and their rooms join up. Otherwise the parts are left for review. Codes that were read but not matched get a placeholder shape, so nothing silently disappears.
Every shape is also compared with the area in the unit list. Above a 40% difference you get a stronger warning.
Area check
Allowed difference = 20% of the area in the unit list, at least 0.6 m²
Example: Worked example from the fictional demo facility: D0111 is listed at 7.5 m², so the margin is 1.5 m² and a shape of 6.0 to 9.0 m² passes. For a 2.5 m² unit the margin is 0.6 m².
Green, orange and red: how to read the result
After the import you see the floor plan in review colours. Green is matched and accepted, orange needs a look and red is a number without a unit in the database, such as an office or a misread. Grey dashed is a shape you have ignored.
A shape only turns green at high confidence. An area outside the margin, a fallback rectangle, uncertain text recognition, a very complex shape, an overlap or a unit cut off at the edge of the drawing: all of these go to orange. That is deliberately strict, because a wrong green shape ends up on your live map.
In the fictional demo facility Capelle Rivium, 2 shapes are orange because the drawn area differs from the unit list. The 3 red ones are the office, the lift and the plant room: they have a number but no unit. Adjusting shapes and drawing missing units is covered in the article on drawing units.
- Orange: click the shape, compare the drawn area with the unit list area in the side panel and confirm with Enter. Drag a corner or side first if needed.
- Red from a misread: choose the right unit. The list only offers units that do not have a shape yet.
- Red without a unit, such as an office: ignore the shape with I, or delete it with Del.
- Confirm and Ignore jump to the next shape that needs a look; N does the same and zooms in. Ctrl+Z undoes a step.
Importing several floors
You import several floors one by one into the same floor plan version. For each import you choose the floor, from -2 to 10 or with a custom name, for example for a mezzanine. If all floors are in one PDF, you enter the page number for each import; pages are not mapped to floors automatically.
A floor switcher shows the number of units per floor. The list of units without a shape is your final check: anything still on it has not been drawn on any floor. Conversely, a unit may only have one shape; two shapes for the same unit block publishing. Work through the orange and red shapes on each floor before you import the next, so you always know where you stand.
From review to publishing
The import also produces a technical drawing, with dimensions, north arrow, legend and title block, and a 3D model with doors and walkways. In the 3D preview, an odd shape or a missing unit is quick to spot.
Publishing is blocked if a shape has no unit, two shapes share a unit, a unit is no longer in the unit list or an outline is invalid: fewer than 3 or more than 64 corners, crossing itself or outside the drawing. If some units still have no shape, you can publish, but you have to acknowledge it explicitly.
Every floor plan is a version: draft, published or archived. Each facility has one live version, and publishing archives the previous one. Later changes are made in a draft copy while the live map stays in place. Every import, change and publication is recorded in the audit log.
All you need is the permission to configure units (owner, admin or manager), not a developer. What happens after publishing is covered in the article from drawing to unit.
