Documentation

The first time you open Acrea, a short onboarding walks you through what the app does — measuring boundaries, walk-to-measure, organising with categories, viewing all your sites, the pro tools, and offline surveying — and then asks for location access so the app can show where you are and place GPS points.

Location access

Acrea needs location permission to centre the map on you and to drop GPS-accurate vertices. Your location stays on your device and is never shared. If you skip the prompt or later turn it off, the map shows a banner and you can re-enable it at any time. Acrea distinguishes between your device’s GPS being switched off and the app’s permission being denied, and guides you to the right toggle for your situation (the path differs on iOS and Android).

The map screen at a glance

This is your home base. The key controls are:

• Measure button — the prominent button that opens the “What do you want to measure?” sheet (distance, area, or walk). This is the start of every measurement.
• Control buttons — search, saved-sites overlay, map style, compass, offline maps, and settings. On phones these sit in a scrollable bar along the top; in landscape they form a vertical rail.
• Recenter & GPS accuracy — the recenter button snaps the camera back to your location, and a live accuracy chip (for example “±3.1 m”) shows how good your current GPS fix is. On phones these dock at the bottom-right.
• Speed & heading — while you move, the app reads your speed and heading so you can orient yourself on site.

Before you measure, you’ll often want to get to the right spot and pick the right base map.

Search for an address or coordinatesFree

Tap the Search button to find a place. The geocoder locates addresses, landmarks and place names, and you can also paste raw coordinates to jump straight to a point. Recent searches are kept so you can return to them quickly. Picking a result flies the map to that location.

Map stylesFree

Tap the Map style button to switch base maps. The available styles depend on the map engine in use:

• Google (default, free): Satellite (imagery with labels), Aerial (pure imagery, no labels), Terrain (topographic relief), and Standard (clean street map).
• Mapbox (Acrea Pro): a richer catalogue — Explorer, Outdoors (terrain, trails & contour lines), Satellite, Midnight (low-glare dark map), Daylight, and Streets.

Everyone starts on Google for its sharp satellite imagery. Acrea Pro members can set Mapbox as their default map (which unlocks the Mapbox style catalogue and is also what offline tiles are viewed through).

Tap a place for detailsFree

Tap any empty spot on the map to drop a pin and open the place panel. It reverse-geocodes the address, shows the coordinates in your chosen format (with altitude where available), and gives you quick actions: Copy the coordinates, Share the location, get Directions, or Save it to your Places.

Saved places & directionsFree

Saving a place from the place panel files it under the Places tab of the Saved hub, separate from your measurements. From a place you can also open turn-by-turn Directions with a route line and ETA. Directions are free.

Every measurement starts the same way: tap the Measure button to open the “What do you want to measure?” sheet, then choose Distance, Area, or Walk. (The same sheet has a shortcut into your Saved sites.) Results are shown live in the measurement panel — area in acres, hectares, m², perches or square feet, and perimeter/distance in your chosen unit.

Tap-to-measureFree

The fastest method, and great for measuring remotely from satellite imagery. After choosing Distance or Area, tap the map to drop vertices around the boundary. The panel updates instantly with the running area and perimeter. Use this to estimate a parcel you can see but aren’t standing on.

Drop a GPS point (with averaging)Free

When you’re standing on a corner, tap Drop GPS point in the measurement panel’s tool strip to place a vertex at your current location. For critical corners Acrea averages multiple GPS samples over a few seconds to compute a tighter fix — the “use averaged point” action stays disabled until enough samples have been collected, so a single stray reading can’t be committed.

Walk-to-measurePro

For fields, parcels and irregular sites too large to tap, choose Walk (or tap the walk tool in the panel). Acrea records the boundary as you physically walk it, dropping a GPS vertex roughly every few metres and drawing the polygon and area live. Accuracy and distance gates keep the trace clean so GPS drift doesn’t scribble.

• A first-time walkthrough explains how it works, why accuracy matters, and best practices.
• A ready state shows live GPS accuracy so you can wait for a good fix before starting.
• Recording is foreground-only — keep Acrea open in hand; locking or pocketing the phone pauses the run. The screen stays awake so the OS doesn’t throttle GPS.
• Controls: Pause/Resume, a Follow-me camera that keeps you centred at a close zoom, and Finish. While recording, the panel collapses to just the essentials so a stray tap can’t change the run.

Live readouts & closureFree

As you build a measurement the panel shows the live area/distance, the point count, a per-segment breakdown (tap to expand), and a closure indicator that flags how well an area’s boundary closes back on itself (misclosure). Edits auto-save to a recoverable draft, so an unsaved, in-progress measurement survives an app kill or crash and is restored on next launch.

While a measurement is on the map you can refine it point by point, or build it from precise field data instead of taps.

Moving & inserting pointsFree

• Move a vertex: long-press a point to raise a large drag handle pinned to the exact spot, then drag — the point follows your finger 1:1 and stays glued as you pan, zoom or rotate.
• Insert a point: tap a “+” midpoint handle on an edge to add a vertex between two existing ones.
• Undo / Clear: step back the last point, or clear the whole measurement, from the panel’s action row.

Precise coordinate entryPro

Tap a vertex to open its editor and type exact coordinates — ideal for placing deed corners to sub-metre precision. You can also add a brand-new point by coordinates from the panel’s Add point by coordinates tool.

COGO traverse legsPro

When you don’t have GPS or clear imagery, build a boundary from a deed or plan. Open Traverse entry and enter precise bearings and distances leg by leg (for example N 45° E for 100 ft). Acrea plots the boundary line by line from your coordinate geometry.

Cut-outs (holes)Pro

Need to exclude a pond, building or easement from an area? With at least three points placed, tap the Cut-out tool and draw an inner ring inside your boundary. Acrea subtracts that area from the total automatically. Tap “finish cut” to close the hole.

Curved edges (arcs)Pro

Not every boundary is straight. Bow any edge into a true circular arc to trace cul-de-sacs, road right-of-ways, riverbanks and rounded frontages. Tap the Curve tool (the curved-line icon) in the measurement panel’s tool strip to turn on curve mode — it appears once the measurement has at least one edge, and tapping it again (“Done curving”) turns it back off. In curve mode, every edge grows a handle at its midpoint, and there are two ways to shape it:

• Drag to bow it: drag an edge’s handle and the edge bows into an arc that follows your finger. How far you pull sets how deep the curve is; which side you pull sets the curve direction.
• Type an exact radius: tap the handle to open the radius sheet — enter a radius in your distance unit and pick a curve direction (Left or Right). The sheet previews the resulting arc length and central angle live as you type. Tap Apply curve to commit, or Straighten to drop the curve and make the edge straight again.

The smallest radius an edge accepts is half its length (a semicircle) — the sheet flags anything tighter. Curves are carried through everywhere the geometry goes: the arc’s radius, arc length and central angle appear in the metes-and-bounds legal description and the PDF report, and the curved area is what feeds parcel operations like union and split.

Angle indicatorsPro

Interior angles are drawn as protractor-style arcs at every corner, with the value in degrees inside the wedge. The arc scales with the edge length so it reads consistently at any zoom. Near-straight and near-coincident corners are skipped to avoid clutter. Angles show on both live and saved measurements.

Distance & angle label togglesFree

Two floating toggles next to the recenter control independently show or hide the per-edge distance labels and the angle arcs, so you can trim clutter on a busy parcel. They appear only when a measurement is on the map and the choice persists across sessions. Distance labels are free; the angle toggle is an Acrea Pro feature.

Once a measurement is done, save it, name it, and file it so your portfolio stays tidy. Free users can save up to a handful of measurements; Acrea Pro removes the cap.

Saving a measurementFree

Tap Save in the measurement panel. The save sheet pre-fills a name from reverse-geocoding and lets you assign a category and notes in the same step. After saving, the measurement appears in the Saved hub and on the map (when the overlay is on).

The Saved hubFree

The Saved hub has two tabs: Measurements (your areas and distances) and Places (pins you saved from the map). From the hub app bar you can also import a file or export everything at once.

Saved-sites overlayFree

Toggle the saved-sites overlay (the layers button) to draw all your saved parcels on the map at once, each in its category colour — your whole portfolio at a glance. With the overlay on, tapping a saved shape selects it: the carousel scrolls to its card and the map highlights it (overlapping parcels resolve to the smallest under your finger; thin distance lines get a forgiving tap target). Opening a shape for editing temporarily hides the overlay so the surrounding parcels don’t clutter your work.

The carousel & detail screenFree

A focused saved site shows a card in a carousel with its value and per-edge labels. Each card has a quick Edit (pencil) shortcut and a ⋯ menu; tapping the card opens the full detail screen, organised into Details (category, notes), boundary segments, vertices, and Export & share.

CategoriesFree

Colour-code parcels by land type — residential, agricultural, and so on. Category badges show in the list and on the map overlay. Create and manage categories, and assign them at save time, on the detail screen, or from a measurement’s menu.

Rename, notes, duplicate & delete

• Rename Free — from the detail screen’s ⋯ menu.
• Notes & category Free — edit inline as tappable cards on the detail screen.
• Duplicate Free — clone any area or distance from the card’s ⋯ menu or the detail screen. The copy keeps the geometry, category and notes and drops straight into move mode so you can drag it off the original.
• Delete Free — swipe a row in the list or use the detail screen; a confirmation sheet guards it.

GroupsPro

Bundle related measurements into a group, shown as a collapsible card at the top of your saved list with members nested under it. Groups are created automatically when you split, subdivide or merge a parcel (so a parcel’s whole subdivision history stays together), and you can also build them yourself. From a group’s menu you can rename, recolour, or ungroup it (which keeps the measurements). Move a measurement into or out of a group from its menu or detail screen, swipe a member to delete just it (or the whole group), and drag a member’s handle to reorder. Grouping is an Acrea Pro feature.

Acrea Pro turns saved parcels into editable geometry you can move, split, subdivide, merge and trim — with a live preview before you commit. When an operation produces multiple pieces, they’re filed together in a group named after the original, and the original is archived (hidden from your lists but not destroyed). Areas always sum back to the parent.

Save the measurement first. Every operation here acts on a savedparcel, so they live on the saved card’s ⋯ menu and on the detail screen — an unsaved, in-progress measurement has no ⋯ menu and can’t be split or subdivided. Finish and Save your measurement, then reopen it from the carousel or the Saved hub to run these tools. (Split, Subdivide and Trim apply to areas only.)

MovePro

Reposition a whole measurement two ways: drag a large handle on the map (your finger drives the shape live, no jump on release), or enter a precise bearing + distance offset (azimuth like 45 or quadrant like N45E, in metres or feet). A compact move bar hosts Values, Cancel and Done.

SplitPro

Divide an area into two parcels with a clean cut. Tap two crossing points across the boundary — a live preview shows both resulting parcels with their side-by-side edge lengths and each side’s area. For precision, tap a crossing to place it a set distance from a corner, at an edge midpoint, by exact coordinates, or solve it to hit a target area (“carve a 1-acre lot”); long-press a crossing to drag it live. Split commits the two parcels into a group named after the original; any cut-outs are reassigned to whichever side contains them.

Auto-split (subdivide into a grid)Pro

Subdivide a parcel with an interactive grid — by count (rows × columns) or by size (target lot width and/or height in your distance unit) — and rotate the grid to any angle. Lots update live, each labelled with its area. Subdivide commits them as a numbered set of “Lot” measurements in a group.

MergePro

Select two or more areas and Merge them. Adjacent or overlapping parcels fuse into one (combined area, holes preserved); parcels that don’t touch are kept separate and filed together in a group — the app tells you which happened. You can re-merge split slices because group members are selectable too.

TrimPro

Subtract one parcel from another. Choose Trim, then tap the parcel to subtract. The result previews live — a reshaped parcel, a parcel with a hole, or several pieces if the cut goes clean through — before you commit.

A field compass that floats as a draggable, pinch-resizable dial over the map, so you can read a tilt-compensated magnetic bearing while still seeing — and measuring on — the map underneath. Tap full screen for the complete readout: a magnetic- interference warning, live coordinates, altitude, GPS course, and the “not survey-grade” disclaimer.

A first-use walkthrough explains magnetic north, figure-8 recalibration, and the pinch/drag/full-screen controls. The magnetometer runs only while the compass is shown (no always-on sensor drain), and the app degrades to a clear “compass unavailable” state on devices without a magnetometer.

Bring your existing parcels into Acrea from any standard geo or CAD file. Import is completely free — no paywall and no saved-measurement cap — so you can migrate your entire portfolio from another platform without friction.

Supported formatsFree

KML, KMZ, GeoJSON, CSV, DXF, or Shapefile (.zip). A first-run intro explains the feature, then a file picker lets you choose from Files, iCloud, Google Drive, or any app extension.

Preview & selectFree

A preview screen lists every detected measurement with its name (editable), type, computed area or distance, and vertex count. Tick which ones to keep, assign a batch category, then Import. Degenerate or unrecognisable features are surfaced as warnings without failing the whole file.

Acrea is built to plug into your desktop workflow and client deliverables. Export & share is an Acrea Pro capability (the detail screen flags it up front). Sharing a plain map image and getting directions stay free.

Branded PDF reportsPro

Generate a survey-grade PDF from the field via the report builder. Customise the title and subtitle, choose which summary rows to include (computed and custom fields), and toggle sections — boundary segments, vertices, site map, disclaimer, and notes. Add your company logo, name and contact line for the header, or keep the default Acrea wordmark; your branding and section choices are remembered. The report includes a static site map, total area and perimeter, multi-format coordinates for every vertex, a site-centroid reference coordinate, the coordinate datum (WGS 84 / EPSG:4326), and a full metes-and-bounds legal description. It works on unsaved drafts too.

Legal descriptionPro

Generate a metes-and-bounds legal description for an area and copy it or share it as a text file — available on the detail screen beneath the export actions.

GIS & CAD formats (single measurement)Pro

From a saved measurement’s detail screen you can export to:

• KML / KMZ — Google Earth, QGIS, ArcGIS (KMZ is compressed).
• GeoJSON — web maps, QGIS, developers.
• DXF — AutoCAD, Civil 3D, BricsCAD.
• Shapefile — ArcGIS, QGIS, land registries.
• CSV — spreadsheets and CAD point import (round-trip importable).

Bulk exportPro

Export any selection of measurements — or all of them at once — as a single multi-feature file in any of the six formats. A format picker shows each option with a one-line “best for” description. The output is one combined file: a GeoJSON FeatureCollection, a KML/KMZ Document with N Placemarks, sectioned CSV, DXF with N polyline entities, or a multi-record Shapefile bundle.

Share a map imageFree

From the measurement panel, share a clean snapshot of the parcel. Acrea auto-frames the shape and centres it in a 4:5 portrait so it displays large in messaging apps, and attaches a caption with the measured value plus a tappable Google Maps link to the parcel’s centre.

Surveys often take you beyond cell range. With Acrea Pro, no signal won’t stop your work.

Download a regionPro

Before heading out, open Offline maps, tap Choose an area on map, and frame the region (you can search to jump there first). Name the area and download its tiles — including high-resolution satellite imagery. The download button is disabled without an internet connection (downloading needs it), and very large areas are flagged so you can tighten the box.

Use it in the fieldPro

Once downloaded, you have full access with zero connection: view the map, drop GPS vertices, measure, cut out holes, and save jobs. Tap a completed region to preview it — “View on map” switches to Mapbox and frames the area, with a one-tap strip to return to online mode. Swipe to delete a region (with confirmation).

Note: downloading is engine-independent and works while Google is displayed, but viewingdownloaded tiles uses the Mapbox engine.

Open Settings from the map controls. Everything you can configure:

• Units — Area (Automatic, m²/km², hectares, acres, perches, ft²), Distance (Automatic, km, miles, metres, feet), and the default Coordinate format (Decimal degrees, DMS, MGRS, UTM, Plus Code).
• Organisation — manage Categories (create, colour, edit, delete).
• Data — Import measurements from a file.
• Location access — current status and a guided fix when GPS or permission is off.
• Membership — upgrade to Acrea Pro, manage your subscription (RevenueCat Customer Center: cancel, refund, plan changes), and restore purchases.
• Language — Acrea is translated into 11 languages (English, Arabic, German, Spanish, Filipino, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Vietnamese).
• Appearance — System, Light, or Dark theme.
• About — app info and the Scope & disclaimer (accuracy notes and legal scope).
• Privacy & legal — Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
• Data management — Delete all data (with confirmation).

Acrea is free to use for everyday measuring and organising. Acrea Pro unlocks the professional toolkit, the Mapbox map engine and offline maps, and removes the saved-measurement cap. When you tap a locked tool, Acrea shows a preview of what it does and a path to upgrade — you can always back out, so free users are never trapped.

Manage or restore your subscription anytime from Settings → Membership.