Site intelligence for California landscape architects & designers

Site analysis in minutes, not weeks.

Grade, shade, soil, fire, water — Lekua reads them from the county record and hands back a layered .dxf base plan and a planting palette matched to the parcel.

Free to search any site · .dxf opens in AutoCAD, Vectorworks, SketchUp Pro · PDF report

Built on the records reviewers already trustCounty GIS & LiDARCAL FIREUSDA SSURGOUSGS 3DEPCalscape

Why site analysis

The right plants in the right places.

A base plan, not a shape dump.

Not streets-and-massing — your parcel: boundaries with bearings, 1′ LiDAR contours, measured structures and trees.

Minutes, not a three-week quote.

Planning-grade, from the county’s own survey records. Surveyors are for when you build.

It ends in a plant list.

Four-season sun and shade, modeled against measured canopy — carried all the way into natives, guilds, WUCOLS water, and a MWELO budget.

One address in — the whole pre-design file out

Contours @ 1′
county LiDAR, labeled
Structures
footprints, measured heights
Sun, four seasons
30-min shadows, canopy included
Tree canopy
per-tree heights from the 1 m model
Defensible space
CAL FIRE Zones 0/1/2, drawn
Soil profile
SSURGO pH, texture, organics
Native palette
six plant layers, matched to the parcel
Planting guilds
what thrives together, fire-placed
WUCOLS ratings
regional water use, not state averages
MWELO budget
ETo figures, application-ready
Rebates resolved
your water district’s programs
Client-ready PDF
8 pages, every figure sourced

What lands on your desk

Two files. One opens your drawing; one opens your client meeting.

The base plan — layered .dxf

  • — PROPERTY-LINE + bearings
  • — SETBACK-ENVELOPE drawn
  • — EASEMENTS county GIS
  • — UTILITIES buried mains
  • — CONTOURS-1FT labeled
  • — SLOPE-BANDS 5 / 15 / 30%
  • — SPOT-ELEVATIONS gridded
  • — STRUCTURES measured hts
  • — FIRE-ZONES 0 / 1 / 2
  • — ENVIRONMENTAL boundaries
  • — NORTH + SCALE-BAR
  • — TITLE-BLOCK zoning cited

Opens in AutoCAD · Vectorworks · SketchUp Pro — DXF R12, the interchange every studio reads. Layers named to the U.S. National CAD Standard.

The report — 8 pages, client-ready

Existing conditions · seasonal sun · palette · climate & soil.

Every figure carries its source. When the plan checker asks “says who?” — the sheet answers.

From site data to plant list

The analysis doesn’t stop at the base plan.
It walks into the planting plan.

The analysis that draws your contours also picks your plants: natives in six plant layers, matched to soil, sun, and rainfall — in guilds, placed by fire zone, watered by WUCOLS, budgeted under MWELO.

Sunny · low water — 13Moist shade · swale — 9Dry shade · understory — 6+ 35 more, ranked for this site
58 / 58CA counties covered
1′contours where county LiDAR exists
minutesfrom address to base plan
$0to search a site

Questions, answered straight

›What file formats does it export?

A layered DXF (AutoCAD R12) base plan that opens in AutoCAD, Vectorworks, and SketchUp Pro — plus a client-ready PDF site report.

›Which counties are covered?

All 58 California counties. Contours are 1′ where county LiDAR exists; USGS elevation data elsewhere.

›Is it survey-grade?

No — planning-grade, from county GIS and LiDAR records, for pre-design analysis and concept work. Construction staking still belongs to a licensed surveyor.

›How does the planting palette work?

Natives are matched to the parcel’s soil, modeled sun zones, and rainfall — in guilds, with defensible-space placement, WUCOLS water ratings, and MWELO budget figures.

›What does it cost?

Searching and analyzing a site is free.

Know the site before you draw a line.

Type an address. Judge the output on a project you know.