Duranta's AI measures the property from aerial imagery. Sometimes you need an area on the map that isn't one of its segments: a new planter island, a bed you're about to install, a gravel strip you maintain, or a pond. You can add your own area in two ways:
Draw it and reclassify it. Draw the area into an existing shape, then give the new piece the right type, such as Beds or Water. It becomes part of that segment on the AI map, with its own square footage.
Create a work area. Build a named area from the segments that are there, such as a 2 ft mulch band around the beds or a trim strip along a fence. Use it when the area you'll service follows the edge of something the AI did measure.
Both are done on the property page in the web app.
Which one to use
You need to quote | Use |
An area that isn't one of the AI's segments: a new bed or planter, a pond, a gravel strip | Draw it and reclassify it |
A band or margin around something the AI did detect: edging, mulch ring, trim strip | A work area |
A one-off number for a single service in an estimate only | Custom draw or Entered number in the service's Service area |
Draw an area and reclassify it
You draw new areas while editing an existing shape. It doesn't matter which shape you start from: the new piece gets its own type in the last step.
1. Open the property and make sure Show AI map is on.
2. On the map, select any segment, for example Lawn. The right panel shows its area and perimeter.
3. Select Edit shape.
4. On the left, choose a drawing tool:
Free draw: hold and drag to trace the outline. Best for curved beds and ponds.
Node draw: click once for each corner, then click the first node to close the shape. Best for straight edges.
5. Draw the area, for example a new planter island that the map still shows as parking lot. It's added to the shape you're editing and shows in that shape's color.
Where your drawing covers another segment, that part moves into the shape you're editing.
6. Select Done to save. The shape's square footage now includes the new piece.
7. On the map, select just the new piece. The panel calls it Custom area and shows its own area and perimeter.
8. Select Reclassify as and choose the type it really is, for example Beds.
Duranta confirms with 1 segment reclassified as "Beds". The piece moves out of the shape you edited and into the new type, and both totals in the Service Areas list update.
The new area is now part of the AI map like any other segment. You can select it, add it to an estimate, or build a work area from it.
Fix the outline
While you're in Edit shape, you can refine what you drew before selecting Done:
Adjust: drag a node to move it, or drag the handle in the middle of an edge to add a node.
Erase: remove part of a shape, or a piece you drew by mistake.
Undo and Redo are the arrows above TOOLS.
For the details of adding, moving and deleting nodes, see How to insert and delete nodes when drawing on the AI map.
Select Cancel to leave without saving anything.
Create a work area instead
A work area is a named shape built from segments that are already on the map, plus a distance around them.
Use it when the area you need isn't a thing the AI could see, but a band along something it did measure: edging, a mulch ring, a trim strip.
1. On the map, select one or more segments to build from, for example Beds.
2. In the right panel, select + Create work area.
3. Set the Distance (how far the work area reaches past the selected area), choose what the work area May overlap, and give it a Name. Duranta suggests one, such as Beds + 3 ft. You can also:
Turn on Include the source area to include the selected area itself, not only the band around it.
Turn on Clip to the property boundary to keep the work area inside the property line.
Pick a Color for the work area on the map.
Select Adjust shape to change the outline by hand.
The Area updates as you change the settings. For more about each setting, see Work areas in the web app.
4. Select Save.
Find your work areas
Saved work areas are at the top of the Service Areas panel, under WORK AREAS, each with its name and square footage. Select a work area's name to zoom the map to it.
Eye: show or hide it on the map.
Pencil: change its distance, overlap or name.
Trash can: delete it.
+ Create service: add it to an estimate as a service. If the property doesn't have a client yet, Duranta asks you to add one first.
