You can upload a georeferenced PDF or images straight to your Birdi map. Birdi reads the coordinates stored in the PDF and places the drawing in the right spot automatically, without you having to align anything by hand. If your PDF has several pages, you choose which ones to add, and each page becomes its own layer.
What you get depends on what's in the PDF:
Drawings with vector data (e.g. PDFs exported from CAD) are converted into a vector layer in their original colours. They stay sharp at any zoom, you can hide individual CAD layers, and you get all of Birdi's vector styling options.
Scanned or image-only PDFs come in as a raster image of the page. You can adjust their opacity.
Available on all Birdi plans.
Tip: Got a PDF or image with no coordinates? You can still put it on the map. See How to add a PDF or image without coordinates to your map.
When to use georeferenced PDFs
Overlay design drawings, site plans or setout plans on your latest orthomosaic
Check as-built progress against the design
Compare a scanned historical plan with current site conditions
Share consultant drawings with your team in the same map view as your capture data
Step-by-step: adding a georeferenced PDF to your map
1. Open your map
Go to the Birdi map you want to add the drawing to.
2. Open the uploader
Click +Add data in the left-hand sidebar, then select Upload files.
3. Select your PDF
Drag and drop your PDF into the uploader, or browse to select it.
If Birdi recognises the file as a georeferenced PDF, it detects the file type for you.
Tip: Only single-page georeferenced PDFs are added as map layers. Other PDFs still upload as documents, the same as before.
4. Choose your pages (multi-page PDFs only)
When the upload finishes, click Next: choose pages. This appears where View map usually is.
Pick the pages you want. Each page becomes its own layer in a Geo-ref PDF folder.
If a page already has coordinates, it goes straight onto the map.
If a page doesn’t have coordinates, it opens the alignment screen so you can place it yourself. See [How to add a drawing or image without coordinates to your map].
Tip: If you close the window before choosing, the file stays in the Layers panel with a choose pages tag. Click the tag to pick up where you left off.
5. Let Birdi convert it to a layer
Birdi uploads the file and turns it into a map layer. When it’s finished, the drawing appears in the Layers panel inside a Geo-ref PDF folder, already positioned on the map.
PDFs with embedded linework or shapefile data become a vector overlay.
PDFs without vector data (e.g. scans) are rasterised into an image of the page.
6. Style your drawing
Select the layer in the Layers panel to open the Layer toolbox, then open the Style tab.
For vector drawings:
Hide individual CAD layers to show only the linework you need
Use the existing vector styling options to adjust colours, line weight and opacity
For rasterised (scanned) drawings:
Use the opacity slider to fade the drawing so you can compare it with the imagery underneath
Tip: Set the opacity to around 50–70% to see the drawing and the orthomosaic clearly at the same time.
7. Download the original (optional)
Click Download to get the original PDF file.
8. Edit or adjust your map overlays
You can come back to your overlays at any time.
Fine-tune the alignment: right-click the overlay in the Layers panel and choose Adjust alignment.
Add more pages from the same PDF: right-click the original PDF in the Layers panel and choose Add as map overlay again.
Finish pages you skipped: click the choose pages or needs alignment tag in the Layers panel to pick up where you left off.
Change the opacity: select the overlay to open the Layer toolbox, then use the opacity slider in the Style tab.
Best practice tips
Check that your PDF is georeferenced before you upload it. Most CAD and GIS exports have a “geospatial PDF” or “GeoPDF” option.
Export one sheet per PDF. Multi-page PDFs upload as documents, not map layers.