Total Living Area (3D)

Guide to Total Living Area Software

and Workflow Overview
 Table of Contents
This is meant to be a high-level overview of the software, and must be
supplemented by the video materials
1. Software Overview
2. Identify the appropriate building
3. Determine building structure
4. Draw TLA
5. Draw garage
6. Draw deck
7. Draw any other “void”
8. Draw “out-buildings”
9. Draw parcel
10. Answer questionaire
11. Submit
 Software Overview
1. Task info 2. Toolbar

3. Labeling attributes 4. Task area 5. Imagery

+ Questionnaire
 Step 1. Identify appropriate building

• Use various imagery and overlapping footprints (red marks applicable building) to
determine building you are to be drawing
Step 2. Determine building structure

• Based on the corresponding imagery,

this building can be identified as a “1
Story”
• As per the Total Living Area Guide, you
will need to use your best judgment to
draw the applicable floor area
Step 3. Draw TLA

• Ensure you’re using the “main” category to draw the main building TLA
• The software will automatically “shrink” the TLA drawing to account for roof
overhang and exterior wall depth – resulting in a dotted yellow line representing
the extent of the interior walls of the building
• This “shrink” can be edited by selecting “shrink buffer” in the toolbar
 Step 4. Draw garage

• Ensure you’re using the “garage” category to draw garage area (in this case, the garage is
a separate building)
• As a guide: standard garage size is 10feet long x 10 feet wide for each car door
• You do not need to shrink the garage area
 Step 5. Draw deck

• Ensure you’re using the “deck” category to draw deck / porch

• Deck area should not cross the red line (outer wall) of the building
• You do not need to shrink the deck area
 Step 6. Exclude any other “void”

• In the case where there is a porch area covered by the roof, or other area that should not
be included in the TLA (not applicable in this example)
• This way, the “void” area you draw with be excluded from the TLA calculation
 Step 7. Draw out-buildings

• No shrink

• Ensure you’re using the “out-building” category to draw out-buildings / sheds

• You do not need to shrink the out-building area
 Step 8. Draw parcel

• Ensure you’re using the “property” category to draw the parcel

• Parcel represents the legal land boundary – this is expected to be rough, and can be
estimated using fence-lines, side-walk/roads, and distance to neighboring buildings
 Step 9. Answer questionnaire

• Click on the “Questionnaire” tab

• Click the box “# stories”, then the appropriate number (remember: split stories count as .5)
• Double click the image on the right that led you to the answer (the image will then appear
red when selected)
 Step 10. Submit

• Right click on the task and either click “Submit Task”, or “Unsure and Submit”
• “Unsure and Submit” should only be in very ambiguous circumstances (ie. townhouse
where you cannot property see the division)
• In this scenario, a dialogue will comes, in which you must explain why you are uncertain