Support
Answers to common questions. Anything not covered here, email us at the bottom.
Getting started
What does rescape.earth do?
Draw a region on the map and we generate a downloadable model of it — buildings and terrain — as a CAD or 3D-print file. Pick the area, choose your format, and we process the job and hand back the file.
What formats do I get — DXF or STL?
DXF — a 2D/3D CAD drawing with buildings and terrain on named layers, in real-world meters. Open it in AutoCAD, Rhino, Fusion, QGIS, or anything that reads DXF.
STL — a solid, watertight mesh built for 3D printing. Drop it straight into a slicer; it's volume-exact with a flat base so it sits on the bed.
What units and origin is the model in?
Everything is in meters, projected to the local UTM zone, with the model placed near a local origin (not raw lat/long), so coordinates stay small and CAD-friendly.
Using your file
How do I open the DXF?
Any CAD or GIS tool that reads DXF works — AutoCAD, BricsCAD, Rhino, Fusion 360, SketchUp (via import), QGIS. Set drawing units to meters. Buildings and terrain arrive on separate named layers so you can toggle or restyle them.
How do I print the STL?
Import it into your slicer (Cura, PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio, etc.) and scale to taste — the mesh is exported at 1:1 in meters, so you'll usually scale it down to fit the bed. It's watertight with a flat foundation, so it should slice without repair.
Coverage, data & limits
Where does the data come from?
Buildings come from Overture Maps, which combines OpenStreetMap and machine-learning building footprints. Terrain comes from open elevation data (USGS 3DEP in the US, plus regional sources elsewhere), rendered at roughly 10 m resolution.
My rural area has few or no buildings — why?
That's almost always genuine sparsity in the underlying data, not a gap on our end — we pull the full footprint set with no filtering. Rural and remote regions simply have fewer mapped buildings. Dense urban areas come through fully.
How large an area can I export?
Self-serve exports run up to 120 km². Regions over 30 km² are generated as parallel tiles automatically. STL exports cap at 36 km² (3D meshes are heavier than CAD drawings).
Need bigger — a whole city, a county, or batch jobs? We run those on dedicated capacity; just get in touch.
Pricing & billing
How much does an export cost?
Regions under 1 km² are free. At or above that, the price is a $5 base plus $0.6/km². The exact amount for your region is always shown before you pay.
Was I charged if my export failed?
You're only charged when an export completes successfully. If a job fails, the payment isn't captured. If you think you were charged for a job you never received, email us and we'll sort it out.
Jobs
How long does a job take?
Most regions finish in a minute or two. Large or high-detail exports take longer — the job page shows live progress, and you can leave it and come back; finished files also appear under your account.
My job failed or got stuck — what now?
First, try resubmitting — transient failures usually clear on a retry. A smaller region or a lower-detail format (DXF instead of STL) also helps for very large areas. If it keeps failing, email us the job ID and we'll take a look.
How long are my downloads available?
Finished files are listed under your account and stay available for a while after the job completes. Download a copy you want to keep — links can expire.
Still need help?
Email us and we'll get back to you. Including a job ID, a screenshot, or the bounding box you're after helps us answer faster.
hello@rescape.earth