To use the measuring tools when viewing the plans online you need the Adobe PDF Reader 8 or above. This guide has been written for Adobe PDF Reader version 9. Please note that not all plans have the measuring tools enabled.
Use the measuring tools to measure distances and areas of objects in PDF documents. When you use a measuring tool, the Measurement Info panel shows information about the measurement, such as current measurement, delta values, and scale ratio.
Once the plan you require is open, you need to select the measuring tool from within Adobe Reader.
If you save the file and open it in adobe reader you need to do the following:
Choose Tools > Analysis > Measuring Tool
If you open the file in your browser – i.e. from Public Access then you need to do the following:
Right click on a blank part of the adobe toolbar and select 'Measuring' to show the measuring toolbar.
Once the measuring toolbar is visible, you can just select the tool you require without going through the menus.
Note: You can also finish a measurement by right-clicking/Control-clicking and choosing Complete Measurement from the context menu.
When you have the tool selected (distance, perimeter or area), you need to enter the scale ratio.
The most commonly used scales on our plans are as follows:
1:50 set the scale to 1cm = 0.5m
1:100 set the scale to 1cm = 1m
1:200 set the scale to 1cm = 2m
1:500 set the scale to 1cm = 5m
1:1000 set the scale to 1cm = 10m
1:1250 set the scale to 1cm = 12.5m
1:2500 set the scale to 1cm = 25m
When the above ratios are used, measuring your selected line or area and the distance/area will be displayed in metres. All plans should have the scale clearly marked on them.
While measuring objects please note that:
For documents that have been scanned the snapping will not work.
To constrain the measurement lines to increments of 45º, hold down the Shift key.
To discontinue a measurement, right-click and choose Cancel Measurement.
To delete a measurement markup, click it with the Measurement Tool and press Delete.
Use the right-click menu to set measuring tool options.
Change Scale Ratio: Change the scaling ratio (such as 3:2) and unit of measurement on the drawing areas.
Change Markup Label: Add or change text that appears with the measurement.
Disable/Enable Measurement Markup: When enabled, the measurement lines you draw are added to the PDF. When disabled, the measurement lines disappear when you measure another object or select another tool.
Turn Ortho On/Off: When enabled, measurement lines are orthographic only.
Show/Hide Rulers: Show or hide vertical and horizontal rulers on the page. (Has the same effect as choosing View > Rulers.)
Snap To Page Content/Don’t Snap To Page Content: Turn all Snap Enables on or off.
Export Measurement Markup To Excel: Save the information for all the measurements in your PDF to a CSV file.
