Documentation

Everything about where Printopo's data comes from, what each export format is for, and how to get the best result on your printer or in your renderer.

How it works

1Pick a place — search or pan to anywhere on Earth in the Studio map.
2Drag a selection — draw a box over the area you want; the size readout updates live.
3Tune the model — vertical exaggeration, print plates, layers and model size, all under Options.
4Export — preview the model in 3D, then download the formats you need.

Data sources

For every area you select, Printopo picks the highest-resolution official source available, then falls back to global coverage. National surveys always win over global datasets.

SourceCoverageResolution
🇯🇵 GSI · Project PLATEAUJapan5 m
🇺🇸 USGS 3DEPUnited States10 m
🇳🇴 KartverketNorway10 m
🇬🇧 data.gov.ukUnited Kingdom10 m
🇦🇹 data.gv.atAustria10 m
🇪🇺 Copernicus EU-DEMEurope25 m
🇨🇦 NRCan CDEMCanada20 m
🇲🇽 INEGIMexico30 m
🇦🇺 Geoscience Australia · 🇳🇿 LINZAustralia / New Zealand5–30 m
🌍 NASA SRTM · NOAA ETOPO1Worldwide fallback30–90 m

Buildings and roads come from OpenStreetMap (© contributors, ODbL) worldwide, and from Project PLATEAU's surveyed city models in covered Japanese cities.

Export formats

Pick the format for your destination tool — every plan includes all of them.

STLFor 3D printing

The universal slicer format. Watertight, manifold, with a solid printable base. Opens in Bambu Studio, PrusaSlicer, Cura, and any other slicer.

3MFFor modern slicers

Like STL but with units and metadata baked in — no scale guessing. Preferred by Bambu Studio and PrusaSlicer.

GLB / glTFFor CG & real-time

Colored terrain and buildings for Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, three.js and Cinema 4D, at real-world scale.

DXFFor CAD

Site-plan linework in real meters for AutoCAD, Rhino, and drafting workflows.

IFC*For BIM

Site context geometry for Revit and Archicad — terrain surface plus building masses. In development.

SVG / PNGFor design

Editable vector layers and renders for Figma, Illustrator and slides.

* IFC export is on the roadmap — geometry-first, semantic classification will follow.

Printing tips

✓Exaggerate flat terrain. For lowland cities, 1.5–2× vertical exaggeration keeps relief visible at desk scale.
✓Mind the base. A 3–5 mm base prevents warping and gives the model a clean edge to hold.
✓Scale to your plate. The Studio shows real-world dimensions at your chosen print size — a 10 km area at 200 mm is 1:50,000.
✓Split large areas into plates. Options → Print plates tiles the model into a grid that shares one continuous terrain.

Licensing & attribution

Models you export are yours to use — personal and commercial use is included on every plan, including selling physical prints (see the Terms of Service).

Some underlying data carries attribution requirements when you republish a model or renders of it:

  • OpenStreetMap — "© OpenStreetMap contributors" (ODbL) when buildings or roads are included.
  • Project PLATEAU — "国土交通省 Project PLATEAU" (CC BY 4.0) for Japanese surveyed city models.
  • Terrain — NASA SRTM, USGS 3DEP, NOAA ETOPO1, Copernicus EU-DEM and national agencies, distributed via AWS Terrain Tiles.

Question not covered here? Contact us →