Put the map on a sheet: the print area, the paper and scale, a title block with your name and logo, and the settings your browser keeps for next time.

A finished sheet: the map inside the print area, the legend from Mark up, and the title block along the foot.

Figure 1. A finished sheet: the map inside the print area, the legend from Mark up, and the title block along the foot.

In this guide

  1. What Print does
  2. Before you print — the layers you can see are the layers that print
  3. Open Print — the print area appears with the panel
  4. The Print panel — every setting, in five folding sections
  5. Place the print area — drag it to move, drag a corner to resize
  6. Sheet — paper, orientation, scale, label size, and the defaults
  7. Title block — what this sheet is called, and who made it
  8. Settings — the cog: Map defaults for your account, Print settings for this browser
  9. Appearance — lighten or darken the imagery, weight the boundaries
  10. On the sheet — the legend
  11. Output — a PDF sheet, or a JPEG of the map alone
  12. Create the PDF
  13. What is on the sheet — the title block, part by part
  14. Next time — what comes back, and what is offered back
  15. Quick answers

This guide follows one job to paper: a site plan, with one property and its neighbours already coloured in Mark up. It is the same job whether you are a surveyor, a planner, a property professional or working for a council — the sheet, the settings and the steps do not change. Each section stands on its own, so you can go straight to the one you need.

1  What Print does

Print takes what is on the map and puts it on a PDF sheet at a scale you choose, with a title block that records who made it, when, at what scale, and which data it was drawn from.

  • The print area decides the extent. Everything inside it prints; everything outside it does not.
  • Paper size and scale decide how much ground the print area covers. Change either and the area redraws on the map, so you see what fits before you make anything. Drag a corner and the scale follows.
  • What you see is what prints. The layers you have on, and any colours and legend from Mark up, go straight onto the sheet.
  • Your name, firm and logo are set once. They live in Settings, under Print settings, and come back every visit, on this browser.
  • The sheet is a PDF, downloaded to your computer like any other file — or a JPEG of the map alone, for dropping into a report.

2  Before you print

Set the map up the way you want the sheet to look, because the sheet takes the map as it stands. Open Layer Control on the right-hand toolbar and turn on what the plan needs, and off what it does not.

Layer Control: what is on here is what prints.

Figure 2. Layer Control: what is on here is what prints.
Good to know  The title block lists the sources behind the layers you printed, and it builds that list from the layers that were actually on. Turning off a layer you do not need keeps the attribution honest as well as the sheet clean.

3  Open Print

Print is the printer at the bottom of the right-hand toolbar, below Mark up.

The Print key on the right-hand toolbar.

Figure 3. The Print key on the right-hand toolbar.

Click it and two things happen at once: the Print panel opens on the right, and the print area appears on the map — centred on what you were looking at, and sized to fill most of it. The map outside the area is dimmed: what is clear is what prints.

Print as it opens: the print area (1) on the map, and the panel beside it with Create PDF (2) at its foot.

Figure 4. Print as it opens: the print area (1) on the map, and the panel beside it with Create PDF (2) at its foot.
Note  Closing the panel leaves the print area where it is, with a small pill under it: Print panel brings the panel back, Done takes the area off the map. Your settings are kept either way.

4  The Print panel

The panel holds every setting for the sheet, in five sections. Each section folds, and a folded section says in one line what it is set to — so the panel reads top to bottom as a description of what you are about to print. Click a section’s heading to open or fold it. The panel holds controls and status only; the ? beside its name opens a short explanation of every section.

The Print panel with every section folded, numbered to match the table below.

Figure 5. The Print panel with every section folded, numbered to match the table below.
  Key What it does
1 Printing help The ? opens a box that explains each section in a few lines, in the panel’s order.
2 Sheet Paper size, orientation, scale and label size. Folded, it reads like “A4 · Portrait · 1:1,000 · Labels M”.
3 Title block The title, subtitle and job number for this sheet, and the name, firm and logo that come from Print settings.
4 Appearance How strong the aerial imagery prints, and how heavy the property boundaries are.
5 On the sheet The legend from Mark up, what the sheet does with survey marks, and the statements that print on every sheet.
6 Output A PDF sheet or a JPEG of the map alone, and the sources line the sheet will carry.
7 Create PDF Draws the sheet and downloads it. It is always at the foot of the panel, whatever is folded. It reads Save JPEG when the output is a JPEG.
8 The footer The sheet in one line, and under it either what is stopping the export, a warning, or a note that your settings are saved in this browser.
Tip  If Create PDF is greyed, the footer says why — an unusable scale, a legend with no heading — and Fix it takes you to the place to fix it.

The Printing help box, from the ? in the panel’s head.

Figure 6. The Printing help box, from the ? in the panel’s head.

5  Place the print area

The print area is dragged, not the map. Put the pointer anywhere inside it, hold, and move it over the ground you want. The pointer shows a hand inside the area and a resize arrow at each corner.

The print area (1) over the job, and the legend box (2) inside it. Drag inside the area to move it; drag a corner to resize it.

Figure 7. The print area (1) over the job, and the legend box (2) inside it. Drag inside the area to move it; drag a corner to resize it.
  1. Drag the print area until the job sits inside it, with a little room at the edges.
  2. Drag a corner to make the area bigger or smaller. The corner opposite stays put on the ground, and the Scale box in the Sheet section follows.
  3. Drag the legend box to a corner where it covers nothing you need to show.
  4. Zoom or pan the map underneath if you need to; the print area is anchored to the ground and stays where you put it.
  5. Lost it, or moved on to another part of the map? Reset print area in the Sheet section brings it back to the middle of the map, fitted to it.

After a corner drag: the area is smaller (1), and the Scale box (2) shows the scale it now prints at.

Figure 8. After a corner drag: the area is smaller (1), and the Scale box (2) shows the scale it now prints at.
Tip  The legend box only appears once Mark up has a named style and the legend is on in On the sheet. If there is no box, nothing is named yet — click the brush and name your colours.
Good to know  The print area stays where you leave it even with Print closed, so a trip to Layer Control, to Mark up or to a parcel and back finds it where it was. While Mark up or Quick measure is on, that mode has the whole map and the print area waits beneath it. On a phone the panel lies across the lower part of the screen with the print area above it.

6  Sheet

The Sheet section, numbered to match the table below.

Figure 9. The Sheet section, numbered to match the table below.
  Key What it does
1 Paper A4, A3, A2 or A1. A size your browser cannot draw at print resolution stays in the row but greyed, and says so when you hover it.
2 Orientation Portrait or landscape. The little sheet beside it shows where the title block goes: along the foot in portrait, down the right edge in landscape.
3 Scale The map scale as a number: 1000 means 1:1000, anywhere from 10 to 50,000. A bigger number covers more ground and shows less detail. Dragging a corner of the print area sets it too.
4 Label size S, M or L: how large the labels on the sheet print — property labels, road names, survey marks. It does not change the map scale.
5 Reset print area Puts the print area back on the middle of the map you can see, fitted to it.

Paper size and orientation set the shape and size of the print area on the map. Change either one and the area redraws around the same centre, so you can see immediately whether the job fits.

The same job at A3 landscape: a wider print area over the same ground, at the same scale.

Figure 10. The same job at A3 landscape: a wider print area over the same ground, at the same scale.

Scale is the number after the one: 1000 prints at 1:1000. The paper stays the same size, so a bigger number fits more ground into it.

  • 1:500 — a single property and its immediate neighbours, with room for the detail.
  • 1:1000 — a block, which suits most site plans.
  • 1:2000 and beyond — a locality plan, where the shape of the area matters more than the detail.

The same A4 portrait print area at 1:2000: twice the ground, half the detail.

Figure 11. The same A4 portrait print area at 1:2000: twice the ground, half the detail.

The scale you choose is printed in the title block as 1:1,000 @ A4, with a scale bar beside it, so anyone measuring off the sheet knows what they are measuring.

7  Title block

Only this sheet’s own words are typed here. The name, firm and logo that print with every sheet are shown for reference and set in Settings — Change beside any of them opens Print settings.

The Title block section, numbered to match the table below.

Figure 12. The Title block section, numbered to match the table below.
  Key What it does
1 Title Printed large in the middle of the title block. If it is long, a hint under the box says how many characters fit a line at this paper size, and how many lines the title will take.
2 Subtitle Printed on the line under the title, smaller.
3 Job A job or file reference. It prints on the same line as the subtitle, as “Job 4821”.
4 Prepared by, Firm, Logo From Print settings, in the Settings box. Empty, each says where to set it.

All of them are optional. A sheet prints with every one of them empty — the footer only warns you that there is no title.

8  Settings

Settings are the cog at the foot of the map, bottom right. One box, two tabs: Map defaults — where the map opens, which layers are on, the plan district — are saved to your account and follow you to any computer. Print settings are kept in this browser until you change them: your details, and the defaults every new sheet starts from.

The Settings cog at the foot of the map.

Figure 13. The Settings cog at the foot of the map.

From Print, Change beside your name, firm or logo in the Title block opens the box straight onto the Print settings tab.

Settings on the Print settings tab: the tabs (1), your details (2), and the new sheet defaults (3).

Figure 14. Settings on the Print settings tab: the tabs (1), your details (2), and the new sheet defaults (3).
  Key What it does
1 Map defaults / Print settings The two tabs. Each says where what it holds is kept.
2 Your details Prepared by and Firm print in the title block. Logo takes a PNG, JPEG or SVG and prints in the title block’s corner. A small image is accepted but the box warns it may print soft — 500 pixels wide, or an SVG, comes out crisp.
3 New sheet defaults Paper, orientation, label size, output, imagery and boundary weight for every new sheet. Scale is either Fit to the map — sized to what you are looking at, as Print does out of the box — or Always a scale you type. Reset defaults, beside Done at the foot of the box, puts them back to GRIP Map’s own.
Good to know  Changing a sheet in the panel changes that sheet and never the defaults. If you always print at 1:1,000 on A3 landscape, set that here once and every sheet opens that way.
Tip  If you change the defaults while a sheet is being set up, Done asks whether to apply them to that sheet as well. The title block stays either way.
Note  Print settings live in this browser on this computer. They do not follow you to another browser or computer, and clearing your browsing data clears them. A private window keeps nothing at all, and the box says so.

9  Appearance

Appearance is how this sheet looks, and it starts from your defaults. Change it here and this sheet changes; the defaults do not.

The Appearance section.

Figure 15. The Appearance section.
  Key What it does
1 Imagery Lifts or lowers the aerial imagery so linework and labels read over it. 50% is the imagery as it is; above it the photograph lightens towards the paper, below it darkens. While Print is open the map changes too, so the screen shows what the sheet will.
2 Boundary lineweight Thin, medium or thick property boundaries on the sheet. Survey vectors, if that layer is on, take the weight but keep their own colours.

10  On the sheet

This section owns nothing of its own. It shows what the sheet will carry from elsewhere: the legend from Mark up, and, when a filter is hiding some of them, the survey marks. The sources and the disclaimer print on every sheet, written from what is on the map.

The On the sheet section, numbered to match the table below.

Figure 16. The On the sheet section, numbered to match the table below.
  Key What it does
1 Legend On or off. The rows under it are the legend as it will print: each named style from Mark up, with how many parcels wear it. Names are typed in Mark up, not here — Open Mark up takes you there.

A Survey marks row appears here only while the survey marks layer is on and a filter is hiding some of its orders, since those are left off the sheet too. Change filters beside it opens the filters and keeps the print area where it is. If you do not use survey marks you will never see the row.

There is no shading step and no legend step in Print. Both live in Mark up , the brush just above the printer, and whatever is on the map is what goes on the sheet.

Mark up on the right-hand toolbar, just above Print. Click the brush to shade parcels and name the legend.

Figure 17. Mark up on the right-hand toolbar, just above Print. Click the brush to shade parcels and name the legend.
Good to know  The legend on the sheet lists only the named styles that have a filled parcel inside the print area. Name a colour, print an area that does not reach it, and its row is left off that sheet. Move the area over it and the row prints.
Note  A legend with names but no heading holds the export: the footer says Add a legend heading, or clear the names, and Fix it opens the legend in Mark up.

11  Output

The Output section.

Figure 18. The Output section.
  Key What it does
1 Format PDF sheet is the full sheet: the map inside the frame, with the title block. JPEG, map only is the map alone, with the scale bar, north arrow, sources and GRIP credit in a strip along its foot, for dropping into a report. The title block fields do not print on a JPEG; they are kept for when you switch back.
2 Sources Written for you from what is on the map: LINZ property and contours, aerial imagery with the dates it was flown, underground services credited to their owners, and the date the property data is current to.

12  Create the PDF

Click Create PDF at the foot of the panel. The map is photographed at print resolution a section at a time, which takes a moment on a large sheet, and the file downloads when it is done.

While the sheet is made, the map is held still under a white wash and this card says how far it has got. Cancel stops it and leaves everything as it was.

Figure 19. While the sheet is made, the map is held still under a white wash and this card says how far it has got. Cancel stops it and leaves everything as it was.

The file is named after the sheet — Site plan — A4 — 2026-09-17.pdf — so a folder of them sorts by name and date. A sheet with no title saves as “Grip map”.

The sheet, as it downloads.

Figure 20. The sheet, as it downloads.
Note  Leave the tab alone while it works. A large sheet at a fine scale over aerial imagery is a big image, and the map is held still until the last section is taken.

13  What is on the sheet

The title block, numbered to match the table below.

Figure 21. The title block, numbered to match the table below.
  Key What it does
1 Prepared by, Firm From Print settings.
2 True north Always true north; the map does not turn.
3 Title The title, with the subtitle and job number on the line under it.
4 Sources Where the data on this sheet came from, from the layers that were on, and the date the property data is current to.
5 Disclaimer The standing note that the plan is illustrative and should be verified on site.
6 Scale For example 1:1,000 @ A4, with a scale bar to measure against.
7 Plotted The day and time the sheet was made, not the day the data was published.
8 Logo Your firm’s logo, from Print settings.
9 GRIP credit A small “Created in GRIP.co.nz” under the frame.

In landscape the same parts run down a column on the sheet’s right edge, with the logo at its foot.

14  Next time

Two kinds of thing are kept, and they come back differently.

  • Your details and defaults come back on their own. Name, firm, logo and the new sheet defaults, from Print settings, are applied to every sheet without asking.
  • The job is offered back. The title, subtitle, job number, paper, orientation, scale and label size of the last sheet you set up are offered when you next open Print — never applied on the sly, because the next job may be a different one.

Opening Print again: the last sheet is offered back. Use it takes all of it; Start fresh leaves you where you are.

Figure 22. Opening Print again: the last sheet is offered back. Use it takes all of it; Start fresh leaves you where you are.

Where the print area sat is never kept: it belongs to the map you were looking at.

15  Quick answers

Create PDF is greyed.

The footer says why. Usually the scale is outside 10 to 50,000, or the legend has names but no heading. Fix it takes you to the right place.

A paper size is greyed.

Your browser cannot draw a sheet that large at print resolution — hover it and it says so. Use a smaller sheet, or a coarser scale on a smaller sheet.

Something on the map is missing from the sheet.

Either its layer was off in Layer Control, or it sits outside the print area.

My colours did not print.

Colours come from Mark up. If a parcel is shaded but its colour has no name in the legend, the parcel still prints — it is the legend row that is left off. If nothing printed, the markup was cleared before the sheet was made.

A legend row is missing.

That style has no filled parcel inside the print area, or it has no name. Both are fixed in Mark up.

The labels are too small to read.

Set Label size to L in the Sheet section. It enlarges the labels without changing the map scale.

The aerial photo swamps the linework.

Turn Imagery down in Appearance. The map fades with it while Print is open, so you can judge it on screen.

Dragging moves the map, not the print area.

Start the drag inside the area. Starting outside it moves the map, which is what you want when you are placing the ground under an area you have already set.

My name and logo have gone.

They are kept in the browser they were set in. Another browser, another computer, or cleared browsing data starts from empty — set them again under the cog, in Print settings.

Where did Settings go?

Out of Tools and onto the map: the cog at the foot of the map, bottom right. Map defaults and Print settings are its two tabs.

I closed Print and the print area is still on the map.

It waits where you left it. Print panel on the pill under it brings the panel back to the same area; Done takes it off the map.

The print area is somewhere off the map.

Click Reset print area in the Sheet section. It comes back to the middle of the map you can see, fitted to it.

The contours on my sheet are too close together, or too far apart.

The interval is set on the Contours row in Layer Control. Auto follows the sheet’s scale while Print is open; choose a fixed interval there to override it.

Can I print from a phone?

Yes. Print is on the phone toolbar and works the same way. Mark up does not work on a phone, so colour parcels on a computer and print them there.

Colouring parcels and naming them in a legend is covered in its own guide, Map - mark up parcels and build a legend.

map printing