Markup

Colour parcels, name them in a legend, and put them on a printed sheet.

For GRIP Map users · September 2026

In this guide

1. What Mark up is — and what to know before you start
2. Start Mark up — the brush on the right-hand toolbar
3. The Mark up toolbar — every key, at a glance
4. Fill parcels — one at a time, or a block in one sweep
5. Take fills off with Unfill
6. Change one parcel with its bar — recolour, name, or clear it
7. Easements and parcels that overlap — hatched fills, and “Also here”
8. Name your colours in the legend — what goes on the sheet
9. More colours
10. Minimise, and come back — the markup stays on the map
11. Print your markup — fills and legend on the sheet
12. Measuring and marking up together
13. Clear the markup
14. On a phone
15. Keys, and quick answers

The walkthrough follows one job from start to finish: a resource consent where the neighbours of a subject site must be shown, some of whom have given written approval and one who has not, with a right of way easement nearby. Each section stands on its own, so you can go straight to the one you need.

1  What Mark up is

Mark up lets you colour parcels on the map — the job site, the neighbours, a road to be vested — and explain the colours in a legend. What you see on the map is what prints: the fills and the legend go straight onto a sheet from Print.

• Any parcel can be filled, including road and hydro parcels and easements. A fill sits under the boundary lines, so boundaries, labels and marks stay readable.
• The legend builds itself. Every colour you use gets a row, ready to be named. A row with no name is left off the sheet.
• One markup at a time. It stays on the map while you move around, open panels or measure, until you clear it.
• Mark up is for the desk. It opens on a computer. On a phone, a markup shows but cannot be changed.

2  Start Mark up

Mark up lives on the toolbar down the right-hand side of the map, between Quick measure and Print: the brush .

1. Click the brush . It lights up and the Mark up toolbar appears along the bottom of the map.
2. Read the line at the bottom left of the map. It always says what the current tool will do next, and why a greyed key is greyed.

Any panel that was open is put away, so it does not sit over the map you are colouring. You can still open a panel while Mark up is on.

3  The Mark up toolbar

	Key	What it does
1	Select	Click a parcel to open its bar — recolour it, name it, or clear it. Drag to move the map. Mark up starts in Select.
2	Fill	Click a parcel to fill it in the current colour. Hold the mouse down and sweep to fill a block. Click a filled parcel again to clear it.
3	Unfill	Click a filled parcel to clear it, or hold and sweep to clear a run of them. Greyed until a parcel is filled.
4	Legend	Name the colours, add a heading, and choose whether the legend shows on the map.
5	Colours	The colour for the next parcel you fill: blue, orange, red and purple, plus any you add.
6	More colours	Eight more preset colours, or any colour you like.
7	This markup	When this markup was started, and a reminder that it is not saved.
8	Minimise	Puts the toolbar away. The markup stays on the map.
9	Clear	Takes the whole markup off the map. It asks first. Greyed until there is something on the map.

Rest the pointer on any key for a moment and its name appears above it, with a longer description in the hint line.

4  Fill parcels

Fill one parcel

1. Pick a colour on the toolbar. The one in use has a white ring.
2. Click Fill .
3. Click a parcel. It fills, and the hint line names it — for example “Lot 21 DP 2257 filled · name this style in the legend so it prints”.

Fill a block in one sweep

1. Pick the next colour — here, blue.
2. With Fill still on, press and hold the mouse button on the first parcel.
3. Sweep across the parcels you want, then let go. Every parcel the pointer crosses is filled.

Then click the two lots either side of the site to fill them too.

5  Take fills off with Unfill

Sweeps are quick, and sometimes catch one parcel too many.

1. Click Unfill . It lights up and the pointer changes.
2. Click a filled parcel to clear it, or hold and sweep to clear a run of them. Parcels that are not filled are left alone.

Unfill is greyed until at least one parcel is filled. To clear one parcel without changing tool, use its bar instead (next section).

6  Change one parcel with its bar

In Select , click any parcel — filled or not — to open its bar. The bar sits just below the parcel, clear of it, and closes when you click anywhere else on the map.

	Key	What it does
1	Move	Drag the bar out of the way if it covers something you need to see.
2	Parcel name	The parcel’s appellation, so you know which one the bar is for.
3	Colours	Fill the parcel, or change its colour. Choosing a colour here also makes it the colour for your next fill.
4	Legend	Opens the legend to name this colour. Highlighted while the colour has no name, because an unnamed colour is left off the sheet.
5	Clear this fill	Clears this parcel only. The rest of the markup stays. The Delete key does the same.

In this job one neighbour has not given approval, so their lot changes to red. The bar stays open and shows the new colour.

7  Easements and parcels that overlap

Some parcels lie over others: an easement over the lot it burdens, for example. To fill easements, turn on Non Primary under Parcels in Layer Control so they are on the map.

• A click where parcels overlap picks the smallest — usually the easement, which is what you were aiming for.
• The bar names it, and shows Also here with the parcel underneath. Click that to switch the bar to the other parcel. Where several overlap, each click steps to the next.
• An easement fill is hatched rather than solid, so it reads differently from a filled lot, and the lot beneath stays visible.

In the legend a colour used on lots and on easements gets two rows, one filled and one hatched, so each can be named for what it is.

8  Name your colours in the legend

Colours mean nothing on paper until they are named. Click Legend on the toolbar, or the legend key on a parcel’s bar. Every style in use is already listed, waiting for a name.

1. Type a heading if you want one. It prints above the rows, and prints only if you type one.
2. Type a name beside each swatch. Names appear on the map legend and the sheet as you type. There is nothing to save.
3. Use the arrows to put the rows in the order you want on the sheet.
4. Click × on a row to take its name off, which leaves that style off the sheet. The parcels stay filled.
5. Click Done.

With On the map switched on, the legend sits in the corner of the map, showing only the named rows — the same as the sheet will.

9  More colours

The toolbar starts with four colours. Click the dashed + for eight more presets, or pick any colour you like. Colours you add join the row on the toolbar and on the parcel bar, and Quick measure uses the same list.

10  Minimise, and come back

When you are done colouring, click Minimise . The toolbar goes, but the fills and the legend stay on the map, and clicking a parcel shows its information as usual. The brush on the right-hand toolbar gets a dot to remind you a markup is on the map.

To carry on, click the brush again. The same markup comes back, with the same colours and legend.

Click This markup on the toolbar at any time to see when the markup was started, and a reminder that it is not saved.

11  Print your markup

There is no separate shading or legend step in Print any more: whatever is on the map goes on the sheet.

1. Click Print on the right-hand toolbar. A note at the top of the panel says how many parcels are filled and how many styles are named. Open Mark up in the note takes you straight to the legend.
2. Click Show Print Area. The frame appears on the map, with a box inside it for the legend. Drag the frame, or the legend box inside it, to where you want them.
3. Fill in the title and your name, then click Create PDF.

12  Measuring and marking up together

Quick measure (the ruler, just above the brush) and Mark up share the map, one at a time.

• Click the brush while you are measuring and measuring is put away. Your measurements stay on the map, and the ruler gets a dot.
• Click the ruler to measure again. Mark up is put away the same way, with its fills left on the map.

13  Clear the markup

To start again, click Clear on the toolbar. It says exactly what will go before anything does.

• Clear takes every fill and the legend off the map. It cannot be undone.
• Keep it closes the question and changes nothing.

To take one parcel off, use Unfill or the parcel’s bar instead. To keep the fills but start the names again, use Clear legend… in the legend.

14  On a phone

Markup isn't currently supported on a phone.

15  Keys, and quick answers

Keyboard

Quick answers

I cannot drag the map.

Fill and Unfill use the drag to colour. Click Select, move the map, then pick the tool again. The mouse wheel zooms in any tool.

A key is greyed.

Click it anyway, or rest on it: the hint line says why. Unfill waits for a filled parcel, and Clear waits for something on the map.

The hint line says “No parcel there”.

The click landed on a road or open ground with no parcel. Zoom in and click inside the parcel.

A colour is missing from the sheet.

It has no name in the legend, or none of its parcels is inside the print area.

I clicked a filled parcel and it cleared.

In Fill, clicking a parcel already in the current colour clears it. Click again to fill it back.

My markup has gone.

Markups are not saved yet. Anything that reloads the page clears them, including closing the tab and GRIP Map renewing your sign-in after a tab has been open a long time.

Can I colour an easement?

Yes. Turn on Non Primary under Parcels in Layer Control, then click it. It fills hatched.

Setting up the sheet itself — paper size, scale, where the frame sits, the title block — is covered in its own guide, Map: printing and map production.