Both turn open map data into files for your design tools. CADMapper stops at CAD linework and massing; Mantle Place adds aerial imagery, a real elevation model, and real-world coordinates.
CADMapper and Mantle Place both turn open map data into files your design tools open. CADMapper is built for quick CAD context: draw a rectangle, pick AutoCAD, SketchUp, Rhino, Illustrator, or Archicad, and download roads, extruded buildings, and topography as a mesh or contours, placed at the model origin. It is free up to 1 km² with an account and paid up to 100 km² per file. Mantle Place delivers the site itself, georeferenced: aerial imagery (NAIP at 1 m or finer in the US, 10 m Sentinel-2 elsewhere), the finest native elevation for the area as a GeoTIFF DEM, a vector basemap, building massing where mapped, and more. Contours, a Civil 3D LandXML surface, CAD linework, and more come in the same bundle at no extra cost, and the free importer turns it into an Unreal Landscape. Choose CADMapper for fast native CAD linework; choose Mantle Place when the drawing has to sit on real ground, in real coordinates, with the imagery underneath.
Competitor details checked against cadmapper.com, its help pages and its terms.
CAD Atlas, ContourMap.app, and Mantle Place all export DXF. Mantle Place writes a georeferenced Linework.dxf: the buildings, roads, water, and contours on named layers in real projected coordinates, plus a plan sheet as PDF and SVG. CADMapper places its model at the origin. Mantle Place is free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km².
On Mantle Place, yes. After you draw the area, the free Site Brief shows the site in 3D with its buildings at true scale, a sun and shadow study, and its relief, slope, and land cover, all before checkout and with no account needed.
CADMapper places its model at 0,0,0 in meters. Every Mantle Place layer is georeferenced to one shared extent, so the contours, imagery, and DEM land where the site actually is and meet survey and GIS data without being moved by hand.
The bundle carries aerial imagery clipped to your area, NAIP at 1 m or finer across the US and 10 m Sentinel-2 elsewhere, ready as a site-plan underlay or draped over the terrain mesh. CADMapper does not list imagery among its outputs.
Every order gets the finest native elevation available for the area, reported honestly in the manifest, as a GeoTIFF DEM. Contours, a terrain mesh, a LandXML surface, and more come with it at no extra cost.
Free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km², rounded up to the whole dollar, and shown before you pay. CADMapper states a free tier up to 1 km² and a small fee above it, with the amount shown inside its app.
| Dimension | Mantle Place | CADMapper | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you download | A georeferenced site bundle: imagery, DEM, vectors, and more | A CAD file of roads, buildings, and topography | For a quick massing base in CAD, one CADMapper file is fast. For a site you will render, grade, or coordinate against survey, the bundle carries what the linework leaves out. |
| Coordinates | Georeferenced, every layer on one extent | Model at the origin (0,0,0), in meters | An origin-placed model is simple to open, but it has to be positioned by hand before it can meet GIS, survey, or civil data. |
| Aerial imagery | Included: NAIP in the US, Sentinel-2 elsewhere | Not listed among its outputs | Imagery is what makes a site read as a place in a presentation, and it is often the layer teams end up hunting for separately. |
| Native design-tool files | Georeferenced CAD linework, plan sheets, contours, and more | DXF, SketchUp, Rhino 3DM, Illustrator, Archicad | CADMapper writes SketchUp and Rhino files directly. Mantle Place relies on exchange formats those tools import, so CADMapper saves a step there. |
| Area per order | Up to 64 km² per order | Up to 100 km² per file, drawn as a rectangle | CADMapper allows the larger single download. For context wider than 64 km², split it across orders or take the outer ring from CADMapper. |
| Pricing | Free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km² | Free up to 1 km², then a fee shown in the app | The Mantle Place free tier is twice the area and its paid price is public and linear, so a project budget can be set before anyone signs in. |
| Real-time and 3D tools | Unreal importer, glTF, OBJ, USDZ, and more | Not a stated workflow | If the site continues into a real-time engine or a renderer, Mantle Place carries textured terrain the whole way; CADMapper is aimed at CAD and illustration. |
Yes, when you need more than CAD linework. Mantle Place delivers a georeferenced bundle with aerial imagery, the finest native elevation for the area, a vector basemap, building massing where mapped, and more, which opens in CAD, BIM, GIS, and real-time tools.
CADMapper does not list imagery among its outputs; its files carry roads, buildings, water, and topography as linework and meshes. A Mantle Place bundle includes aerial imagery clipped to the same extent as the terrain.
Yes. Every layer shares one real-world extent and coordinate reference, so the site lands in place beside survey and GIS data. CADMapper, by its own help page, places its model at the origin.
Mantle Place is free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km², rounded up to the whole dollar. CADMapper is free up to 1 km² and charges a fee above that, shown in its app, for files up to 100 km².
When you want native SketchUp, Rhino, or Illustrator linework for a large rectangle in minutes, or its free whole-city road files. For figure-ground diagrams and quick massing studies it is hard to beat.
Draw an area and see it in a free Site Brief before you pay. Download a bundle for Unreal, Revit, Civil 3D, QGIS, and more. Every format is built with your order, at no extra cost. $5 plus $2 per km², and 2 km² and under is free. Paid bundles are yours for good. Free bundles keep 30 days, or keep one permanently at its normal price.
Native plugins: Mantle Place for Unreal and Mantle Place for Revit.
