Introducing MapShare: send a link, not a ZIP

Most capture jobs finish the same way. The scan is done, the point cloud is clean, the model looks good. Then it has to get to the client.

Send the files and they need software to open a LAS. Send a video and they can't measure anything. Send a set of screenshots and the first reply asks for a different angle. Then comes the phone call: "How do I open this?"

MapShare is built for that last step. It's a product of Mirrormapper, an Australian business, and it does one job: it turns a drone or scanner capture into one link your client opens in a browser.

What MapShare is

A MapShare project is a single 3D scene. It can hold:

• a colourised point cloud (.las, .laz, or a Potree folder)
• a Gaussian splat, the photoreal model from your scanner or drone software (.ply, .splat, .ksplat, or an XGRIDS LCC2 folder)
• meshes (.obj, .glb, .gltf, .stl)
• GeoTIFF, GeoJSON and DXF, plus PDF drawings you line up with two points
• notes, measurements and photos you add in the scene
• live layers from ArcGIS and OGC feature services

Every layer sits in real-world coordinates, so the cloud, the splat and the drawings line up without you nudging them by hand.

Your client opens the link on a laptop, tablet or phone. There's nothing to install and no viewer to set up.

Who it's for

MapShare is for people who capture sites and hand them over:

• surveyors delivering existing-conditions and progress scans
• drone operators delivering photogrammetry and LiDAR
• scanning and reality-capture firms working with handheld SLAM scanners

And it's for the people on the other end of the link: builders, engineers, councils and asset owners who need to look at a site, measure something and get on with their day.

How delivery works

There are three steps.

1. Upload

Drag in the exports from your drone or scanner software. If you use a Share scanner, you can bring in a whole scan folder, or use MapShare Bridge, our Windows uploader, to pick projects straight from Share Studio or DJI Terra.

Finished point clouds and splats are converted for streaming on our servers in Sydney. Uploading a finished LAS, PLY or splat is included in your plan.

2. Arrange

Open the scene and check it. Add notes and measurements, sort them into folders, and set the start view your client will see first. If it helps tell the story, add cadastre, planning or hazard layers from the open data catalogue. There's no separate publish step before you share.

3. Share

Add your client by email. They get an email with a link that opens the scene in one click. They don't need an account, a password or any software.

If something changes, you update the project and the same link shows the change. No new ZIP, no "final_v3".

Private by default

Every project starts private. Only the people you add by email can open it. If someone forwards the link, anyone you didn't add is asked to sign in and can only ask you for access.

When you want a scene to be seen more widely, you have two options:

• Public link: anyone with the link can open it without signing in. You choose whether they can only look around, or can also use the tools. Nothing a public visitor does is saved.
• Website embed: put the scene on your own website, where visitors can orbit, pan and zoom.

You can switch either off at any time. Our security page has the detail.

What your client can do

On the link you send, people can:

• Measure distance, area, angle and volume, picked on the photoreal view, with the numbers taken from the point cloud
• Read notes, marks and photos you've placed, and switch folders on and off
• Turn layers on and off, for example to compare the splat with the raw cloud
• Meet in the scene with you, using voice, a laser pointer and side-by-side A/B views. The invite goes out from your connected Outlook or Google calendar, or from MapShare if you haven't connected one

What each person can do depends on the role you give them when you share: Viewer looks and measures, Annotator can add notes, Editor can edit.

Where the data lives

Your project files and the account database are stored in Sydney. Point clouds, splats and meshes are converted on servers in Sydney. Phone photo captures are currently processed on GPU servers outside Australia, and we say so on our security page, along with every provider that handles your data.

You can download your original files at any time.

What it costs

Sharing with clients by email is free on every plan, and clients always view free. You pay for what you host and process: projects, storage, branding and the data your viewers use. Plans start with a free Trial, and paid plans start at A$29 a month. See pricing for the details.

If you've bought a Share Scanner C1 or C1 Pro from Mirrormapper, twelve months of the Studio plan is included.

Try it

MapShare is open by invitation while we bring on our first customers. If you deliver scans to clients, request access and tell us what you capture. We'll get you set up.