Stratum

Guides

Learn Stratum

Short, captioned walkthroughs. Built and tested by practicing Boston architects.

Full walkthrough

About 3 minutes, narrated. From a Boston parcel to a zoning check, start to finish.

  1. On the Map, search an address. This walkthrough uses 595 East Eighth Street, South Boston. The parcel card shows land use, zoning district and subdistrict.
  2. Add it to the canvas as a new project. In the zoning dossier, run the assessor step, then the zoning step for the Article 68 setbacks, FAR and height.
  3. Click the street edge and mark it Front, then click the back edge and mark it Rear. The dashed outline is the buildable area, 1,720 sq ft here.
  4. Draw the new building with the Rectangle tool inside the dashed line, then choose Use as building footprint.
  5. Open the 3D panel. Add massing to the existing house and check To be demolished. Add massing to the new footprint, click Proposed, and set four floors.
  6. FAR and height are checked against the district limits. Open the Zoning tab for the setbacks table: front 5 ft, side 3 ft, rear 20 ft, FAR 2, height 40 ft.

Import a parcel

About 57 seconds, narrated. Parcel import covers Boston addresses only for now.

  1. Open a project canvas and click Import parcel in the top bar to open the Zoning dossier.
  2. Type part of a Boston address (street number and name), then pick the matching suggestion. The parcel is drawn on the canvas at true scale.
  3. With the parcel selected, click "Set as project site" in the Properties panel.
  4. Zoom to fit the lot so every edge is visible.
  5. Click the street edge and choose Front, then click the back edge and choose Rear.
  6. The buildable envelope appears inside the setbacks.
  7. Open the Zoning tab to see the plot plan with setbacks and buildable area.

Sketch on the canvas

About 51 seconds, narrated.

  1. Open the shapes menu in the bottom toolbar, pick Rectangle, and drag to draw it.
  2. Open the same menu again, pick Line, and drag from start to end.
  3. Pick the pencil to draw freehand.
  4. Pick the Text tool, click where the label goes, type, then press Escape.
  5. With the Select tool, double-click a label to edit it, type the new text, and press Escape.
  6. Drag a box around a shape and its label, press Ctrl+G to group them, then drag to move them together.

Surrounding context

About 64 seconds, narrated.

  1. With a parcel placed, open the Zoning dossier and click Re-center / refresh to pull neighbouring lots and building footprints around your site.
  2. Open the Layers palette in the top bar.
  3. Toggle the neighbouring parcels eye to show or hide the lot backdrop.
  4. Toggle the building footprints eye to show or hide city footprint outlines.
  5. Zoom out so the surrounding lots frame your site.
  6. Drag a footprint on your own lot — Stratum marks it Edited.
  7. Click Reset to city data to put your lot footprints back.
  8. Right-click a neighbour footprint and choose Edit this footprint to convert it; Ctrl+Z returns it to the locked backdrop.

Import a PDF

About 46 seconds, narrated.

  1. Open the PDFs tab and click the drawing already in the project.
  2. When the viewer is ready, click Place on canvas.
  3. If Calibrate by line opens first, click Back to sheet/ratio.
  4. In Set drawing scale, confirm sheet size and scale ratio, leave Match the other drawings on this canvas selected, check REAL-WORLD SIZE, then click Continue.
  5. In Import image, choose Compressed (recommended) and click Import.
  6. The sheet lands on the canvas as a scaled image. Use Zoom to fit so the whole sheet is visible.

Scale an image and measure

About 49 seconds, narrated.

  1. Import a site-plan image (PNG or JPG) with Import Image on the bottom toolbar.
  2. Click the image so Properties opens, then click Calibrate scale….
  3. Click both ends of a known dimension (for example a 100 ft line on the drawing).
  4. Enter the real length (for example 100 ft), leave Match canvas selected, and click Apply. The image resizes to the canvas scale.
  5. Open the Measure tool, click two points on a scaled edge, then place the dimension line. A forty-foot side should read about 40'-0".

Switch dashboard views

About 32 seconds, narrated.

  1. Open your dashboard. Cards is the default view, with one card per project.
  2. Click the Bookshelf button (top right of the project list) to see projects as spines on a shelf.
  3. Click the List button for a compact, Finder-style table.
  4. In List, click a column header to sort.
  5. Stratum remembers your view the next time you open the dashboard.

Find a parcel on the map

About 82 seconds, narrated. Background on districts and overlays: Boston zoning viewer and map.

  1. Open Map from the top bar.
  2. Type an address in the search box at the top left. Short forms like 647 East 7th work.
  3. Pick the result. The map flies to the parcel and opens its card with the zoning district.
  4. Zoom in to see street numbers and the recorded lot dimensions from City of Boston Assessing.
  5. Click any parcel to open its card. Use the layer toggles to show or hide parcels, buildings and the permit heat map.
  6. Shift-click neighboring parcels to build an assemblage.
  7. Choose a project under Add to, then click Add to canvas. The parcels land on that project’s canvas, ready to sketch.

Read the permit heat map

About 67 seconds, narrated.

  1. Open the Map and search an address. The map flies to the parcel and opens its card.
  2. In the Layers panel, check Permit heat map. Buildings are colored by years since their last significant permit.
  3. Read the legend at the bottom left: Under 2 years, 2–5 years, 5–10 years, 10–20 years, None since 2006, and Not matched to a parcel (gray).
  4. The data is City of Boston approved permits, 2006 to Jul 21, 2026. Parcels and buildings cover the City of Boston only.
  5. Zoom out to compare blocks, then click any parcel to open its card.

Check massing in 3D

About 89 seconds, narrated.

  1. Select a closed polyline or sketch inside the lot, then choose Use as building footprint.
  2. Open the 3D panel. Footprints on the lot are listed under the model.
  3. Click a name to rename it, for example Existing house.
  4. Click Add massing on the existing house, click Existing, then set its floors and floor-to-floor height.
  5. Add massing to the drawn footprint, click Proposed, and give it its own floors.
  6. If the existing building is coming down, check To be demolished. It drops out of the built-out totals.
  7. Switch between built out, proposed only and existing only. FAR and height are checked against the district limits. For stories and lot coverage, the note says Article 68 sets no limit.