Laying Out a Campsite to Scale

Working out where everything goes on a campsite usually means a rough sketch on the back of a risk assessment and a hope that the marquee really will fit beside the mess tent. The Campsite planner lets you lay the whole site out on a real map, with every tent, shelter and facility drawn at its true size — so if it fits on the screen, it fits on the ground. When you're done, you can print a site plan for your team and a kit list of everything you've placed.

Where to find it#

In the left sidebar, click Tools, then open the Campsite planner card. The planner is available to leaders and group admins.

The main page lists your saved plans, with any templates you've created shown separately. Click a plan to open its workspace, or use New plan to start one.

Starting a new plan#

A new plan begins by finding your campsite on the map. Search for a postcode, address or place name, or drop a pin exactly where you want the centre of your site to be. Give the plan a name — the campsite or the event it's for — and you'll land in the workspace with the map centred on your spot.

Choosing your map view#

Top-right of the map, switch between three views to suit what you're planning:

Adding tents, shelters and facilities#

Click Add features to open the catalogue. It's organised into Tents, Shelters and Facilities — patrol and mess tents, event shelters and marquees, and site features like water points, latrines, the fire muster and a flagpole. Pick an item and it drops onto the map.

Each item is drawn to scale, so a 3 m × 4 m tent really is 3 m × 4 m — and it stays correctly sized however far you zoom in or out.

Once something is on the map you can:

• Move it — drag it anywhere.
• Rotate it — drag the small rotate handle that appears above a selected tent or shelter.
• Adjust it — click an item to open its properties, where you can rename it, change its size, or remove it.

This works on both desktop and touchscreens, so you can plan on a tablet in the field.

Keeping tents a safe distance apart#

Click Spacing to show clearance rings around your tents — a shaded margin that makes it easy to see whether they're pitched a safe distance apart. Set the distance you want to keep between them, and the rings update on every tent at once.

Facility addresses with what3words#

Facilities like a water point or the first-aid tent each get their own what3words address, worked out automatically from where you place them and kept up to date if you move them. It's a simple way to tell an arriving driver or a supplier exactly where on the field to head for.

Using your own equipment#

If your group's equipment is recorded in Scoutworks, the catalogue gains a My kit filter. This lists your real tents and gear, so you can lay out the site with the kit you actually own rather than generic shapes.

Anything you've already placed on the plan is marked so you can see what's still spare — handy for not committing the same six-person tent twice. If a tent doesn't yet have its dimensions recorded, you can set its real size there and then, so it draws to scale like everything else.

Saving time with templates#

Once you've built a layout you like, open the Export menu and choose Save as template to keep the arrangement without the specific location or event — ready to reuse for next year's camp or a similar site. You'll find your templates on the main Campsite planner page. Duplicate plan makes a working copy of the current plan instead, so you can try a variation without touching the original.

Printing and exporting#

When the plan's ready, the Export menu gives you three outputs:

What's next#

• Finding Locations with what3words — how what3words addresses work across Scoutworks.
• Planning Camp Menus and Shopping Lists — the catering side of the same camp.
• Kit Lists for Camps and Activities — the "what to bring" checklist parents can tick off.