Glossary¶

The words GISweaver uses on its screens and in this guide, explained for someone who has not used it before. Each entry links to the page where you use it.

Account and access¶

Organisation: Your firm as GISweaver knows it. It holds your projects, people, clients and plan. One sign-in can belong to several organisations; you work in one at a time. See Switch to another organisation.
Owner: The one person who holds an organisation. Ownership is handed over to someone else, never given in an invitation. See Create your organisation.
Role: What a person may do in an organisation. The organisation roles are Owner, Admin, Access administrator, Billing manager, Auditor and Member. A role can also be held on one branch (Manager, Member, Viewer) or on one project (Project lead, Contributor, Viewer). See Invite a colleague.
Where a role applies: A role says what a person can do; where it applies is the whole organisation, one branch or one project.
Branch: A part of an organisation, such as an office, that owns its own projects. Every project belongs to one branch. A new organisation starts with one.
Project lead: A project role for the person running that project's day-to-day work. A lead may share the project, deliver its releases and manage its members.
Contributor: A project role that can read the project and add work (files, comments and saved work) but does not manage it.
Viewer: A branch or project role that can read and comment, but not add files or change anything.
Plan without roles and permissions: A plan that does not include roles and permissions. The roles and limits your organisation set keep applying on it; you can still review and remove access, but not create new roles. Until 9 October 2026 such a plan let every member act as an administrator; organisations that were on one then had that written down, for each member, billing person and auditor, as a role marked as coming from the former plan that allows exactly what the plan allowed them.
Access administrator: A person the owner names to run access: they name branch access administrators and approve sensitive changes another administrator asked for. See Name an access administrator.
Emergency access: A few hours in which the owner, or someone the owner named, may make a sensitive access change without a second administrator's approval. It needs a fresh sign-in and a reason, and everyone who administers access is told.
Plan: What your organisation pays for and what it allows: how many members, branches and projects, how many uploads a month, and the largest file. See Billing.
Limit: The most your plan allows of something, such as members, branches or storage. A limit stops additions; it never removes anything. Billing shows how much of each you are using. See Billing.
Free from Alonstech: A plan Alonstech gave your organisation free, until the date shown or with no end date. It does not renew; to keep it, pay for it before that date.
Access code: A code GISweaver support gives you to create an organisation, where sign-up asks for one. It is not an organisation code. See Create your organisation.
Discount code: A code that takes money off one payment. Type it in the Discount code box on the Billing page, above the plans. It is not a gift code. See Billing.
Benefit grant: A benefit Alonstech staff applies directly to your organisation, such as extra members, branches or storage for a period. It needs no code to redeem. See Billing.
Gift code: A code from Alonstech for free features, extra trial days or a plan for a period. It never reduces a price. Redeem it in Gift code under Settings → Organisation → Profile, not in the discount box. See Billing.
Organisation code: The code your own organisation shows on its screens. Give it to another organisation so they can share, deliver or give you client access.
Organisation controls: The one entry under Organisation in the Console navigation for Access, Branches, Drawing standards, Checklists, Public profile and Settings. See Organisation controls.
Two-factor authentication: A second check after your password: a six-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone, or a one-time recovery code. See Sign in to GISweaver.
Sign-in link: A one-time link GISweaver emails you that signs you in without your password. It works for fifteen minutes. See Sign in with a link sent to your email.
Getting started: The checklist of a new organisation's first four steps, for owners and administrators. See Follow the Getting started checklist.
Preferences: Your own profile, units and security settings. They follow you into every organisation you belong to, and change nothing for anyone else.
Drawing standard: The organisation's colours, line thickness and marker sizes for drawing saved work, alignments and map files. Changing it changes only how work is drawn, never a measurement or the survey. See Settings.
Audit trail: The record of every change inside the organisation, newest first. Nobody can edit or remove it. See Audit trail.
Frozen: The state of an organisation whose paid plan ended and was not renewed. Nothing is deleted; people can still sign in, read and download what the organisation holds, but new work cannot be saved until it is unfrozen. Buttons that would save read Frozen — renew to save new work.
Unfreeze: The payment that lifts a freeze, called the Unfreeze charge. The Owner, an Admin or a Billing manager can pay it. Alonstech states the charge with its basis before you pay, and may waive it in full.
Extra week to renew: The week after a paid period ends, before the organisation moves to Free. The plan keeps working in it and you can still renew. Alonstech may add days to it.
Deleted user: The name GISweaver shows in place of someone whose account has been erased, wherever your records still name them. Their comments stay; only the name is replaced.
Authorised Partner: A firm with agreed terms under which its referral code earns a commission on the payments of the firms it referred, for a set term.

Projects and files¶

Project: One piece of survey work: its files, its map, its conversation and the releases you deliver from it. It belongs to one branch and has a project number and a coordinate system that cannot be changed. See Create a project.
Project number: The number your firm uses for the work, such as SITE-2026-011. Search finds a project by any part of it.
Archived project: A project put away from the Projects list without deleting anything. Its number can be used again, and an owner or administrator can bring it back from the Archived tab. See Archive or unarchive a project.
Upload: A file on its way into a project, and its record afterwards. A completed upload is not yet published. See Follow an upload.
Map file: A file GISweaver draws on the map: LAS, LAZ, GeoJSON, DXF or TIFF. It joins the project's draft.
Kept: A file that stays with the project as it came instead of being drawn on the map. In the Files list a kept file's Where says it is Internal only, and it enters a release only when someone includes it (Send with the release). See Add files to a project.
Send with the release: The choice on a kept file that includes it when the release is published, so it is sent with the release. Without it the file stays with the project.
Kept file: A photo, PDF, video, ZIP archive, or DOCX or XLSX file kept with the project as it came. It is not drawn on the map, and it enters a release only when someone includes it. See Add files to a project.
Link: A web address kept in a project's Files list beside its files, such as a shared folder or a drawing register. See Keep a link with a project.
Attach: To point a file or link at a feature or a drawn object, where it applies. Attaching never copies or moves the file. See Attach a file or link to a feature.
Draft: The working copy of a project's survey, which you check before publishing. New map files join it.
Review: The stage between the draft and publishing, when your team or your client checks the survey; files can still change. See Start a review.
Publish: To freeze the draft as a numbered release that can no longer change. A correction afterwards starts a new draft. See Publish a release.
Completed: A project state for finished work. Its releases stay available. See Projects.
Review copy of the draft: The fixed copy of a draft that a client you invite to review looks at. It does not change while they look; share updates to give them a new one. It is not a release. See Invite a client to review.
Release (published release): A published version of a project's survey: a fixed copy, with a checksum, that never changes afterwards. It is named by its number and the day it was published, such as Release 2 · 20 Sept 2026. It is what you deliver or share. A correction makes a new release; the earlier one stays. See Publish a release.
Source-only release: A release that keeps its source file but has nothing to draw on the map.
Manifest: The list of files in a release and their checksums, fixed the moment it is published. A share, a delivery or client access can be checked against it.
Checklist: Your firm's own list of steps for one project, copied from a template or started empty. A tick records who marked a step done and when; it does not check the survey and does not stop a release. Not the same as the Getting started checklist. See Tick a checklist step.
Checklist template: A named list of steps an organisation keeps under Settings, Checklists. A project copies one and keeps its own copy, so changing a template never changes a project. See Make a checklist template.
Required step: A checklist step your firm said must be done. It is due once the project reaches the step's stage. Open required steps are named, never enforced, when a project moves on. See Move a project on with required steps open.

The map¶

Map (the map): The part of GISweaver where you look at a project's survey: its layers, features, measurements and conversation. Every button that opens it reads Open map. (It was called the Workspace.) See Open a project on the map.
Rail: The column of icons on the left of the map: Layers, Objects, Conversation, Find, Coordinates, Analyse and Export.
Tool strip: The row of controls above the map: the drawing tools, the 2D and 3D switch and the view buttons. See Take the map tour.
Status bar: The line at the foot of the map that says what the tool you hold does next, and the coordinates under the pointer.
Inspector: The panel on the right of the map that shows what you selected.
Layer: One part of the survey drawn on the map, such as parcels or road centrelines, which you can turn on and off. See Turn layers on and off.
Feature: One mapped item in a layer: one parcel, line or point of the survey. Select it to read its name, shape and attributes.
Attribute: Information delivered with a feature, such as its survey number or land use.
Base map: The street map drawn under the survey so you can see where the site is. It is for orientation only. See Change the base map.
Work object (saved work): A mark of your own on top of the survey (a point, a distance or an area), kept with the project and separate from the delivered survey. See Draw and save a work object.
Exact measurement: A measurement defined by typed coordinates, computed by the server and stored as a version that does not change. See Edit a point's coordinates.
Alignment: The centre line of a road, canal, railway or pipeline, kept with a project. See Add or import an alignment.
Chainage: The distance along an alignment from its start, written as kilometres and metres, such as 1+250.000.
Station: A point along an alignment, at a set interval of chainage, where the ground across the line is drawn. See Review a corridor by chainage.
Point cloud: A survey made of millions of measured points, usually a LAS file, shown in 3D. See Look at a point cloud in 3D.
Elevation grid: A surface of heights, made from an uploaded single-band elevation GeoTIFF.
Survey plan PDF: A scaled drawing of what the map shows, on an A3 or A4 sheet, with a title block, a legend, a north arrow and a scale bar. See Make a PDF map.
Survey export: A DXF, GeoJSON or CSV file of exact measurements, issued with a checksum. An organisation may issue up to 2,000 exports or 2 GiB. See Issue a survey export.

Coordinates and units¶

Coordinate: A set of numbers that gives a position. The coordinate system says how to read them.
Coordinate reference system (CRS): The defined system a survey's coordinates are measured in. A geographic system uses degrees; a projected grid uses metres.
EPSG code: The number that names a coordinate system, such as 4326 for WGS 84, 27700 for the British National Grid or 32643 for WGS 84 / UTM zone 43N (western India). A project's code is chosen when it is created and cannot be changed. Also called its native SRID.
Latitude and longitude: A position written as angles north or south of the equator and east or west of the reference meridian.
Easting and northing: A position on a projected grid, in metres east and north of the grid's origin. GISweaver expects easting first.
Horizontal and vertical reference: The horizontal reference places a point across the ground; the vertical reference says how its height is measured. They are separate.
Geometry: The shape and position of a feature: a point, a line or a polygon (a closed area, such as a parcel).
Extent: The outer area a survey covers. Fit survey brings the map back to it.

Conversations and messages¶

Conversation: A project's shared discussion, open to everyone on the project. See Write in a project's conversation.
Thread: A conversation about one file, one feature or one message, with its replies. See Reply in a thread.
Mention: A colleague named in a message with @ and their name, which tells them. See Mention a colleague.
@All: A mention that tells a whole group at once: everyone on a project, in a group or in a client's thread. It is never offered in a direct conversation. See Tell everyone with @All.
Direct message: A private conversation between you and one colleague, in Messages. See Send a direct message.
Private group: A conversation for a few chosen colleagues, in Messages. Only its members can read it. See Start a private group.
Contact card: The card that opens on a person's name: their picture, job title and the ways to reach them. See See who someone is.
Visible to the client: A mark on a thread that lets your client's reviewer read it. See Mark a thread for your client.
Client sees: The organisation setting for what a client's reviewer reads of a conversation you show them: the whole conversation, earlier messages included, or only what is written from then on. An owner or administrator sets it. See Mark a thread for your client.
Notification: A notice in the bell at the top of the screen: a mention, a reply, a direct message or news about a delivery or share. It never shows the words of a message. See Follow your notifications.

Surfaces and hand-off¶

Console: The part of GISweaver where you manage projects, files, deliveries, messages, people and the organisation. See Find your way around the Console.
Share: Access you give another organisation to look at one release on the map, with the layers and tools you choose, for a period. Downloading the whole release is a separate permission. See Share a release with another organisation.
Client access: Access one project gives a client organisation to one release, with the permissions you choose, while you allow it. Downloads stay off until you turn them on. See Give a client organisation access.
Ended, Paused, Expired: What happens to client access. Client access is Active, Paused, Ended or Expired. You pause it to resume later, end it for good, and it expires by itself on the day you chose. Revoked is used only when GISweaver support removes a delivery.
Whole, entries and layers: The three shapes of client access. Whole covers every file in the release; entries names the files included; layers narrows the map to named layers.
Pause and resume: Pause one client's access to a release, or all of that client's access in a project, without losing it. Resume this access puts it back exactly as it was. It does not extend the access period.
End: Stop access for good. Giving access again is new client access. Files the client already downloaded stay theirs.
Files removed: The state of a delivery or delivery link whose files are no longer held, so nothing can be downloaded. The record that it was delivered stays.
Client reviewer: A person at your client invited to review a project. They read only what you mark for them. See Invite a client to review.
Deliver: To send a published release to another organisation, for them to keep. See Deliver a release to another organisation.
Delivery: A release handed to another organisation, which can download it during its access period and add it to its own projects. See Deliver a release to another organisation.
Delivery hold: A number of hours a delivery can wait before its files can be downloaded, during which you can end it. The delivery dialog states the hours, for example Hold for 24 hours; if the hold is off, the delivery goes at once and you cannot end it yourself. See Deliver a release to another organisation.
Delivery link: A link that lets somebody with no GISweaver account open one published release on a map, and download its files if you allow it, until a day you choose. Nothing is copied to them, and you can end it at any time. See Send a delivery by link.
Receipt: The record written when the receiving organisation has downloaded every file of a delivery. It names the parties, the files and their checksums.
Data downloads: The owner's record of the organisation's records and each release it holds, and whether each has been sent in full. See Settings.
Access record: The record of when people at a client opened a release, downloaded or exported a file, or copied it.

Billing and records¶

GST invoice: The tax invoice GISweaver issues for a payment. It carries your organisation's billing name, tax ID (GSTIN in India), address and email as they stood when it was raised. See Billing.
Credit note: A document that reduces an invoice already issued. There is nothing to pay on one.
Unused days: The days left in the period you paid for when you change plan or renew early. Their value is taken off the new plan's price, before GST. See Billing.
Account credit: Money Alonstech holds for you, such as a credit given with a code. It is not taken off a payment until we tell you.
GSTIN: Your organisation's GST registration number. It decides whether a payment is taxed as CGST and SGST or as IGST. Leave it empty if the organisation is not GST-registered.
Retention: How long GISweaver keeps a record. Tax invoices and the payments behind them are kept for seven financial years because the law requires it; the audit trail has no end date.

Help¶

Ticket: One conversation with GISweaver support, with a reference such as GW-2026-000417. See Ask GISweaver support for help.