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Changelog

New features, improvements and fixes in each TopoStack release, newest first.

Subscribe to the changelog feed in any feed reader to hear about new releases, or report a problem from the feedback button at the bottom of any page.

Version 0.11.1

Fixed

  • See each paint template on layers with several kinds of land. Turning on Paint template in Cut layers on a sheet with water and public land, or several kinds of public land, used to stack every stencil at once, so the paper hid all the windows. The overlay now shows one stencil at a time, matching the files you export, and lets you pick which kind to show. #266

Version 0.11.0

New

  • Flat engravings without contour lines. Flat engravings can now leave the contour lines out. Turn off Contour lines in the Contour design panel and the engraving keeps only the roads, trails, water, boundaries and marks you choose: a clean line map, or a base to colour or trace afterwards. Turn it back on and your contour density comes back unchanged. #240
  • Paint templates for national parks, forests, BLM land and other public lands. Layered models in the United States can now get a paper paint template for each kind of public land: national parks and monuments, national forests, wilderness, BLM land, wildlife refuges, state parks, preserves, tribal and military land. Turn them on under Public land paint in Map features. Where kinds overlap, the more specific one paints, so templates never overlap. Outlines come from the USGS PAD-US database. #242
  • Engrave public land boundaries and names on any US model. Turn on Public land boundaries in Map features to engrave national parks, forests, wilderness, BLM land and other public lands, each kind in its own dash, on layered models and flat engravings alike. Add the names of the largest units, and on a flat engraving hatch the inside edge so the land side reads at a glance. #243
  • Leave single parks out, and paint protected areas outside the US. Under Public land in this area in Map features, turn off any unit, such as the forest around the park you are modelling, to leave it out of the paint templates and boundaries. Outside the United States, national parks, nature reserves and military land now come from OpenStreetMap where they are mapped, without names. #245
  • Public lands in Canada. Paint templates and engraved boundaries now cover Canada: national parks, provincial and territorial parks, wilderness areas, national wildlife areas and bird sanctuaries, and ecological and private conservation land, from Environment and Climate Change Canada's protected areas database. #246

Improved

  • AI assistants can paint and engrave public lands. Assistants connected to TopoStack can now ask for paint templates (paintTemplates) and engraved public land boundaries (publicLands) when they plan a model or edit one in the studio, and check_coverage says whether an area has PAD-US public land outlines. See the project request reference. #244

Version 0.10.1

Fixed

  • Explain when the map cannot load. The Map view now shows when it is loading and reports a connection problem if its map data never arrives. A failed map returns to the cut preview so you can keep working and choose a location using search or coordinates. #238

Version 0.10.0

New

  • Build airspace over your model in acrylic. Turn on Airspace in 3D in the Aviation panel to build the Class B, Class C and special use airspace over a US model in acrylic, at true height on the model's own vertical scale: layered, as whole slices or wedding-cake shelves, or solid, in clear or chart-colored acrylic, with optional Class D lids. Rods you cut to length stand in sockets cut into the terrain, as short segments glued between levels or one rod rising through holes in the pieces; the export adds the acrylic panels, a backing sheet, a rod cut list and a map of every level. Airspace comes from FAA data and is not for navigation. #221

Improved

  • Ask an AI assistant for airspace in acrylic. AI assistants connected to TopoStack, and browser agents in the studio, can now turn on airspace in acrylic and choose its form, kinds, ceiling cap and rods. A plan estimates how tall the acrylic will stand and says when more exaggeration would separate the levels; the studio places the rods when it generates the model. #224
  • Design and build airspace above your terrain. New airspace guides explain airport crops, layered and solid acrylic, clear or chart-colored, altitude caps, cut previews and rod assembly. Settings, export and troubleshooting guides now cover airspace, and a homepage illustration introduces the feature. #226
  • A settings rail that shows one panel at a time. The studio sidebar is now a rail of seven panels (Place, Terrain, Features, Water, Aviation, Labels and Fabricate), so each subject has one home: line widths sit under the feature they draw, and water depth, acrylic inserts and paint templates share the Water panel. Find a setting jumps to any control by name. Material-saving nests and seam options moved into the export dialog beside sheet layout. #227
  • The custom data view uses the settings rail. Custom data now has the same rail as the studio's settings, with tabs for Charts, Markers, Paths, Graphics and Import. Rail tabs also meet edge to edge, so the whole rail responds to hover, and the selected tab is marked on its left edge. #228
  • Line up airspace rods between levels. With glued rod segments, a rod that would stand just beside one on the level below now continues that column, so supports rise in straight lines instead of jogging by a few millimetres at each level. Each spot gets one engraved rod mark rather than two nearly overlapping ones. #231

Fixed

  • Lakes use their most detailed shoreline. Where several lake datasets outline the same lake, the studio now carves the most detailed shoreline, so small ponds no longer have bays and curves replaced by long straight edges. Depths still come from the same lake data. #216
  • Build and inspect reliable engraved airspace. Airspace keeps charted ceilings, partitions overlapping acrylic without shifting heights, and engraves sector names, original altitude references and navigation notices. Cut layers now includes an airspace level picker, and through-rod maps identify every column. Incomplete data and impractical stacks block export; solid generation and preview reuse are faster. #226
  • Keep the studio quick with Airspace in 3D on. With Airspace in 3D on, changing map detail, labels or line style no longer rebuilds the airspace pieces and rods, so the preview updates in a fraction of a second instead of several. Building the airspace in the first place is two to five times faster, and the 3D stack orbits smoothly again over busy special use airspace. #229
  • Fit Class D lids around overlapping airspace. A Class D lid now stops where a Class C shelf or a special use area carries on through its height, as around Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, instead of sitting inside that airspace. In the solid Volumes form the lid fills only the gap beside the sheets, so the sheets keep clean, whole outlines. #230
  • Zoom the 3D stack in as close as you like. The 3D stack preview no longer stops zooming at a fixed distance from the model, which was easy to hit once tall airspace raised the orbit centre. Scroll now zooms toward the point under your cursor, so you can close in on a single contour step, engraved label or island without clipping through it. #232
  • Keep tall airspace models in view. The 3D stack now fits the first real terrain result, including tall airspace. Use Fit view to frame the whole model again after zooming, resizing, or exploding the stack; later design edits keep your viewing angle. #233
  • Keep airspace acrylic within the supported stock range. Airspace acrylic now stays within its supported 1–10 mm range, including when its thickness follows the terrain material. Turning on Airspace in 3D with thinner or thicker terrain stock starts with 3 mm acrylic, which you can change in the Aviation panel. Changing terrain stock outside that range keeps the current acrylic thickness. #236

Version 0.9.0

New

  • Cut lakes from acrylic. Turn on Acrylic water inserts in Fabrication settings and each lake is cut out of the sheet at its waterline and filled with a fitted acrylic piece, resting on a small ledge, with the lake bed showing through. The acrylic comes as its own files with its own kerf, fit clearance and sheet layout, map detail over the water is engraved on it, and the assembly guide shows where each insert goes. See export files. #175
  • Start your first map and share a preview image. Choose a small layered relief, flat engraving or surveyed lake starter from the homepage, then follow a checklist to your first export. Save a labelled preview image with source credits and share a link to your design. The new LightBurn guide explains SVG import, dimensions, processing layers and kerf; guides and lake pages now link to useful next projects. #204

Improved

  • Faster generation for large, detailed models. Generating a tall layered model with many roads and trails is about 5% faster, and the step that lays map detail onto each layer is up to a fifth faster. On a 3 m Grand Teton model with 193 layers and 300 roads, a full generation dropped from 19.9 s to 18.8 s and an edit to the annotations from 15.4 s to 14.4 s. The geometry and exported files are unchanged. #186
  • The studio opens with less to download. The studio now downloads about 24 KB (compressed) less JavaScript before it shows the first preview. The map-data loaders arrive with your first Generate or edit instead. Your first edit also reuses the background worker that drew the opening preview, where it used to start a second one. Generated models and exported files are the same as before. #188
  • Shared links and saved projects open sooner. The studio now opens your saved project, or the design in a shared, example or lake link, before it draws the 3D preview. It used to draw the Crater Lake sample first and then replace it. On a slow computer, a shared link that generates on arrival finished its terrain in about 2 seconds instead of 4, and its design opened in under a second instead of nearly 4. If restoring takes longer than a second, for example while an example downloads, the sample preview shows in the meantime. #196
  • AI assistants can plan models across the antimeridian. Places that straddle 180° longitude, such as Fiji, Taveuni or the western Aleutians, can now be planned and linked from an AI assistant, and a browser agent can read and resend a studio design there. Give a box with west greater than east, as GeoJSON does. See the project request reference. #197
  • Minimum feature removes small pieces without coarsening contours. Minimum feature now only removes pieces, holes, and short lines smaller than the setting. Raising it to clear specks no longer simplifies the remaining contours and shorelines, which keep the same detail at every value. Projects that used a value other than 0.8 mm now draw contours at the default detail. See the settings reference. #200
  • Water left in wood looks stained in the 3D stack. Lakes that stay wood now show as blue stain on every sheet under the waterline, with the steps and grain reading through, instead of a glossy pane floating over the basin. Acrylic inserts keep their clear, glossy look, so the 3D stack shows at a glance which finish each lake gets. #201
  • Lake finishes match the homepage linework. The homepage now compares painted wood and acrylic inserts with orange line illustrations that blend with both light and dark themes. Headings and instructions stay readable page text; the guides keep their detailed finish illustrations. #212
  • Compare painted water and acrylic before you cut. The homepage and lake, paint-template and export guides now illustrate painted wooden lake beds alongside fitted acrylic inserts. The pictures have no embedded text: readable descriptions explain the stencils, support ledges and export files, including how to paint the bed beneath clear acrylic. #206

Fixed

  • Cut, engraving and paint downloads work with nested sheets. With Nested sheets selected, choosing Cut panels, Engraving panels or Paint templates in the export dialog now downloads one file per stock sheet instead of saying the export is not available. #174
  • Models placed near the poles frame inside the map. A design that names only a point near the top or bottom of the map, such as one opened from a link, now frames its area where the map data ends instead of a hair past it, so it generates and can be shared again instead of being refused as beyond the mapped world. #192
  • Assembly marks stay hidden under the layer above. Layer ids and alignment outlines now keep clear of the edge of the piece glued over them, measured from the engraved line itself, so large text, typefaces with tall figures, wide lines or a zero kerf no longer let one peek out. Ids also avoid seams in the layer above, and elevation labels are no longer engraved on the ledge an acrylic water insert is glued to. #198

Version 0.8.0

New

  • Engrave airspace, airports and runways from FAA data. In the United States, Aviation (US) under Map details adds what a VFR sectional shows: Class B, C and D airspace, special use airspace, runways, airports, navaids, obstacles and their identifiers, each in its own SVG group. The data is the FAA's own and is decorative only, never for navigation; exports name the cycle it came from. #155

Improved

  • Aviation symbols drawn as the VFR sectional legend draws them. Airports show fuel ticks, beacon stars, filled hard-surface discs, runway layouts, and the private, military and seaplane symbols. Navaids and obstacles use the chart's own shapes, including high-intensity lights, wind turbines and obstacle groups. Special use airspace is hatched on its inside edge. #159
  • AI assistants find TopoStack's tools and read its guides as Markdown. Assistants and agents that visit topostack.app can now discover the MCP server, HTTP API and a ready-made planning skill on their own, and every guide and lake page has a Markdown version for them. The site also states that its pages may be used in AI answers but not for training. See the MCP server reference. #160
  • Aviation detail reads like the sectional at every scale. With identifiers on, Class B and C areas print their ceiling and floor and Class D its ceiling, as the chart does, and shared airspace edges are engraved once. Where symbols crowd, private fields, heliports and shorter obstacles give way, so dense obstacle areas no longer block export. Special use areas get one outline each, military fields show their runway layout, close parallel runways stay apart, and east Texas, Shreveport and northwest Arkansas now have aviation data. #163

Fixed

  • MCP batches are capped and each tool call counts against the agent budget. A JSON-RPC batch sent to the MCP server now holds at most 8 messages. Every tool call in a batch after the first now counts against the same budget as a separate request. A call over budget comes back as a tool error that the model can read. #144
  • Sheet layouts and autosave keep up with late edits. A sheet layout that finishes after you changed the design is now marked out of date, so the export uses the original panels until you nest again. Your last edit is saved when you leave the studio for another page on the site. If sheet nesting or chart tracing crashes once, you can simply try again. #145
  • Warnings for skipped seam tabs and paint windows, and faster edits to titles and graphics. When the studio cannot place alignment tabs along a seam, or cut a paint window, it now says so and names the layers instead of silently leaving them out. Changing the title, scale bar position, sheet nesting settings or placed graphics no longer recalculates the terrain, so those edits preview sooner. #146
  • Atomm sidebar controls line up with their neighbors. In the Atomm workbench, the depth-limit switches, the engraving font picker, custom line widths and the Export view's Nesting material card no longer sit indented from the other settings. Labels and controls now share the same edges in layered and flat modes, at every panel width and in right-to-left layouts. #158

Version 0.7.0

New

  • Share a design from your device's share sheet. On phones, tablets and browsers with a system share sheet, Project actions → Share design… sends a link that opens your design to Messages, email or any app. Copy share link is still there, and is used automatically where sharing isn't available. #120
  • Open any example in the studio with one click. Every example project now has an Open in studio button that loads its map area and settings and starts generating the terrain, with no file to download and import. Undo returns to the project you had open before, and the project file is still there to download. #121
  • A page for every larger surveyed lake. More than 2,700 lakes now have a page of their own, such as Crater Lake. Each one lists the survey's facts and source, the map scale at 12, 16 and 24 inches, and nearby lakes with depth data, and links straight into the studio. Find them from the lake depth maps by region. #125
  • Lake pages show where the lake is. Every lake page now opens with a small map of the lake's position: its survey area on the surrounding land, borders and water, with the other lakes that have depth data around it. See Crater Lake. #128
  • Plan and preview models with Claude, ChatGPT and other AI assistants. Connect your assistant to https://topostack.app/mcp and ask for a model in plain words: it finds the place, estimates the sheets, shows a preview in the chat and gives you a studio link that builds the model when you open it. Browser agents can also edit and generate the design in the studio. See using TopoStack with AI assistants. #136

Improved

  • Exports credit TopoStack. Exported SVGs now carry a short "Made with TopoStack · https://topostack.app" description, and README.txt ends with the same line, so a shared or sold piece's files point back to where they came from. The description is metadata rather than a path, so it never draws, cuts or engraves anything. #119
  • Guides for browser agents, the MCP server and the HTTP API. Three new guides cover what AI assistants and scripts can do with TopoStack. Use a browser agent in the studio lists the tools an agent in your browser tab can use to change and generate your design, and what stays in your hands. The MCP server reference and the project request and HTTP API reference describe every tool, request field, error and limit for people building on them. Long commands in guides now scroll inside their box instead of widening the page. #140

Fixed

  • Lake search and the region index link to lake pages. Lakes with a page of their own now show a Lake page link in the lake depth data search, and the featured lakes on lake depth maps by region open their pages instead of going straight to the studio. #127
  • Faster terrain loading in lake country. Crops dotted with many lakes, such as Abram Lake near Sioux Lookout or the Boundary Waters, spent up to ten seconds matching lake outlines before generating. That step now takes a fraction of a second, so these maps generate about twice as fast. #129
  • Place search finds mountains, canyons and lakes before towns of the same name. Searching for Mount Rainier or Grand Canyon now puts the mountain and the canyon first instead of a small town or a housing estate that shares the name, while cities such as Denver still come first. This applies to the studio's place search and to AI assistants using TopoStack. #139

Version 0.6.0

New

  • Nest your pieces onto stock sheets. In Export, choose Nested sheets, set your sheet size and click Nest parts. TopoStack packs every piece onto as few sheets as it can, moving and turning them to fit, and exports one file per sheet with each piece's layer id engraved where it stays hidden. Nesting runs in your browser with the open-source sparrow nesting engine, and the layout is still there after a reload. #105
  • Depths for 237 more US lakes and lagoons from NOAA surveys. Water depth now uses NOAA's measured surveys for Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Washington, Lake Pend Oreille, Lake Roosevelt, Lake Winnebago, the St. Johns River lakes and more than 200 coastal lakes and lagoons from Florida to Alaska. Only surveyed areas are used; the rest of each lake keeps the modelled basin. Find them in the lake depth directory. #108
  • Depths for Lake Okeechobee, Lake Champlain and 133 more lakes from NOAA charts. Water depth now uses NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings for lakes with no survey grid, including Lake Okeechobee, Lake Champlain, Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga and Onondaga lakes, and Burt, Mullett, Charlevoix and White lakes in Michigan. Chart depths are simplified for navigation, so these lake floors are smoother than surveyed ones. Find them in the lake depth directory. #114

Improved

  • Automatically arrange Atomm exports on sheets. Layered exports now nest automatically, without extra controls. Export Preview, Download and Open in Studio share the same layout, with a short search, 3 mm margins and 2 mm spacing. Sheets default to 600 × 400 mm or use your work area. If pieces cannot fit or nesting is unavailable, the original panels remain available with an explanation. #107
  • Understand what each Atomm export includes. Export contents now explains that Open in Studio sends one editable SVG of the entire layout, while Download provides the complete project bundle. File sizes are secondary, and an expandable list shows the included files. #107
  • Preview nesting progress and choose material size in Atomm. Set your material width and height directly in Export. Watch real sheet layouts update while nesting runs, with the same progress card as terrain generation, or keep the current layout early. Material dimensions are saved with your project and do not trigger a terrain rebuild. #107
  • Atomm terrain updates without a Generate step. Inside Atomm, the studio loads real terrain when it opens and reloads it whenever you choose a place or move the map selection, so there is no Generate button to remember. A new Export view shows the file Open in Studio sends and lists everything a download includes, and Tips now walk through fabrication one step at a time. #107
  • Faster generation for large terrain maps. Large maps spend less time checking contour boundaries, arranging material nests, placing labels, and clipping roads across many layers. Changes to annotations and fabrication settings reuse terrain calculations when the map data and terrain settings are unchanged. Terrain detail and material-clearance rules stay the same. Large stacks also spread alignment guides and elevation-label searches across available processor cores, with automatic fallback when parallel workers are unavailable. #113
  • Learn how terrain generation works. A new terrain generation guide follows elevation data into cut layers and explains terrain caching, faster boundary searches, and parallel workers. It includes measured large-map performance and advice for working with demanding projects. #115

Fixed

  • Keep Atomm controls reachable and export previews accurate. Use every preview view in narrow frames and every Tips step on short screens; edit the map from Project setup. Font selection supports native keyboard and touch controls, invalid numbers explain their limits, and sliders show their filled range. Model edits preserve your 3D view, while export previews space operation labels clearly, distinguish scoring from filled engraving and include the same guide fonts as downloads. #107
  • Accept valid dimensions in Atomm numeric controls. Whole-number sizes and precise typed dimensions no longer appear invalid when the field has a fractional minimum. Arrow keys and dragging still use the expected increments and stay within the allowed range. #107
  • Show progress while the Atomm preview refreshes. The refresh status now shows its actual work stage: preparing map data, then building preview geometry. The step count and stage text stay visible without a looping animation. #107

Version 0.5.0

New

  • Carve a lake from a depth chart you have. Bring a flat chart image or PDF into Custom data → Depth charts, select its lake, and prepare contour paths. Review and repair each path, assign depths or elevations, and align the chart to known coordinates before generating a lake floor. Inspect the depth map and representative layers before saving. Charts stay in this browser and apply when you select one and regenerate terrain. #89
  • Use your own SVG icons as markers. Upload an SVG on any marker card to engrave your own symbol: a cabin, a trail logo, a lighthouse. Filled shapes keep their holes, line icons are outlined at their stroke width, and white areas cut through. See custom markers and paths. #94
  • Place your own graphics on the piece. Upload an SVG logo, badge or decoration under Graphics in the Custom data view, then place it on the piece from a top-down view of the 3D stack: drag to move it, resize it from the corner and turn it from the grip above it. Each placed graphic can be engraved as a filled shape, scored as an outline, or cut out of the sheet it sits on so the sheet below shows through. See custom graphics. #95
  • Verify traced depth charts in 3D. Depth charts show an interactive 3D lake bed after generation. Rotate, zoom, reset the view, and inspect an exploded stack of representative layers before keeping it. Automatic vertical exaggeration helps reveal shallow basins. A north-up 2D depth map provides another view and remains available when 3D cannot render. Changed inputs mark the preview as out of date. #99

Improved

  • Send feedback without a GitHub account. The Feedback button now sends your report straight to the maintainer, privately and without signing in. Add an email address if you would like a reply, or leave it blank to stay anonymous. Public GitHub issues remain an option. #79
  • Name your markers, trails and boundaries. A project with twenty markers is easier to work through when they are called something. Type over the number at the top of any marker or path card to name it; the name shows when you hover that marker on the map. Names are your own bookkeeping. Nothing is engraved from them, and renaming something never marks your terrain for regeneration. #89
  • Draw trails and boundaries on the map. Everything you bring to a project now lives in one view. Custom data holds depth charts, markers, trails and boundaries, and GPX, KML or GeoJSON import, each in its own sidebar section with the map or chart it works on beside it. Paths can be drawn rather than typed: choose Draw on map and click along the route. The next stretch follows your cursor, so you see the line before you place it. Click the first point again to close the shape into a boundary, or double-click or press Enter to finish it as a trail. #89
  • Star TopoStack on GitHub from the homepage. The homepage header, open-source section and footer now link to the GitHub repository, so you can star the project and follow its development in one click. #97
  • More intuitive custom data controls. Collapse any custom data section without switching away from your chart or map, and reopen its tools when needed. Clearer workspace headings, larger map actions, and step-by-step chart guidance make it easier to get started. Long path point lists can now be collapsed after editing. #98
  • Preview contour paths before assigning depths. Prepare paths from a flat chart image or native PDF geometry, then select contours directly on the source chart. Highlighted paths make it easier to inspect each outline while assigning its value, repairing gaps, or excluding chart labels and other unwanted lines. Keyboard and touch selection are supported. #98
  • Choose chart lakes with geographic context. Selectable lake outlines load automatically on opening the map and after panning or zooming, before any search or click. Hover highlights clickable lakes; clicks select the highlighted target directly, including shoreline hits. Missing close-up data triggers a wider lookup. Place results identify towns, show loading feedback, and explain missing outlines. Older requests cannot replace newer selections, and browsing chart lakes leaves the terrain location unchanged. #98
  • A clearer, more reliable depth chart workflow. Follow numbered steps to trace and save a depth chart, assign values in the contour tools, and jump straight from the preview to saving. Uploads no longer overwrite newer work, saved-chart loading errors offer a retry, and elevation charts support values below their datum. Chart selection now clearly reminds you to regenerate terrain. #98
  • Guides for custom data and depth charts. Two new guides cover the Custom data view. Bring your own data explains what each section adds, how markers, paths, graphics and charts are saved and shared, and the limits at a glance. Carve a lake from a depth chart walks through tracing a flat chart image or PDF, from choosing the lake to regenerating terrain with it. The studio tour, settings reference, lake and troubleshooting guides now point to both. #100
  • Give contour repair its own tools panel. Contour editing keeps a large source chart on the left and places repair, alignment, and validation tools on the right. Generating depths switches that panel to previews; returning to editing preserves zoom and undo history. Tools scroll independently, with generation controls always within reach.
  • Learn the reviewed depth-chart workflow. Updated chart instructions cover contour correction, geographic alignment, draft recovery, and layer approval. A separate illustrated guide explains how contours become lake floors, the current compromises, validation limits, and directions for future improvements.
  • Review and correct contours before generating lake depths. Inspect source contours, correct their values and paths with undo/redo, and align flat charts using known coordinates before generating depths. Native PDF paths can avoid image tracing. Incomplete or conflicting contours block generation, and saving requires a separate layer review. Previously saved charts without review remain available for export but cannot be applied to new terrain generations.
  • Define chart contours directly, including islands and underwater rises. Prepare paths without three seed points or a uniform interval. Assign each path as the outer shoreline, an island boundary, or a depth contour with a deeper or shallower interior. Local containment checks support multiple basins and rises while rejecting crossing paths and contours inside land. Innermost interiors hold the last contour value unless an explicit bottom or summit is supplied. Island boundaries persist in saved charts and terrain water polygons. Updated the workflow and technical guides.
  • Join contour fragments directly on the chart. Select an open fragment, choose Join paths, then click or tap the next fragment. The selected source stays highlighted while hovering or focusing a target previews the endpoint connection. Invalid targets explain why they cannot join; Escape and Cancel joining leave the paths unchanged. Joins remain undoable and require fresh path confirmation.
  • Compare chart depths in a responsive workspace. A large source chart sits beside contour repair tools while editing, then beside previews after generating depths; panels stack on smaller screens. Compare a shaded lake bed, representative wood layers, and a flat depth map. The representative stack is independent of project settings. Custom data no longer shows the terrain generation dock.
  • Zoom and pan depth charts while editing. The source chart and contour repair tools share the flat and cut-layer viewport, including wheel zoom, touch pinch, drag panning, zoom buttons, and reset. Editing uses source coordinates at every zoom level, and pan gestures do not place points or select contours.
  • Guides share the homepage header and footer. Guide, example, lake and changelog pages now use the same header and footer as the homepage. The header stays in view as you scroll and keeps Start creating one click away, and the footer links to every public page, including privacy and lake depth maps.

Fixed

  • Your last edit survives a reload or closed tab. The studio saves your project in your browser as you work, but an edit made in the moment before you reloaded the page or closed the tab could be lost: add a marker and reload straight away, and the marker was gone. The studio now keeps a quick copy of the project as the page closes and restores it when you come back, so the last thing you changed is still there. #91
  • Bold text shows correctly in the changelog. Studio labels in release notes, such as Move on preview, now appear in bold on the changelog and in its feed instead of showing raw asterisks. #92
  • Placement mode opens and closes without a flash. Moving a title, legend or other annotation on the 3D stack no longer blinks the preview on the way in or out, and no dark band sits behind the Cancel and Done toolbar. The terrain slides down under the toolbar instead. #93
  • Read thousands-separated elevations in vector depth charts. Vector chart tracing now reads elevations such as 1,020 and 1,028.5 ft, as printed on USGS reservoir charts. Malformed grouping and large map-grid coordinates remain excluded. Real-chart stress tests and review screenshots document the remaining raster tracing limits.
  • Use shared theme controls in contour editing. Contour repair now uses the shared buttons, fields, selects, and checkbox styles. The review-draft picker uses a themed action instead of a native file input that widened the sidebar, eliminating horizontal scrolling at desktop and narrow widths.

Version 0.4.0

New

  • Place and size the north arrow, title and scale bar anywhere. The north arrow, title and scale bar are no longer limited to fixed spots. Choose Move on preview: the preview looks straight down on your finished piece, and you drag them anywhere, even across layers, or nudge them with the arrow keys. Drag the corner handle, or press + and −, to resize the north arrow or the title in place. Choose Done to engrave them where you left them, or Cancel to put them back. See map details. #76

Fixed

  • Keep annotation placement edits and previews reliable. Moving a title preserves sidebar text and font changes, and committed positions survive reloads. Placement waits for fonts, shows title backings correctly, keeps resizing within limits, and pauses Undo and Redo until you finish. Controls remain reachable on small screens without covering annotations or conflicting with preview zoom controls. #76
  • Scale bar no longer hidden under upper layers. On layered reliefs the scale bar was engraved on the bottom sheet only, so the sheets above could cover most of it. It is now engraved on whichever sheets it crosses, like the north arrow. #76

Version 0.3.0

New

  • Undo and redo shortcuts. Press Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z (Cmd on a Mac) to step back and forward through edits. Advice about empty layers is also clearer. #52
  • Share links. Copy a link that opens your design, with its place and settings, straight in the studio. #53
  • Import GPX, KML and GeoJSON. Bring tracks, routes and waypoints from other apps into a project as custom paths and markers. See custom markers and paths. #54
  • Place markers by clicking the map. Turn on Place on map in custom data and click to drop pins; drag any marker on the map to move it. #55
  • Engraved title plaque. Engrave up to three lines, such as a place name, date and route, anchored in any corner or edge, with contours and roads cleared beneath the letters. #56
  • Lake depth map pages. Browse surveyed lakes by state and county and open any of them in the studio, or follow the new guide to making a custom lake depth map. #58
  • Example gallery. An example gallery shows finished projects, from the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley to Mount Fuji, the Matterhorn and Lake Tahoe, each with its render and a project file you can import. #59
  • Changelog. See what changed in each release on the changelog, or subscribe to its feed in any feed reader. The studio marks new releases in its menu. #62
  • Real typefaces for labels and titles. Choose from eight new engraving fonts: four single-line fonts (Hershey Sans, Serif and Script, Relief SingleLine) that trace each letter once, and four filled typefaces (Jost, Oswald, Lora, Roboto Slab). They support lowercase and most accented letters. The title can now have its own font. See map details. #73

Improved

  • Directory lakes open ready to preview. Opening a lake from the directory or a lake page generates its terrain straight away instead of waiting for you to press Generate. #61
  • A calmer studio header. Import, share link and reset now live in a menu beside the project name. The color scheme, what's new, guides and home links sit behind one ⋯ button. A dot on Export shows when your project is ready, and the layer and panel counts moved into the readout above the preview. See the studio tour. #64
  • A simpler Export dialog. Export now leads with one recommended download, the complete project, and says what's in it. Single SVGs, panel bundles, paint templates and the assembly guide are listed under Individual files, with a note on when to use each. See export files. #65
  • A step-by-step assembly booklet. The assembly guide is now a printable booklet that opens in any browser: finished size and materials, a checklist of sheets to cut, and one illustrated step per layer showing where it goes, which sheet its pieces come from, and where split pieces fit. See export files. #66

Fixed

  • Lake Tahoe survey no longer sheared. The Lake Tahoe depth survey lines up with the shoreline again; a padding error had shifted its rows. #60

Version 0.2.0

New

  • Split large maps to fit your laser bed. Set a machine work area and each layer is cut into bed-sized pieces along staggered seams, with puzzle tabs and assembly ids. See the guide. #34
  • Water paint templates. Export registered paper stencils that leave only the water open on each layer, so lakes and rivers are easy to paint. See the guide. #37

Improved

  • Reset asks before discarding a project. Reset now confirms first, says what it clears, and can be undone. The Crater Lake preview comes back instantly without generating terrain. #34
  • Crisper marker symbols. Pins are true teardrops with an engraved eye, circles are smoother, and crosses cut as one outline instead of doubling where the bars meet. #35
  • Studio layout touch-ups. The aspect-lock controls sit in a small corner card that no longer hides warnings, and engraving font samples are centered in their swatches. #35
  • TopoStack moved to topostack.app. The site and studio now live at topostack.app, and links to the old address redirect to the same page. #38

Version 0.1.2

New

  • Canadian high-resolution terrain. Projects in covered parts of Canada now use NRCan HRDEM elevation data, with sharper ridges and valleys than the global terrain. #29
  • Guides for every part of the studio. A new guides hub with a studio tour, map details, custom markers and paths, a settings reference, what each export file contains, and troubleshooting, all with sidebar navigation that works on phones.
  • Send feedback from any page. A feedback tab on the site and in the studio opens a prefilled bug report or idea on GitHub. #29
  • Size each marker. Custom markers can each have their own size, and they stay visible on every stacked layer they sit on instead of disappearing under the layer above.

Fixed

  • Smoother lake shorelines. Lake edges no longer look jagged, and depth blends evenly where surveyed data meets modeled depth. #29
  • No more elevation spikes along shorelines. Elevation detail now follows the map crop instead of the camera zoom, which removes false cliffs and pits that coarse terrain tiles put along some lake shores.
  • Crash on some lake shorelines. Generation no longer fails with a degenerate-segment error when a shoreline spike folds back onto itself.
  • Engraving preview follows size and shape edits. Changing the physical size or crop shape of a flat engraving no longer frames the old contours in the preview.
  • North arrow placement. The north arrow lands on terrain that is actually exposed on its layer instead of under the layer above.
  • Transportation labels and the 3D coordinate grid. Road and trail labels are placed more reliably, and the latitude/longitude grid shows in the 3D preview.
  • Atomm layout and dark theme fixes. Inside Atomm, the studio fits the platform panel, selected text stays readable in dark themes, and fabrication exports and lake depths were fixed.

Version 0.1.1

New

  • Resize the map selection on the map. Drag the selection's edges and corners directly on the map, and lock its aspect ratio to the physical size you set.
  • Lake depth shaped by the surrounding terrain. Lakes without a survey get floors modeled from the slopes around them, and the studio explains where each depth comes from. See how lake depths work.
  • Sources and attribution page. A single page lists every terrain, map, lake-depth and software source with its credits and license, linked from the studio.

Improved

  • Clearer location search. Search results keep separate lakes that share a name and drop duplicate survey records.
  • Faster SVG preview. Panning and zooming the cut-layer and engraving previews stays smooth, and close zoom renders crisply.

Fixed

  • Missing lake outlines. Lakes that had no outline now get one from provider data, with OpenStreetMap as a fallback, so water shows up in the layers and the engraving. #28
  • Circular crops and the preview toolbar. Circular maps keep their proportions, and the preview mode buttons line up without their icons shrinking.

Version 0.1.0

New

  • First tagged release. TopoStack's first versioned release, after four weeks of public development that began on August 19. Everything below shipped in that time.
  • Layered laser-cut reliefs. Turn real elevation data into a stack of cut layers. The number of sheets follows from the terrain's relief, the map scale, vertical exaggeration and your material thickness. See the layered map guide.
  • Flat topographic engravings. Export a single contour SVG at physical size, with contour density, index contours, linework widths, state and province boundaries and a latitude/longitude grid. See the engraving guide.
  • Lake depth. Layered maps carve lake floors from USGS and state surveys, NOAA Great Lakes bathymetry, or a modeled depth where no survey exists, and fit surveyed depths to the shoreline.
  • Searchable lake depth directory. Find which lakes have surveyed depth data by name, region or source, and open one straight in the studio. See the directory.
  • Map details. Add roads, trails and their labels, water outlines and fill patterns, collision-free elevation labels, a scale bar, and a choice of north arrow designs.
  • Custom markers and paths. Place your own markers, trails and boundaries by coordinates, with styled pins that stay anchored where you put them.
  • Fabrication-ready cut files. Layered exports compensate for laser kerf, nest smaller pieces into the waste of larger sheets without breaking glue surfaces, and engrave where the next layer goes as an assembly guide.
  • Previews and exports. Check a project on the map, as 2D cut layers, as an engraving, or as a stacked or exploded 3D model, then download the complete project, single artwork files, or just the settings.
  • Homepage and studio. An illustrated homepage explains the two workflows, and the editor lives at /studio with light and dark themes and layouts for phones and tablets.
  • Open in Atomm. TopoStack runs inside the Atomm platform and hands finished artwork to its studio.

Fixed

  • Terrain depth spikes. Isolated bad values in the upstream terrain are repaired before they reach your layers, and every repair is noted in the export.
  • Continuous rivers and smooth contours. Rivers stay continuous across terrain layers, and contour corners are smoothed correctly.
  • Crop aspect ratios. Rectangular and circular crops keep the proportions of the physical size you set.

Create a topographic map