I am trying to measure the site area in layout.
I have read an old(2015) post about using labels but can’t figure it out.
Is the area you want to get a face in a SketchUp model viewport? If so, you can use the Auto Text function in a label. Start the label anchored to a face and click the little drop down arrow at the lower left of the text box. Choose Face in the left pane and Face Area in the right.
Are you still using SketchUp 2018 as your profile shows?
Here’s video explanation from LO2025. All you need is a face:
i am using sketchup 2024. I ditched Autocad and am now using Skethup full time! I was hiping to do a quick site area measurement in layout because in SU i have used the topographical location map as the ground and as you can imagine it is up and down so measuring an area is not easy mainly because I am strugglling to lock the axes onto a plane which is below the plan so i can simply trace over the plan!
Please update your forum profile. It says you’re using 2018.
The Autotext feature in the label only offers face area, not surface area. It’s not clear to me from your description if the surface is coming in from SketchUp. You could interrogate the model using Entity Info in SketchUp to find out what the surface area is.
Thanks. It seems like there isnt a simple way of tracing over to get an area!
I will have to extrapolate the site footprint down from the ground onto a plane.
It’s a long way around!
Not in LO. I often do it with a bit of extra geometry in SKP and use tags to control visibility in LO, making a sort of overlay.
Well, there isn’t a way to get the area of a face drawn in LayOut at this point in time. Since you can get it from a face in SketchUp maybe it would be easier to draw it there. Even if it’s just a temporary thing so you can get the number to add to a label in the LayOut file. At tleast there’s little to no math involved. 
The ground of my site is not horizontal. i have had to trace over the google map to show the neighobur buildings but the line are not horizontal. when i look at the model fron the front/ back/ side the lines are up and down.
i know how to contrain the axes to a plane but can the axes be constrained when drawings lines outside of a plane?
Are you actually using a screenshot from Google Maps or are you using the native location feature (which doesn’t come from Google at all)?
You can lock to an off-axis direction by holding the Shift key while drawing the edge.
Do you want the project area of the ground or do you want the actual surface area of the ground?
My apologises! I am using the native SU location map (not google)!
I guess I am looking for the ‘project area’ not the ‘surface area’! Its not that hilly!
Let me try the Shift lock again!
OK. You might consider drawing a random rectangle and extruding it up through the terrain. Then use Push/Pull on the sides of the box to get them aligned with where you want in the terrain. The top of the box will then represent the projected area.
This would work for non-rectangular shapes too although you might need to move sides of the box instead of just using Push/Pull.
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I think ive jsut had a lightbulb moment. If I save my plan as an image and then import it into SU and can do a quick and easy area measurement without my line snapping all to different z coordinates!
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Thank you for your time Dave. It’s much appreciated.
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You’re welcome. I’m glad you found a solution.