v2.17.0 (2026-06-30)

Overview

Vite Horizon 2.17.0 adds Visibility Surface Analysis — a multi-observer visibility tool that computes, for every part of a drawn area, how many of a saved set of observer points can see it, and renders the result as a colour-graded surface with a legend. As part of this work, the Viewshed Points Editor has been renamed to the Observer Points Editor, and its saved-set delete workflow is now a dropdown.

Breaking Changes

None. The Observer Points Editor is the same panel as before (same toolbar button and icon) — only the name changed.

New Features and Improvements

New Tool — Visibility Surface Analysis

Where the Line of Sight tool analyses a single observer, Visibility Surface Analysis works with a whole saved set of observer points at once. For every cell inside an extent rectangle you draw, it calculates how many observers can see it — the "frequency" — and draws the result in a colour ramp from light lavender (seen by few) to deep blue (seen by many).

• Pick a saved observer set by its visibility number
• Draw an extent rectangle to bound the analysis — the radius is derived automatically from the box
• Adjustable parameters: observer height and cell size, plus optional advanced refraction and vertical-error settings
• Colour-graded result with a legend — the surface is a proper map layer, so the Legend shows a swatch per class ("1 observer", "2 observers", …)
• Runs as an asynchronous job with real-time status, a message log, and a cancel option

The tool is embedded as a collapsible block inside the Observer Points Editor, because it analyses the points you save there. See the full Visibility Surface Analysis guide.

Observer Points Editor (renamed)

The Viewshed Points Editor is now the Observer Points Editor, matching the terminology used across the visibility tools. Two changes came with it:

• The delete-a-saved-set control is now a dropdown of saved visibility numbers (newest first) instead of a free-text box — so you can no longer mistype a number and delete the wrong set.
• The new Visibility Surface Analysis block is embedded near the bottom of the panel.

See the updated Observer Points Editor guide.

Under the Hood

• The visibility surface is rendered as a client-side map layer so it appears in the Legend, and a completed result stays on the map after you close the editor.
• Running the analysis reads observer points and the drawn extent in the local projected coordinate system (GDA94 / MGA Zone 55) so measurements are accurate regardless of the basemap.
• Minor development-tooling dependencies were updated (patch versions).