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SiteOps Command vs CCTV Design Tool
CCTV Design Tool draws camera coverage on a floor plan, accessibly and in many languages, with a large model library. SiteOps Command computes the camera plan on a 3D model of the building, where the same walls also attenuate Wi-Fi, shape room acoustics, and carry the power and cable design.
A fair frame
Everything on this page about CCTV Design Tool comes from their own published feature page, read 5 September 2026. Capabilities marked absent are ones that page does not describe.
Their tool does the camera job well and makes it easy to reach: a large model library, DXF and satellite import, live pixels-per-metre as you drag a camera, and free calculators anyone can open. For a security installer who only ever places cameras, that is a reasonable place to work.
The comparison worth drawing is not accuracy of camera math. Both compute pixels on target from lens and sensor specs. It is scope. Their published capabilities describe one discipline: cameras, in two dimensions. A wall in that drawing blocks a sight line. It does not attenuate anything at 5 GHz, because nothing in the product computes RF.
SiteOps Command describes the building once, including walls, materials, ceilings, racking and glass, then lets every engine read it. Cameras, Wi-Fi, speech intelligibility, and electrical each compute against the same geometry, so a change to a wall is a change to every discipline that wall touches.
Capability by capability
| Capability | SiteOps Command | CCTV Design Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Camera FOV and DORI zones on a floor plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pixels-on-target scored per zone (IEC 62676-4) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Night reach from datasheet IR specifications | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free public calculators, no login | Guides | ✓ |
| Fisheye and panoramic lens projection models | ✓ | — |
| Wall, glass, and racking shadow casting | ✓ | — |
| Per-camera 3D point of view: what the camera actually sees | ✓ | — |
| Wi-Fi RF computed from wall materials (ITU-R P.2040) | ✓ | — |
| Speech intelligibility and display sizing (IEC 60268-16, AVIXA DISCAS) | ✓ | — |
| Electrical load and circuit planning (NEC) | ✓ | — |
| Bill of materials, quote, and proposal from the design | ✓ | Cable list (CSV) |
| Design → install → as-built → renewal on one record | ✓ | — |
One model
The same wall, read by every engine
A building is described once: wall materials and thickness, ceilings, glass, racking. The camera optics engine reads it to cast coverage shadows; the RF engine reads it to attenuate 5 GHz through those same materials; the acoustics and electrical engines read it too. Change a wall and every discipline that depends on it re-computes. There is no second drawing to update and no third tool to re-key.
- Wi-Fi RF attenuation from real wall materials (ITU-R P.2040 / P.526 / P.1238).
- Speech intelligibility and display sizing (IEC 60268-16, AVIXA DISCAS).
- Electrical load and circuit planning against the same plan (NEC).
- One obstacle model, not one drawing per discipline.
Beyond the overlay
From a coverage overlay to camera physics
Pixels-on-target is the floor. SiteOps Command scores every zone against DORI (IEC 62676-4), models fisheye and panoramic projection with their own math, computes IR night reach from the manufacturer's beam specification, and casts shadows from walls, glass, and warehouse racking, then lets you open each camera's point of view in 3D and walk it.
- DORI pixels-on-target per zone, from real lens and sensor datasheets.
- Fisheye and panoramic lens models with their own projection math.
- Wall, glass, and racking occlusion in every heatmap.
- A 3D point of view per camera, so you can walk it before a bracket goes on the wall.
After the drawing
A design that becomes the job
A camera layout is the start of the work, not the end of it. The same design produces the bill of materials, the quote, and the proposal, then carries through install verification, as-built, and renewal on one record, so the coverage you sold is the coverage you can prove was installed.
- BOM and quote generated from the design, not re-keyed into a spreadsheet.
- Install verification with photo evidence against the designed positions.
- As-built and renewal on the same record as the original design.
The basis of every number
Standards and manufacturer datasheets: named, citable, and computed deterministically.
- One model
- Every discipline reads the same building
- Move a wall once; the affected engines re-compute
- IEC 62676-4
- DORI pixels-on-target
- Scored per zone from real lens and sensor specs
- 3D POV
- See what each camera sees
- With wall, glass, and racking occlusion
- ITU-R P.2040
- RF from wall materials
- The same walls that cast camera shadows
Frequently asked questions
Is SiteOps Command a CCTV Design Tool alternative?
For camera layout, yes, and it computes the same starting point: field of view, DORI zones, and pixels-on-target on your floor plan. The difference is what happens next. A camera plan here sits on a computable 3D model of the building, where the same walls also attenuate Wi-Fi, shape room acoustics, and carry the cable and power design. If cameras are the only system you ever install, a camera-only tool may be all you need.
What is the actual difference if both draw camera coverage?
What the walls do. In a camera-only tool, a wall is geometry that blocks a sight line. Here it is a material with a thickness, so the same wall casts a camera shadow, attenuates 5 GHz, reflects sound, and appears in the cable run. That is why one model matters: the building is described once and every discipline reads it, instead of each tool holding its own drawing of the same room.
Their catalog is larger. Does that matter?
It depends what a catalog row is for. Their site reports 31,800+ cameras, which is a genuinely large library and useful for finding a model quickly. Here a product row is an engine input: the lens field of view, sensor size, IR beam specification, and mount type are what the optics engine reads to compute coverage. A row without those is a name in a list, so depth is the priority. When a model is missing, it is requested and researched from the manufacturer rather than typed in as a blank.
Do you have free calculators like their FOV, storage, and UPS tools?
Not as standalone calculators today. There are free written guides covering DORI camera distances and PoE power budgets, and the full calculations run inside the platform against your real building model rather than against typed-in numbers. Their calculators are a fair convenience and they are free to use.
Can I show a customer what a camera will see before install?
Yes. Every camera has a 3D point of view you can open and walk, and the design exports per-camera POV reports, occlusion-aware coverage heatmaps, and print-ready site plan sets. That is proof a customer can verify on site, camera by camera.
Design the cameras. The rest of the building is already on the canvas.
Upload a floor plan, place cameras from the product library, and open each point of view in 3D, then see the Wi-Fi, audio, and power computed on the same walls.